burning out in development, should i quit?
I'm lucky enough to still have my job but after the company reorganized and let people go, my workload has basically doubled.
I'm completely burned out, and mentally I'm struggling to get myself together some days or take my mind off work in the off hours.
I'm seriously thinking about quitting for the following reasons:
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workload - as mentioned it doubled with no additional pay
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reputation - I'm at a vertically integrated shop with a GC who is absolutely terrible. so many defects, delays and issues costing so much money and time that it's ruining relationships with our partners.
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management sucks, too inexperienced, disorganized, won't listen. It's leading to a lot of mistakes and a lot of time the team has to spend fixing
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I have more than 6 months of living expenses saved up, I can probably go longer if needed but hoping that's not the case.
The only thing truly holding me back is the job market but I don't think I'm in the best mental shape to start a new job immediately. I've been looking since December, got interviews for 5 different roles but nothing. I've got about 5 years experience in the lending space and been in this role almost 3 years now.
If I quit now, I'm hoping within 3 months I can be in a new role but it's so hard to tell where the job market is headed.
Any advice?
Do not jump ship the market is absolute dogshit for options.
I would try to avoid burning your cash reserves and just coast until you see the job market start to relieve. That could give you the time you need off to reset and not burn through all 6 months of reserves.
totally understand the burnout and frustration hang in there.
It's tough. I've been trying to coast through and do the minimum but because i've basically had to take on work for two other people it becomes very clear if i haven't done something. i've been trying to bring expectations down on what i'm able to produce but management doesn't stop. Even taking time off whether it's vacation or being out sick i'm still expected to be working. it's made it hard to work, have a personal life and job search. I'm concerned I'll get fired because of performance reasons or one day I'll just totally lose it. I'm trying to avoid that as much as i can.
What city and asset class you in?
LA multifamily, the shop is small and newer
Feel free to DM me if you’d like to chat. I’m in LA and you sound familiar tbh, and if I don’t know you personally, similar stresses
Can you tell them to hire you an intern? Shouldn't cost them much and a lot of people would probably do for free at this point.
they don't want to hire interns. They hired a virtual assistant who is overseas and knows hardly anything about the industry. What's even worse is she works opposite hours of us, so it's not possible to assign her something and get it back in the same day. Management thinks everything is fine because they work with her in the evenings in the "off" hours up until 9 pm or 10 pm at night.
If you are thinking of quitting, than what's the worst they can do, fire you? It's sounds like you tried to have an honest conversation with them and they either didn't listen, or they are not taking your needs seriously. I would try to have conversation with them and be very firm, telling them you are on the brink of burnout, your're working 3 jobs and they need to manage their expectations of what you can do. If they are not going to hire someone or take on some of your work than you are going to do what you can do to the best of your abilities and thats it. Don't let it be a negotiation and be firm. Then put it in practice. If you are getting crushed or they start sending you more than you can do. Say I am working on X Y and Z and I do not have time for this. Thats it, don't do it. They're not going to fire you because you are drowning in work because whoever they hire will be in a similar boat. If they really have a multitude of projects underwater and you are the only person who knows them intimately it will take them forever to find someone and train them. Not worth it to them, they just have to sack up.
LA multi? Hire me and I'll help ;)
wish we could hire but we're just on a path of losing money right now. concerned one day they're just going to shut down.
Damn, that's a bummer. Sorry.
My advice is not to quit. I know it sucks now, but it suck way more when you burn through your reserves and are still unemployed. Also, if you quit, you can't get unemployment benefits, tbh it is actually better to get laid off because 1.) Mass layoffs are happening everywhere now. No one will hold this against you when you search for a job and 2.) You get unemployment. Between unemployment and cash reserves hopefully you can last 9-12 months. As others have mentioned, if you are thinking of quitting already then just push back on your managers, do the bare minimum, and coast. Adopt a mentality that your goal is to get laid off.
I'm hoping I can get laid off in some way, but management has a history of firing people instead. It's possible that could change since they're being sued by an employee they fired a couple of months ago.
Every state is different, but I'm pretty sure you can still collect UI if you're fired as long as it isn't for something like fraud or gross negligence.
There is no functional difference here, just FYI. People say "laid off" because it sounds better than saying fired. It's a termination either way.
The market sucks, as mentioned above would recommend talking to them and being firm on where you're at with workload/expectations. Then just push back and say working on xyz cannot get to this immediately.
Agree with everyone else here that you should try to survive for as long as you can. The job market is so bad that the last thing you want to do is use up your reserves prematurely. It sucks, but it's just how things are right now.
When you do find that new role, please please please make sure you set aside enough recovery time from the burnout. It's a serious issue that deserves to be treated as such. I burned out massively at a job in 2021 -- conditions were so bad that I quit within the year. I took a month off between jobs, and two years later, the burnout is rearing its ugly head. It sucks to be continually burned out in a shitty economy/job market.
You're not alone, though, and you will eventually get to a better place.
Yeah this job market sucks. It's pretty shocking when i browse similar discussions and people chiming in there to say they've been looking for a year now having been laid off in the first quarter of 2023. Fingers crossed we're at the tail-end of this weird job market that quotes itself positively yet results speaking differently.
You’re scaring me, damn. I have a call with a recruiter this week, so I guess I’ll find out for myself.
I hope we’re at the tail end, too.
Note on the job market from live personal exp.
Response rate is absurdly low even on internals and strong networking. Most will currently drag you through multiple rounds to ghost or pass without and truly good reason. Even though they will start on how urgent it is to fill ASAP.
From some other info recently got, most places are resume banking for when things open up.
As well most of the teams seem to be running extremely lean and overworked right now. Or just lean with dead deal flow and similar people trying to lateral out with equally as dead options. Other forums noted people are taking major cuts pay/level these days.
Where is the release in this market though? the fed has not committed to cuts or the number yet? Re-trades are hot and distressed assets are cropping up more often as well.
I think it's important to note that you are not obligated to kill yourself, or ruin your health, for the sake of your employer. That goes double when they're consciously doing nothing to alleviate your stress and workload.
You exchange your labor for pay. You are probably being paid enough that sometimes, there is an expectation that you'll be totally slammed and it's all hands on deck, but that shouldn't be all the time. So if your employer isn't compensating you enough to be this stressed round the clock, then don't work that hard. As others have said upthread, what are they going to do, fire you? Then you end up in the same place you are contemplating being now, and besides, it sounds like they can't afford to replace you. The idea that you should be miserable to bail your shitty boss out of his/her bad management is absurd.
I would have an honest conversation about your workload, which it seems like you intend to do, and then most importantly, CYA. Send an email after saying "here was my understanding of that conversation" and keep that record. If they renege, and things go sour, it's always helpful to be able to point to something like that, whether it's with current management or a new employer who asks why you're leaving/were let go.
OP here. As an update i was about to have a conversation with my boss about workload except he beat me to the punch. He let me know he is leaving the firm. I take this as a signal that the company is doing much worse or there truly is no way out. I don't really know the fate of my role or the company for the matter.
Yeah thats a sign to jump ship. I'd start applying to lots of different shops in the area and just keep collecting checks until they crash. If you get laid off and have nothing lined up, go to europe for like 3 weeks and just explore and have fun. sorry to hear, I hope it all works out mate.
thanks I'm hoping to line something up ASAP. I'm considering some other slower pace roles in the meantime just to have a pay check, so we'll see. Otherwise, I have an idea who my boss will be but I don't have a lot of confidence the company will move in the right direction.
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