Staying fresh and avoiding burnout

10 tips, 10 tools, one exercise

Jen Looper

Senior Developer Advocate
Progress

Founder/CEO of Vue Vixens
jenlooper.com
vuevixens.org

@jenlooper

18 years of industry experience

1 doctorate

1 husband

2 kids

7 companies

1 foundation

1 career switch

it's all fun and games

until you're crying in your cubicle

How are you feeling?

γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Know Thyself

Signs of Burnout

• Inability to relax

• Headaches, backaches, physical pain

• Bad attitude at work, cynicism, criticism

• Dependence on alcohol, etc

• Anxiety

• Exhaustion

• Demotivation

Are you feeling any of these things?

...or do you think you're getting close?

2 things that can lead to burnout

"imposter syndrome"

given a task

experience anxiety, self-doubt, worry

overprepare or procrastinate

"real-developer syndrome*"

*thank you Diana!

*Seek professional help

I'm not this gal*

But here are some tips from a tech professional

things that work for me

be green

work out

find hobbies

find your squad

take care of something/someone else

get off social media

create something

try a side project (but don't stress about it)

learn something new

embrace the arts

10 tools

Tech helps that might work for you

Meditation apps

Headspace

Insight Timer

Stop, Think & Breathe

Slack apps

Twitter accounts

Instagram images

Wearables

Books

Timeboxing / Pomodoro

Decide on the task to be done.

Set the pomodoro timer (traditionally to 25 minutes).

Work on the task.

End work when the timer rings and put a checkmark on a piece of paper.

Take breaks at intervals

pro tip! one record = a pomodoro cycle

Stress level monitoring

Welltory

A course

https://www.coursera.org/learn/happiness

Art apps

#CreatedWithPaper

#Inktober

Let's try a technique

most importantly

Know thyself

@jenlooper