I went to 2, or maybe 2,5 burnouts. When my 3rd burnout was on its way I realized I cannot continue like this.
I did a PhD in IT and taught a few courses. After some time i realized that the research I do is mostly useless and waste of public funds. I just could not continue, I felt like you for about a year and then decided to quite and went for a support job in corporate IT.
That felt good for about two years, I finally felt I am doing something real and useful. But later same feelings kicked in and I realized that very few people actually care about what I do. The people at the top cared only if the KPIs are fulfilled, not if the work is effective or meaningful.
After long thinking I reflected and tried to be honest with myself. I have put down pros and cons of the current job and realized there are way more cons.
I decided to move to smaller company and do a very different job. I left a senior position and started on a junior position. Which felt a bit weird but I can feel I am on a much better track, doing more hands on job with new technologies. In the previous job, the stagnation was actually the biggest problem. I realized that I actually cannot do repetitive and mundane task. I excel at examining new things and solutions.
So my suggestion to you is:
- Think about pros and cons, or write them down
- If you would not do your current job, what would you like to do?
- Is there some element missing in your current job? Like:
-- Do you miss new things?
-- Is it challenging enough?
-- Do you feel that you need to stretch a bit to complete
your tasks (because this is where your grow, even muscles grow when they are pushed to the limit, at least sometimes)?
- Is there something in your job with which you have moral problem?
Sometimes you realize that only small change is needed. But I guarantee you that you need to change something, otherwise your burnout will get worse. If you realize a major change is needed, you can still take smaller steps.
For instance I still work in IT now, but I feel I would like to teach smaller kids, so I am planning to apply for evening study college to become a IT and History teacher on elementary school. Maybe I will find out that's not what I want, in that case I can just quite the college.
Last thing. Don't be afraid to take the step! Sometimes one just needs to do it to move things forward and see the changes happening!
I did a PhD in IT and taught a few courses. After some time i realized that the research I do is mostly useless and waste of public funds. I just could not continue, I felt like you for about a year and then decided to quite and went for a support job in corporate IT.
That felt good for about two years, I finally felt I am doing something real and useful. But later same feelings kicked in and I realized that very few people actually care about what I do. The people at the top cared only if the KPIs are fulfilled, not if the work is effective or meaningful.
After long thinking I reflected and tried to be honest with myself. I have put down pros and cons of the current job and realized there are way more cons.
I decided to move to smaller company and do a very different job. I left a senior position and started on a junior position. Which felt a bit weird but I can feel I am on a much better track, doing more hands on job with new technologies. In the previous job, the stagnation was actually the biggest problem. I realized that I actually cannot do repetitive and mundane task. I excel at examining new things and solutions.
So my suggestion to you is:
- Think about pros and cons, or write them down
- If you would not do your current job, what would you like to do?
- Is there some element missing in your current job? Like:
-- Do you miss new things?
-- Is it challenging enough?
-- Do you feel that you need to stretch a bit to complete your tasks (because this is where your grow, even muscles grow when they are pushed to the limit, at least sometimes)?
- Is there something in your job with which you have moral problem?
Sometimes you realize that only small change is needed. But I guarantee you that you need to change something, otherwise your burnout will get worse. If you realize a major change is needed, you can still take smaller steps.
For instance I still work in IT now, but I feel I would like to teach smaller kids, so I am planning to apply for evening study college to become a IT and History teacher on elementary school. Maybe I will find out that's not what I want, in that case I can just quite the college.
Last thing. Don't be afraid to take the step! Sometimes one just needs to do it to move things forward and see the changes happening!