Significant Career Lesson from a Site Reliability Manager at Google
David's most significant career lesson is the difficulty of recognizing personal fatigue and burnout; the advice given is to "listen to yourself," because pushing oneself too hard, a common tendency in software engineering, ultimately harms one's career more than helps it.
Stress Management, Burnout, Work-Life Balance, Self-Awareness, Resilience
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
David Fayram
Site Reliability Manager
University of California, Santa Barbara
None
Computer Science
Energy & Utilities, Technology, Advertising, Communications & Marketing
Cyber Security and IT
Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, LGBTQ
Video Highlights
1. Early signs of burnout can be easily missed; listen to your body and pace yourself.
2. Pushing yourself too hard can be detrimental to your career in the long run.
3. Prioritize your well-being; rushing to reach a certain career level is not worth jeopardizing your health and overall success.
Transcript
Q11: Significant lesson - career
What is one lesson that you have learned that's proven significant in your career?
I think the most difficult lesson that I've had to learn is that it's basically impossible to perceive your own level of fatigue and burnout. You'll generally feel a little bit bad, and that's when it's way too late.
The worse you are at listening to yourself and your own body, and trying to drive yourself forward, the more harmful you are to yourself and, frankly, others. Traits often seen in software engineers of all types can make this worse. You really need to get good at listening to yourself.
If you start to feel a little bit bad, that's probably a much bigger sign than you realize. Listen to that; pace yourself. The only people in a hurry are ambulance drivers and venture capitalists, and I really only care about the opinion of one of those two. So don't push yourself.
You do have a lot of time, and rushing to be a senior engineer or whatever can actually really hurt your career long-term. So don't overdo it.