Burnout in Tech: IT Professionals Sound Off
The Spiceworks Community is a great source of knowledge about all things tech – including how they feel about their jobs. Burnout in tech is real, and these stories from the trenches illustrate why it’s so common.
It’s easy to understand why doctors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs experience burnout. However, IT workers are also at risk of burnout in the tech industry due to heavy workloads, feeling undervalued, and inadequate leadership. In a recent Spiceworks Community discussion on burnout and the importance of self-care, we referenced a study that reveals that 2 in 5 IT workers are at high risk of burnout, which strongly correlates with workers wanting to leave their company.
Not only does burnout affect organizations, but it also has dire consequences for workers. We also cited multiple scientific papers that associate burnout with negative outcomes, including coronary heart disease, hypercholesterolemia, musculoskeletal pain, neck-shoulder pain, back pain, prolonged fatigue, headaches, insomnia, depression, hospitalization for mental disorders, and even early death.
As to the causes of burnout, researchers have also identified numerous contributing factors with some of the most common including:
- High demands at work
- Problems of leadership and collaboration
- Time pressure
- Pressure from superiors
- Increasing responsibility
- High self-expectation
- Suppressing own needs
The signs of burnout resulting from stress in IT can be numerous. In a recent Spiceworks poll with 450+ respondents, a majority of IT professionals could relate to the following signs of burnout:
- Feeling cynical or critical at work
- Being irritable or impatient with others
- Lacking the energy to be productive / Feeling exhausted
- Finding it hard to concentrate
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Reluctance to go to work
- Less enjoyment of things you used to like
- Feeling like nothing you do makes a difference or is appreciated
With millions of IT professionals visiting the Spiceworks every month, many share their candid experiences in Community discussions. Below are stories that exemplify and personify many of the causes (and effects) of burnout in tech, in the words of IT pros themselves, as shared in the Spiceworks Community.
Reluctance to go to work + feeling overwhelmed + poor teamwork
“I was manager of a small IT team in an ISP. One team member was quite challenging, and due to that I was taking on more and more of their work to cover everyone’s behinds. Due to this, and their behaviour I hated going in to work, felt underappreciated, definitely had sleepless nights and suffered physically with anxiety symptoms. Now, I’m no longer a manager, they have left the team, I’m better able to cope.”
Pressure from superiors + high demands at work + time pressure
“I have worked for a large, multi-regional MSP and a small, local MSP. In my opinion, burnout is built into the business model. In order to make any money on services, they are trying to have as much up-time on personnel as possible. I felt like I was the product being sold, and I didn’t like it.”
“They had us record every minute of our day, including bathroom breaks. It was insane, stripped everything it meant to be a human, made us feel like a robot. I don’t know how the others managed multi-year careers there, but I was gone in a few months. Being “on-call” every other weekend SUCKED too, not able to do anything on our days off, unpaid.”
Being irritable or impatient with others + suppressing own needs
“I got into this field to help people, which I do, but sometimes they are more wrong than they know. I wish they would stop rambling and let me explain what the issue is, not what they think it is. I don’t want to say I come across as a horrible grump as I have a positive reputation around my job. It just gets tiring.”
Increasing responsibility + lack of resources + feeling overwhelmed
“I have a terrible habit of taking on roles and responsibilities that others can’t do (level of role), refuse to learn (boss doesn’t enforce it), or it’s simply not getting done and would not the office to have a bad reputation. It’s why I had more than 15 responsibilities, and the same amount of work as 3 full-time staff. Don’t get me wrong, I loved what I did on the technical side of things but with the administrative stuff I kept picking up; I got to where I didn’t want to go into the office b/c I knew I wouldn’t get anything done that needed it.”
Feeling like nothing you do makes a difference or is appreciated
“For me, it’s more about not celebrating a massive 3-year project to completion but getting another large project two weeks before the completion. No reflection time of the completed project (thorns and roses) to prevent issues with the next one. Hence no deep breath for the next one.”
“No one has EVER come into my office and thanked me for everything working as it should (which is 99.9% of the time). I get it, they have no IDEA how hard I work to make that THEIR reality. However, when something doesn’t work for 30 freakin’ seconds…my phone rings off the hook, or there’s a line at my office door. Whaaaa…this thing isn’t working? Why does this thing never work? Excuse me? A little appreciation sometimes would be nice.”
Unreasonable expectations
“Burnout from the expectation that I can control the universe. A traffic accident took out power last week. Amazing how many people were melting down that I should be able to have 100% connectivity 100% of the time. Printers and one file server were unavailable so for 4 people I personally ruined their day even though the outage was 110 minutes.”
While many of these quotes on burnout can feel quite cynical, there is hope. IT professionals also shared their stories of escaping situations that were leading to burnout. We’ll close on this final quote, that shows how one IT pro moved themselves from a high pressure environment into a more appreciative work environment.
Hope for those suffering from burnout
“When I worked for MSPs, burnout definitely was the norm. I got sick of it and quit. Eventually I found a job at a non-profit that values people over money. I took a big pay cut, but the environment is stable, and the organization respects work-life balance. I’m much happier here than I was at the MSPs.”
MORE ON BURNOUT IN TECH
