The Day I Realized I Was Burned Out

Remember when coding used to feel like magic? When you’d look up from your screen and realize it was 3 AM, but you didn’t care because you were in the zone? Yeah, me too.

That feeling is gone now. And I think we need to talk about it.

What is burnout, really?

Textbooks will tell you burnout is “a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress.” But that clinical definition doesn’t capture what it actually feels like.

For me, it was waking up already tired. It was staring at code I’d written a hundred times before, but suddenly it looked like hieroglyphics. It was losing the spark that made me want to build things in the first place.

I used to code for 12 hours straight, day after day, fueled by nothing but curiosity and energy drinks. My friends would joke that I was part machine.

Now? I can barely focus for two hours without feeling completely drained. Opening my editor feels like lifting weights. Something fundamental changed, and it wasn’t just about being “tired.”

How I knew something was wrong

The warning signs were there, but I ignored them:

Dreading projects I used to love
Making silly mistakes constantly
Feeling irritable about small problems
That hollow feeling when looking at code
The Sunday night anxiety that grew into a full-week thing

I kept thinking, “I just need to push through this slump.” But slumps end. This didn’t.

It’s not just you

The tech industry has this toxic myth of the tireless developer who thrives on all-nighters and lives to code. It’s garbage. We’re humans, not computers.

Almost every developer I know has hit this wall at some point. The ones who recovered didn’t just “try harder” – they recognized that burnout isn’t a personal failure. It’s your mind and body telling you something important.

Small steps back

I’m still figuring this out, but here’s what’s actually helping:

Time blocking instead of marathons: I code in focused 90-minute blocks now, then take real breaks. It feels wrong at first, but I get more done this way.
Finding joy in smaller wins: I celebrated when I built a simple utility that saved me 10 minutes. Before, I wouldn’t have considered that “real work.”
Side projects that feel like play: I started a ridiculous little game that will probably never see the light of day. There are no deadlines. It’s just for me.
Talking to other developers: Turns out I’m not alone. These conversations have been surprisingly healing.
Physical stuff matters: Getting sunlight, moving my body, and sleeping properly made a bigger difference than any productivity hack.

When to consider bigger changes

Sometimes burnout is trying to tell you something deeper. Maybe you’re in the wrong job, working with the wrong people, or even in the wrong field. There’s no universal answer, just the right one for you.

The ongoing journey

I’m not fully “cured” yet. Some days are better than others. I still have moments when I wonder if I’ll ever feel that same excitement again.

But there are good signs too. Last week, I lost track of time working on a problem for the first time in months. It wasn’t a 12-hour marathon, just a pleasant couple of hours where I felt in flow.

Maybe the goal isn’t to get back to where I was. Maybe it’s to find a new, more sustainable relationship with the work I love.

If you’re reading this and nodding along, just know you’re not broken. You’re not a bad developer. You’re just human, and humans weren’t designed to run at 100% capacity all the time.

Give yourself permission to rest. The code will still be there tomorrow.

Burnout