#49🔎 Burnout - Finding a new job
Using what burned you out as a guide to your next job.
Welcome to Tech Atypically 👋, your weekly blog for navigating the challenges of ADHD and being in the tech industry.
Part 4 of the Coping with Burnout series.
🌋Takeaways
Take the first step of finding your next job by asking yourself “What do you hate most about your current job?”
Use the list created to make search parameters to begin your job search.
Use a job search engine like Otta to look for jobs based on values to increase your chances of not burning out at the next job.
🐼Connect with me for ADHD and Product Coaching
⭐Introduction
Today, I discuss how to use the list of things that made you burn out at your current job to create the requirements of what you want for your next job.
🔎Swimming in the sea of negative feelings
When you tell a loved one you’re burned out from a job, their immediate response is often “What do you want to be doing?” or “What’s your dream job?”.
For someone with ADHD, the most common response might be “I don’t know. I’m too burned out to be self-aware” or “If I knew what I wanted to be doing, I wouldn’t be doing this job”. These are the polite responses we tell our loved ones.
For others, it might be “Fuck if I know. Leave me alone so I can get back to this job I hate.”
When you’re so overwhelmed with negative feelings, it can be hard to think of any constructive.
Any help thrown your way might as well be thrown in the trash along with the hobbies you told yourself you’d start as a way to cope with burnout.
🔎Take the first step with one question
You are going to take your first step to recovery by answering one question.
What do you hate most about your current job?
Do this to acknowledge your current emotional state and access the most available feelings you have. When things suck, it’s easier to talk about why it sucks instead of how to make it better.
Let loose with your grievances no matter how small or large. Here are some examples I’ve experienced and heard from coaching clients.
Bad manager or poor leadership
Poor work-life balance
Uninteresting or unchallenging work
Not aligned with the company mission
Long or weird working hours
Poor product vision
Toxic work environment
Racism
Sexism
Poor pay
Pay reduction due to stock cliff
Under leveled job title
Unable to get anything done at the job
Fuck everything about this place
Got it all out? Good. Time for the next step. You’re going to use this list to create job search parameters.
🔎Creating job parameters
Prioritize your list into the top 3 things you hate most.
I’ll use my decision to leave a previous role as an example.
What I hated the most
The work was not aligned with the company's mission.
Toxic work environment.
Drastic pay cut due to stock structure.
🔎Breaking it down with introspection
The hard part is breaking down each item into what happened at the job and what you want next.
Lucky for you, you’re a product person and do this for a living. Unlucky for you, you have ADHD which can make it hard for you to explore your feelings and past experiences.
Take a moment to think about the why of your hate and write them down.
In bold are the search parameters I came up with for my current job search.
The work was not aligned with the company's mission.
Mental health-related companies. It’s hard for me to regulate my ADHD when I don’t believe in the company’s mission. It’s even worse when I believe in the mission, but the product vision doesn’t align with it. If I go back to a full-time job, I ideally want it to be ADHD related.
Toxic work environment.
Leaders that align with your values. Do some baseline research on the company leaders and see if they have any red flags when it comes to their character and values.
Do they have lawsuits pending? Have they sued others? What kind of news articles come up about them? It seems basic but, trust me, it could save you some trouble.
Drastic pay cut due to stock structure.
Late-stage start-up, established private or post-IPO company. Pre-IPO stocks are essentially lotto tickets. Stock cliffs at public companies are also a risk. It really comes down to risk tolerance. Being a dad, I have a lower risk tolerance and value predictable income over volatility.
The speed at which you accomplish this process depends on you.
It’s going to be an ongoing process as you figure out what you want. That’s OK. The point is to keep learning about yourself and refining your list.
🔎Start your search
Try these filters on a job search engine like Otta. I like it allows me to search for jobs based on the values and 2/3 search parameters that I mentioned above. (not a sponsored post btw)
I don’t think there’s a filter for “toxic leaders” though. Maybe that’s a good start-up idea?
✨Conclusion
When you’re burned out, it’s easy to believe there is no hope. It’s simply not true. At some point, you’ll have another job.
The tech industry rarely rewards loyalty. You’ll either get a new job by choice or it’ll be made for you by the company.
There is a next chapter for you regardless. What you can choose today, however, is to listen to yourself just a little more. And that’s the first step to recovery.
🐼Have a question about ADHD or struggling in your career?
⏭️Next Week
Celebrating 1 year of the newsletter with a post about suicide and self-harm.