Avoiding Burnout in Open Source

OSS:kubernetes:🔥

March 17th, 2019

This post may come off a bit ironic, coming from someone who burned out pretty hard recently, but I received some really good advice and I hope it can help someone else.

Some of the advice I received:

• Set boundaries, reserve time for yourself

  • Don’t feel guilty for not responding right away.

  • Even if you work on Open Source fulltime, don’t let it become a “second job”, take time for yourself.

  • If you don’t have another hobby, try to find one. It’s healthy to take time away from it all.

• Try to focus on what you love

  • Not everyone can choose what they work on so easily, but if you can, consciously focus on what interests and excites you.

  • It’s okay to say no. You don’t have to tackle every ask.

  • Community, communication, and process are important, but they’re not more important than your health. Especially for introverted contributors, these things can get exhausting. You can take time to focus on other aspects.

• Try not to let it get too personal

  • The internet is full of jerks, try not to take it personally, and you don’t have to deal with it all by yourself.

  • Software, Projects, Companies … these all come and go, but relationships remain. The friendships your develop are more important than anything else.

Some of this may sound very obvious, but I found it very helpful to actually hear it spelled out from people I know and respect, from my peers, and even people I don’t know yet.

Thank you to everyone who reached out and gave this advice. I really appreciate it. ❤️

Please keep an eye on your peers, I know others are going through similar bouts with burnout or are nearly at their own limits. Check up on them, and if they’re up for it, go organize something fun and unrelated for a change.

Lastly, please try to be polite, and thank your peers for their hard work. Positive feedback can be really helpful, and we’re all in it together.