/Health

Mental Health In Software Engineering

- Vadim Kravcenko tl;dr: Vadim shares: (1) his personal struggle with anxiety and burnout in 2017 after becoming Head of IT at his startup. (2) He realized that not all deadlines are critical, and sometimes pushing back releases for the sake of the team's well-being is the best decision. (3) What worked for him - recognizing symptoms, setting boundaries, replacing coffee with decaf, walking, gaining perspective, turning off notifications, and educating himself on mental health. 

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Product Managing To Prevent Burnout

- Winston Hearn tl;dr: "I’ve been thinking about a risk that — if I'm not careful — could severely hinder my team's ability to ship on time, celebrate success, and continue work after launch: burnout. I don't see burnout mentioned often when the work of product management is discussed, but I believe it should be taken much more seriously." Winston discusses his strategies to prevent his team from burning out.  

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My Awakening Moment About How Smartphones Fragment Our Attention Span

- Tom Johnson tl;dr: Tom recommends several strategies to mitigate the negative impact of smartphones on attention span: (1) Conscious reduction of smartphone use. (2) Engaging in long-form content, such as books, podcasts, and articles. (3) Creating "phone-free" zones and times e.g. before bed or when you wake up. (4) Awareness of when you reach for your phone to fill time. (5) Experimenting with reduced usage. 

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Forty Years Of Programming

- Fabien Sanglard tl;dr: “I am about to turn forty-six. This means I have been programming for forty years, half of them professionally. During most of that time, I used a "standard" setup with 104 keyboard, a flat mouse, and a sitting desk. Things evolved ten years ago when I started to experience pain in my forearms and shoulders when I programmed. Here is what I did to solve my problem, it may work for someone else.”

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Movement For Engineers

- Matt Blewitt tl;dr: Matt emphasizes the importance of physical activity for individuals who predominantly work in sedentary roles introducing fundamental movement patterns, such as push, pull, squat, hinge, and carry, recommending specific equipment, including kettlebells and a yoga mat, and provides a structured method for resistance training and cardio. The resistance sessions are designed around kettlebell exercises, while cardio focuses on low intensity, steady state activities.

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How To Reduce Stress And Overcome Anxiety As A Software Developer

- Andrei Zgîrvaci tl;dr: "I was having panic attacks a few times a day, constantly trembling, having migraines, being dizzy, and being locked in a perpetual state of intense fear every day, every hour, every waking moment. Even sleep wasn’t an escape, I was waking up with panic attacks every other night." Andrei discusses the steps he took to overcome this situation. 

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Developer With ADHD? You’re Not Alone

- Eira May tl;dr: “…More people are understanding their experiences and abilities through the lens of ADHD, and this includes many people who code. But is there really a connection between programming and ADHD? And could it be that people with ADHD are particularly well-suited to programming careers?” This article discusses the importance of neurodiversity amongst teams.

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On The Edge Of Burnout

- Radosław Miernik tl;dr: "There’s no point in going into details about what exactly led to it, but I have to assure you that it wasn’t anyone’s fault. It was more about the direction that my role drifted in. In other words, I was no longer doing the work that I wanted to, and that made me unhappy. It was not fun."

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How I Got My Brain Back

- Brie Wolfson tl;dr: "Having my back against the wall forced me to understand more about what makes me tick, shuts me down, and picks me up." Struggling with depression, Brie tracked her moods to gain insights into what impacted them and how i.e. "a bad morning likely meant a bad day, seeing friends could go either way." Brie came up with a list of activities that positively impacted her mood, listed here, and created the "Post-It" method to execute them.

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To Handle Increased Stress, Build Your Resilience (2018)

- Ama Marston Stephanie Marston tl;dr: To cultivate resilience: (1) Reframe how you think about stress e.g. “how can I use the energy created by feeling stressed to..." (2) Create a healthy relationship to control and note factors out of your control. (3) Understand root causes. (4) Link learning with action e.g.“what can I learn from this?” instead of “why me?”

featured in #267