I landed on my own Github profile the other day, which is a pretty rare occurrence as I'm usually looking for repos in my company's account, but I was in search of a tutorial project I had done a while back. It had been a minute, and I noticed the Github wizards had further expanded the contributions panel (yay, code reviews are finally acknowledged!). But I also saw something more disturbing: too much green.
Let me explain.
I started coding for a living in 2018. This is what my contributions look like from that year:
The big gap in May is the period between finishing code school and getting a job in June (during which I went to Mexico, because YOLO). There's a gap in September when I took a week off to meet my parents in San Francisco and drive up through the redwoods with them back to Portland (highly recommended), and then a winter holiday break in December into January 2019.
Next, there's 2019, my first full year of working as a software engineer:
There are some solid gaps in there: May 2019, when family from Poland came to visit and we toured up and down the West Coast. October, when I flew to Germany and Poland for more family time and a wedding. Another couple of weeks off for the holidays in December-January. Good times.
And then... 2020.
I suppose this one won't be too surprising - there was this little thing about a global pandemic and all:
Wow, so solid green it would give that subway station envy. Ok, there's one little gap: in October, around my birthday, I took a road trip to the Alvord Desert (also highly recommended). But that didn't even last a full week.
And yeah, it makes sense. We were in lockdown. There was literally nowhere to go most of the year, and a pandemic killing millions that made even weekend trips seem like unnecessary risks. Understandable.
But what I saw that disturbed me was my 2021 so far:
Pretty dang solid. And possibly on the road to burnout (anyone else feel that?).
Luckily, I'm now fully vaccinated, and taking my first full week off next week to go on a road trip (by car, to a pretty remote area, because the pandemic's not over). Even planning it a few weeks back felt strange, as if vacations are another thing the pandemic took away. But that doesn't have to be the case.
So, for whoever needs to hear it: this is a gentle reminder to take a vacation. Even if you can't go anywhere yet, your mind and body need time away from the green squares. You'll thank yourself later.
Top comments (11)
I always felt timeline like the ones of José Valim or Sindre Sorhus were pretty unhealthy—althought they have nothing to prove codewise, don't get me wrong. I mean they might fit an extreme minority, but most people need a more balanced life. Yet a lot of advices and common places about being a dev suppose you want to be this kind of rockstar (100 days of code etc.).
Yeah, that kind of track record just doesn't seem sustainable. Maybe for younger people without family obligations who are just starting out, but even then you're just building bad habits and setting yourself up for burnout. The community as a whole needs to be better about normalizing balance rather than overwork.
I have quitted my job for almost one year due to stress and burnout. But I am cheating on the contribution grid by writing a blog post per day using Netlify CMS and push it to Github. Thank you for your reminder
That's really impressive! But even at your job I assume you had weekends and holidays off, maybe try that for your writing schedule?
I am writing 5 days a week and off on the weekend
Thank you for bring attention to this issue. It is something we never really talk about but it is critical. I have recently been feeling immense burnout and looked at my chart to see I haven't taken a proper vacation in a few years.
"To the vacation planning board, Robin!" - Batman (probably)
Oh wow, you're definitely overdue. Have fun planning - that's my second-favorite part after the vacation itself :)
Great post! Time off is essential!
Great post, but what comes in mind after reading this was, is it okay for you get a wee off from your job? I mean, wont they mind you're doing something else then working? One of my dreams is to do exactly like you, take a time from the work from time to time, or even have money enough to work during a trip, everyday from a country, but i do feel like there's no way that's gonna happen. I hope I'm wrong....
I'm lucky enough to work for a company where we get unlimited PTO, and we're actually encouraged to use it. If your company is well-managed, even taking a whole week off should be fine and your teammates won't mind covering you, because they know you'll cover them when it's their turn. That's what a healthy company looks like, and there are plenty of them out there, so you don't have to settle for less. I hope you find that too!
Great post! Most of the people that work in this industry or just any programmer/software developer/whoever that codes, should take some days off occasionally, we are humans after all!