How do you cope with stress as a software dev?

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bridgeburner

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Hey guys, usually a lurker on this forum with the occasional post here and there.

I wanted to get your thoughts on a non-technical, yet important part of being involved in the tech industry. How do you guys deal with stress as professional software developers? How do you manage and balance your work life with your personal life whilst still learning and keeping your skills sharp? How do you avoid the dreaded impostors syndrome?

In my situation, I sometimes feel overwhelmed. I've lately been finding myself coding late at night, trying to get stuff done before hard deadlines, and then still find time to refactor a colleague's crappy code because I'm OCD when it comes to these kind of things. My stress levels have gone through the roof, and I've never considered myself to be someone who gets stressed or anxious easily.

Its an odd thing, because friends and family have a different picture in their minds when it comes to people who work in software - so tough to talk about stuff like this with them.

Curious to hear how you guys deal with these kinds of issues :)
 
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Working around the clock is just a part of me. I don't even know what normal people do with time on their hands.

Plus side though is that I love php and I enjoy every single moment of it.
 
Rather than trying to treat the symptoms git gud and:
  1. Learn to say no
  2. Learn to put down your work
  3. Work your normal working hours
  4. Manage your manager
  5. Manage your project and its items
If you are going to work like that then expect nothing else.

Other things include go play outside; gym, meditation, jogging, walking, ...
 
Stress is an integral part of any job. Anyway the first thing you should do is to see an occupational therapist who can evaluate your normal behaviors and stress levels when performing your work duties. Believe me, it's really worth the effort.
 
If you don't make a firm separation between work hours and private hours then you're risking a burnout.
  • Don't ever take work home; adjust the expectations rather than sacrificing your downtime and sleep.
  • Don't refactor your colleague's code, because you're just unnecessarily overtaxing yourself and at the same time stunting their ability to grow, rather provide feedback and leave the refactor to them.
  • Find a hobby away from the computer and TV -- mine is gardening, cooking and reading. Video games IMO are a poor choice for relaxation; I've hardly ever found games that didn't stress me out more .
  • If you spend time behind the computer at home, then use it solely as an opportunity to hone your skills, learn a new language, techniques, etc.
  • Don't ever shorten or forgo your vacation time; and even consider leaving some of your vacation time spare to extend the occasional weekend by a day or 2 and use that time to get away on a few short trips to recharge (no computers)
  • At work make time to stretch your legs regularly and employ this time (away from the computer) to ponder a problem or two.
  • Many offices environments are open plan and / or are prone to constant interruptions including ambient noise -- which is just adding to the stress levels. My choice is to always put on my headphones and play music I find offers a good balance between drowning out the ambient noise, whilst not distracting my line of thought. Naturally not all music is suitable for this; find a genre that works for you --- mine happens to be a combination of avant-garde Jazz and Jazz fusion with a side of blues / rock; but strictly no vocals )
 
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ekske1 said:
Rather than trying to treat the symptoms git gud and:
  1. Learn to say no
  2. Learn to put down your work
  3. Work your normal working hours
  4. Manage your manager
  5. Manage your project and its items
If you are going to work like that then expect nothing else.

Other things include go play outside; gym, meditation, jogging, walking, ...
Click to expand...

This. I literally just read this an hour ago.

https://medium.com/@plainprogrammer/overtime-hurts-your-software-your-team-1c16c99e28aa

(Im up because of a baby, not work :P)
 
Life is too short to work all the time. Also when you eventually do collapse your boss will get someone to replace you and you will be nothing but a record on the past bank statements. If the work is too much for one person, they must hire more......
 
ekske1 said:
Rather than trying to treat the symptoms git gud and:
  1. Learn to say no
  2. Learn to put down your work
  3. Work your normal working hours
  4. Manage your manager
  5. Manage your project and its items
If you are going to work like that then expect nothing else.

Other things include go play outside; gym, meditation, jogging, walking, ...
Click to expand...

This is a thing I don’t understand around anyone in a non-support role.

You have all the benefits of pre-planning and essentially know exactly when work needs to be done and met by what goal etc and get people still complain endlessly.

On the support side I understand stress because you are at the mercy of being responsive to customers breaking stuff and generally can’t plan for it so it’s always random and therefore more stressful.

So your post seems like the simplest and most straight forward solution to what appears a very small problem in my mind.
 
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SauRoNZA said:
This is a thing I don’t understand around anyone in a non-support role.

You have all the benefits of pre-planning and essentially know exactly when work needs to be done and met by what goal etc and get people still complain endlessly.

On the support side I understand stress because you are at the mercy of being responsive to customers breaking stuff and generally can’t plan for it so it’s always random and therefore more stressful.

So your post seems like the simplest and most straight forward solution to what appears a very small problem in my mind.
Click to expand...

It is most likely because people are absolutely terrible at estimating work, and then don’t seem to build on their experience the next time.
I am willing to bet that most people working overtime all the time are using scrum/sprints
 
_kabal_ said:
It is most likely because people are absolutely terrible at estimating work, and then don’t seem to build on their experience the next time.
I am willing to bet that most people working overtime all the time are using scrum/sprints
Click to expand...

Oh absolutely people have terrible time management ability and as was said before the ability to say no.

Planned overtime to facilitate a sprint would be fine, but then there should be planned time off as well to balance it out which means no change in stress really.
 
_kabal_ said:
It is most likely because people are absolutely terrible at estimating work, and then don’t seem to build on their experience the next time.
I am willing to bet that most people working overtime all the time are using scrum/sprints
Click to expand...

Oh absolutely people have terrible time management ability and as was said before the ability to say no.

Planned overtime to facilitate a sprint would be fine, but then there should be planned time off as well to balance it out which means no change in stress really.

I’m very lucky to be in a company that take work/life/balance genuinely seriously and when your working hours are done they are done.
 
cguy said:
I drive out into the desert and scream till I pass out.

Works like a charm!
Click to expand...
I must be tired! I totally read that as, "I log onto the internet and tell people I do schit that I have only seen people do in the movies.".
 
Datura said:
I must be tired! I totally read that as, "I log onto the internet and tell people I do schit that I have only seen people do in the movies.".
Click to expand...

Edit: Lol! :D
 
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Take up a sport and make sure to commit to it, which will force you to put down the computer and learn to say say
 
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