[meowtastic]

> being relentlessly helpful to others, even in things that aren’t strictly your responsibility, keeps you as someone everybody wants on the team

I often see this advice, but to me sounds like a speed run to burnout. I've seen tech leads leaving the industry because of this too.

[comte7092]

Proper boundary setting and negotiation is an important soft skill.

The takeaway from this advice is not to overdo it and burn out, but to recognize that not every responsibility needs to be delineated by bright line rules. Cultivating relationships with your team can take precedence over things that are strictly “not your job/responsibility”.

It isn’t an either or proposition.

[move-on-by]

Everyone is different- I absolutely love helping people. I could spend all day helping teammates and feel super energized by the end of the day.

Having said that, this advice is actually a bit problematic for me. I am over eager to help my teammates as well as those on other teams. I make a lot of connections that way, but the connections are almost always peer or lower on the ladder. They aren’t the connections that help as spoken of in other areas of this article. Also, with the time I’ve spent helping others, it’s less time I’m delivering something of value. I enjoy helping others, so I do it, but I try to keep it in moderation and keep in mind my priorities.

[sublinear]

> speed run to burnout

This is especially true when you're working at the extreme ends of the spectrum. Whether it's a startup or shithole corporate environment full of lazy shiftless bastards, picking up slack for incompetent management is not ok.

I'm saying this for the benefit of probably about half the people reading this right now. Enough is enough in this industry.