[ageitgey]

1. This is normal.

2. Take some time off.

3. Realize that your personal identity and value has nothing to do with your job. Outside of a small world of co-workers, no one in the world cares about your job or your promotion or if you delivered your project on time. You almost certainly think about your job performance 10x more than your bosses do. They are probably just shocked/glad you are still there giving them a good return on their investment into your wages. Your value as a human is not related to how fast you close tickets.

4. A company that grows a lot will change significantly. Big companies are fundamentally different beasts that require different skills for success than small companies. At a small company, you are praised for getting things done as fast as possible. At a big company, you are praised for your ability to herd cats to get small things done that other people need. If you don't enjoy the latter, find a different job at a smaller company (or start your own, or do something else entirely).

In other words:

Working for someone else's company is indeed a never-ending treadmill of tasks. Eventually you will get burnt out doing it, which is what this sounds like. So take a little time off and then make a change!

The difference is that you now have 3 years of solid experience at a fast-growing company. It will probably be much easier for you to get your next job based on that and you will probably make more money doing it.

[TSiege]

Great advice! I would also add it that don't make what you do for work your hobby. Some on here might disagree with me, but I've found programming in my free time just feels like I'm at work.

Explore new hobbies while you have down time. If engineering is your thing, give woodworking or machining a try. Maybe take up a sport or cycling, physical activity is great for your mental health. Just try being more outdoors

[necessary]

This has become tough for me recently. I’ve become more active recently and have picked up language learning and swimming related hobbies, but I’ve realized my day job doesn’t teach me anything new. Additionally, since I’m also early in my career, I realized I don’t have many personal side projects under my belt to build a “portfolio”. So now I’m in a debacle where I’m burnt out at work for a myriad of reasons (shoddy remote development environment being the main one), and I don’t want to code as a hobby anymore, but I feel that I must so that I can change jobs.

[ironlake]

I've been a software developer for over 20 years and never showed a portfolio as part of a hiring process. Also, I take time out of my workday to learn stuff because my work doesn't teach me anything new either.

[mrtranscendence]

My employer theoretically codifies this by requesting that we spend X amount of our time on learning and development. Unfortunately, even when time is blocked out for that, most people seem to just work on their backlog.

[thatguymike]

Depending on your exact field and desires, but you may very well not need a portfolio. If you’re going for very design-heavy frontend job then maybe, but after I got some work experience nobody needed to see code I wrote in my spare time (which I have none of).

I wouldn’t let that stop you. Just start applying.

[Clubber]

I prefer smaller companies. Almost all of the smaller companies I've worked for either grew, or grew and got acquired and become big companies. Big companies are full of bureaucratic nonsense and friction. I would start looking for another small company. Doing that tends to reinvigorate me.

[marktangotango]

Very normal and expected actually:

> I joined one year into the business and have been there for the last three years. I took on a lot of responsibility early on because I was excited and I learned a lot. I worked on tasks that had a direct impact on revenue.

This is usually paired with "I used to be integral to the company, now they've hired a lot more developers, PMs, and qa, I used to have a lot of impact, now I have none". Ie the early employee role is diminished as the start up grows.

This can be a good time to grow with the company by moving into a development adjacent role, like sales engineer, PM, management etc. Or take your experience and move on.

[dysoco]

Not OP but in a very similar position.

How much time off do you think would be enough? Are we talking like a one/two week vacation or something more in the range of months (which ofc would imply leaving my job)?

Also does taking time off also include university or is it just the job that's going to be problematic?

[Leherenn]

I doubt a week or two is going to be enough. You don't necessarily have to leave your job though, given how difficult it is to hire people, it's likely an unpaid leave for a few months would be accepted.

[ironlake]

As an American, I could afford a few months of unpaid leave – I couldn't afford the health insurance or risk switching plans if my employer didn't cover the costs.

[Leherenn]

Sure, but leaving your company would be the same. If you can't afford it, well, yeah, it's not an option.

[baq]

note that this particular time is perhaps not the best to switch jobs. that doesn't mean not to look for jobs, but the writing's on the wall - hiring freezes, offer rescinds, even layoffs are in play.