Contractor burnout and taking time off

[DaveB]

I took 6 months out a couple of years back. Did me the world of good once I'd got past the worry of not having money coming in. Focussed on non-work related stuff, gave myself a monthly budget from the warchest to live on and had a great Spring/Summer. Was back in contract within a week of looking again.

The only thing I would say is do it over the summer, being stuck inside with nothing to do in winter is miserable.

Now you've got me think about dong it again next year.

[NickFitz]

I do it all the time. I work bloody hard when I'm on a gig because I only have two settings. The last time I carried on for too long, I ended up having a double coronary bypass. Lesson learned - it's important to take time off when either your body or mind or both are telling you that's enough for now

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Why do you never post in the professional parts of the forum where you don't open yourself to abuse and where other people can read the posts and take something from it?

Cos I enjoy getting the abuse from you. I was wondering when you were going to post….

[d000hg]

I deliberately introduced a month's gap when taking an extension once, which was nice. Ostensibly to work on a plan B project which never really went anywhere.

3/4 day weeks are something I've done before as well and that's pretty neat.

[Fraidycat]

I think one of the reasons I'm burnout is because I've been WFH for almost 2 years......

I was feeling burnt out a few months ago, wfh was taking its toll.

Back in May/June the client was seriously thinking about return to work from office in July. I was really looking forward to it.

Then they pushed the date back to early 2022.

So i thought i am not going to drive myself to burn out for another six months. And so I have been working at a slower pace ever since. I don't feel guilty as am happy to return the office and work back at normal pace. But the client is preventing this.

[TwoWolves]

The guy I replaced on my current contract didn't leave to go to another gig, he left to take time-out due to burn-out. It's the big issue nobody is talking about in the IT industry.

Today the scrum-master pings me on slack... "management feels that the team are not making fast enough progress, I need you to help me with the PR".

Here we go again.

[eek]

The guy I replaced on my current contract didn't leave to go to another gig, he left to take time-out due to burn-out. It's the big issue nobody is talking about in the IT industry.

Today the scrum-master pings me on slack... "management feels that the team are not making fast enough progress, I need you to help me with the PR".

Here we go again.

Management have unrealistic expectations due to the scrum-master not managing expectations correction.

[SimonMac]

Go four days a week, you will notice the difference in your well-being and not really notice the difference in your pocket

[ladymuck]

Go four days a week, you will notice the difference in your well-being and not really notice the difference in your pocket

Totally this.

The extra day really makes a big difference.

[vetran]

I think one of the reasons I'm burnout is because I've been WFH for almost 2 years......

The w4nking is a killer or so NLUK tells me!