[kwhat4]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I have had a similar experience where the endless stress and burnout culture in the tech field led to total mental collapse about 5 years ago and I can't say I have fully recovered. How have you dealt with employment post meltdown? I have found better jobs since then, however, they all seem to introduce some level of anxiety to my life and I am contemplating leaving tech after 20 years but find that I am not "qualified" to do much else. Just curious if this is a just me issue or if you or others have found a way out of this mess.

[pmoriarty]

If you are really burnt out and want to leave tech, I urge you to do it sooner than later. If you lack qualifications in whatever you want to do, you can still get them. Don't wait, follow your dream. Even if you fail, you'll have less regrets trying than going back to doing work you can't stand anymore.

I've burnt out multiple times and gone back in to tech only to get burnt out again and again, and have dragged my feet in switching careers, and have missed valuable years and decades that I could have been moving towards work I would have found more fulfilling, and now I'm finally trying that career change, but I wish I hadn't wasted all that time working in tech jobs I've lost absolutely all interest in and started to hate decades and decades ago.

[curioussavage]

From my experience most industries use and abuse people even worse. Sure my tech job is stressful but I've seen most other peoples jobs treat them worse AND compensate them for that less.