[junon]

Yep. I was recently asked by an interviewer what burnout means to me. I said it's a function of energy and reward. High energy expenditure paired with high reward is just rewarding work. It's when there's high expenditure with low reward that causes burnout.

[brailsafe]

Ah, this is on point. I've been struggling with this for years after having put so much energy in to try and put good work into a major website, only to be totally fucked over by ignorant managers and subsequently internalize this feeling of "why would I ever fucking put extra energy into any work again"

People who haven't experienced this are just lucky. They've been rewarded well for their energy, or they had an early stake, or they just never put much energy in because they were in a space where they could be productive. They've never been fired on their way up. They've never had to rely on savings for an entire year and have to battle algo challenges just to get a phone call while dealing with zero motivation for even writing code.

[Trasmatta]

The reward, for me, also has to be more than just money. I get paid well, but when the work isn't intrinsically rewarding, I still risk burnout. That's why the highest paid engineers in the world still burn out.

(And then there's the guilt of "wow, what is wrong with me, I'm getting paid a bunch of money to do something I'm good at, why am I losing my mind?", but that thought process doesn't help much.)

[tifadg1]

Your simple explanation is a thought I hope to remember forever as it's immediately applicable and doesn't require further elaborations.