Three weeks ago, I experienced two major life events:
1.) For first time since 2006, I launched the full version of this website, moving beyond just a splash, landing, or coming soon page. (Woot Woot!)
2.) I gave notice to my boss, informing him of my departure from the OneDrive Consumer team, which I have been a part of for 8 years.
To understand what led to that decision, I’ll take you back 4 years to give proper context.
September 2020
I was 7 years into my career, just promoted to the final level of SDE II (62), and at the beginning of a 1.5 year project to refresh the compute infrastructure for OneDrive. The visibility, priority, and scope seemed right for my new level, with the expectation that this project would catapult me to Senior in at least 3 years. After the project’s completion, I planned to focus on updating our tooling and automation for managing our capacity, PROGRAMMING the stuff I enjoy…
As you might remember, 2020 was an “interesting” year due to a particular virus. Not only did it introduce working from home full-time, but it also caused supply chain issues for computer hardware. This directly affected the project’s timeline, causing it to slip from 1.5 to over 2.5 years.
I initially prepared myself, knowing that the project would be interesting at first but become more monotonous and repetitive as it progressed, with the reward being engaging programming work. The delays were initially disappointing, but as time went on, the unknown end date of a project that kept slipping took a toll on me. The frustration of a slipping timeline delaying the programming work I enjoyed was significant, to say the least.
You might be wondering, since the project kept getting delayed and drawn out, why I didn’t just start that programming work in parallel. While this was my main project, I had a number of other responsibilities that consumed the time which would have been dedicated to developing that tooling.
Disappointment
Fast forward 3 years: I’ve trained and transitioned the compute project to a junior engineer, I’m advising as an SME (subject matter expert) for our asynchronous task scheduler, and I’m working on various projects to align OneDrive with new organization-mandated improvements, occasionally dedicating a couple of weeks to improving our tooling.
While I have faced difficulties and setbacks over the past 3 years, I’ve overcome them and grown. I’m the person you give an obscure project to, and I’ll figure out all the pieces to successfully complete it. My sphere of influence has expanded, and I’ve earned the trust of both engineers and managers.
I’m expecting a promotion to Senior, having written the best review of my career and received numerous positive feedback from managers and peers…
No promotion.
Understanding Burnout
Using the description of job burnout from the Mayo Clinic:
Job burnout is a type of stress linked to work. It includes being worn out physically or emotionally. Job burnout also may involve feeling useless, powerless and empty.
If you think you might be experiencing burnout, the article provides several self-diagnosing questions that are worth reviewing.
My Symptoms:
- Waning interest in my work
- Lacking fulfillment when completing work
- Withdrawn from the team
Analyzing Causes:
- Lack of recognition
- I’m the type of person who wants to work hard and be rewarded for it. I don’t want to have to peacock or billboard my work to get noticed. Knowing that in this industry you generally have to perform at a higher level before getting promoted, there comes a time when you’re performing at a high level and not being rewarded for it. When this draws out for more than a year, it’s fuel for the burnout fire and resentment starts to build.
- Lack of variety and control over work
- I found myself in a cycle of working on unplanned or reactive tasks. The planned work that I was excited about and aligned with my career goals got constantly deprioritized. Additionally, the variety of projects and tasks OneDrive was taking on decreased as well. This shift left me feeling increasingly demotivated and disengaged.
- Lack of challenging work
- I love learning and thrive on projects that expand my knowledge and skill set. However, the work was often repetitive and didn’t challenge me to develop new abilities. This lack of growth was frustrating because I wanted to work on impactful projects that would help me grow in my career. Without meaningful achievements to add to my resume, I felt stuck and unfulfilled, and I questioned whether OneDrive was a fit for my long-term goals.
What Now?
Today is my last day on the OneDrive team, and I’ll be starting a new journey next week. While I haven’t found a definite cure for burnout, understanding its causes and symptoms helps me better position myself to prevent it from recurring. I believe that taking on a new challenge with a fresh team could be key to revitalizing my professional growth. I’m optimistic about the change, though only time will tell how effective it will be. In a forthcoming post, I will detail my path to joining this new team, including the interview experiences and the steps I took to prepare for this opportunity.
But what happens when you work hard at something unfulfilling? It drains your spirit. It robs you of your life force. You end up depleted, depressed and angry.
– Oprah Winfrey