Will a break from job affect my career?

The effect that the gap means differ from market to market and area to area. I'd say it is very safe to take some months out, like 3-4. But I can tell you it won't cure burnout. My experience tells exactly the opposite. I was burnt out, I lacked motivation for work stuff, I stopped working, and soon I started lacking motivation for everything else. I still didn't cure my own burnout, but I already work on it with professionals. I believe, you should, too. If you feel like you need to take a break desperately, you should discuss it with your therapist. Don't underestimate burnout. Good luck, we will make it!

What will hurt your career is to stay at a job where you feel bored or worse.

As long as you can find a way to make it work financially, having a break is probably the better choice.
And you can also have a break from work but not from programming by doing some open-source as a hobby, either your own project or contributions.

I'm currently on a break myself. I'm only ~1 month in so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt (i.e. I don't know what the long-term ramifications will be), but so far it is one of the best decisions I could have made. However, in my particular case, I have a bit of a financial cushion and my wife is working so I'm not so stressed about money (i.e. your mileage may vary). And even with that situation, I am making steps towards working as a contractor to make up some income.

Taking a break has given me the room to grow my life in places where I had previously neglected. To research, to learn, to imagine my life differently, and it has been absolutely wonderful for my happiness and outlook on life. It even helped me to see my career in technology differently. All that is to say, sometimes you do need to take a step back and do some soul-searching. Ask yourself, what is it you want out of life?

One can argue that this can happen while working, but for me that was not the case. It was the act of understanding that the situation could not continue, explaining that to my co-workers, leaving and then trying to find out what to do with myself that allowed me to really understand why I was feeling so burnt out. In my case, there was so much else I needed to do. And I think that feeling nagged at me as I worked, even though there was nothing I could do about it, because work was all I really did.

Others here have made some excellent points here, like working with a professional or reaching out to your employer. These should be your first options before deciding to take a break.

I will just say that in the future I will set my mental model as this: the ability to work super hard is a finite resource which drains as time goes on. You need to refill that bar somehow (some say rest, some say noble leisure, some say both). I didn't refill my bar and I could not continue the situation. If I could go back and redo my steps, I should have prepared for this situation earlier. I still think that taking a break was the best option for me, but I should have recognized earlier that work was getting in the way of my growth in other parts of my life that I found important, which led to the feeling of helplessness.

What I can see in your situation is that it cannot continue forever. You have a time limit. So whether you take a break, or work with your employer, remember that time is ticking. Be reasonable, but take constructive actions early for the best result, IMO.

Good luck!

edit:
On the question of "will it affect your career?", the answer is "yes" :)
Whether that is good or bad is up to you. I'm sorry but I don't think anybody can decide that for you.

It's a bit sad that when I read the title, by default I think that some of us read this:

"Will a break from job affect my career negatively?".

What I mean is that there are positive consequences too.

• Time to do some introspection to figure out what you really want, maybe it's something else or maybe it's exactly this, whatever you decide, you'll come back more confident and passionate about.
• You'll have time to challenge yourself and learn new things and new skills, code related or not, in a career that is all about learning new things and solving problems this is very important.
• The most important part, you. Gaining self-awareness, being mentally and physically well is more important than looking for a job that burns you out.

Of course this may not be all or nothing, you may just need to slow down rather than quit altogether but in case you need the latter, check if it is feasible to do so from a monetary point of view and in terms of catching up again depending on the time you left.

Take care.

I guess it depends…

• A gap of 6 months in a 2y resume 🤔
• a gap of 6 months in a 10y resume 👍

It really depends on how long of a break we're talking.

If we're talking less than a year? I don't think that will negatively impact you, I wouldn't hold it against you if I was interviewing you.

If your break stretches into years (5+), well at that point I will be questioning if you're up to date with modern tooling and patterns for our tech stack.

Most importantly, you need to feel refreshed and healthy; don't stress over taking the time you need to come back as your best self.

If you need a break, take the break! But you will also need professional help! Said that, I don't believe a Company in 2022 that don't understand huge problems like Burnout are companies prepared for the future, so you don't wanna work for them anyway. During a job interview, be always honest and just tell them about the burnout and why the gap. During college I had burnout and needed time to do nothing to, and it helped me! I truly hope you feel better soon!

No, I don't think so that break from job affect your career. Sometimes you need a little break to focus on your career.

My suggestion: "job change".