Hi.
I suspect I'm slightly off topic with this answer, but there are a couple
of ways to look at this.
1) If you are the sort of person who quite happily does what you are told,
when you are told to do it, and generally stays oblivious to the future,
then IT jobs are amazingly simple. You follow a recipe someone else has
given you and never have to think for yourself. Doesn't matter if you are
tired or hungover, because you just follow the recipe and everything is
great.
2) You are someone that actually cares and tries to keep up with the ever
changing world of tech. Now you are constantly paranoid with fear of
missing out (FOMO), and constantly chasing to learn new things. A week away
from your quest is a week you will never get back. At this point being
tired or ill destroys you.
As for coping, then there are a few things that I fail to do on a regular
basis, but would help.
- Physical activity, as has been mentioned before. Doesn't matter what it
is. Do what you enjoy.
- Diet. I know it's boring, and I know it's me saying this, but the better
you eat, the better your body functions and the better your mind functions.
Crap food choices lead to crap brain choices.
- Sleep is the most underrated thing. So many adults suffer from sleep
apnea, which is literally taking years off their life, and don't even know
it. If you are not waking up feeling well rested, then something is wrong
and you need to fix it. It's not just fat people that suffer from this.
- Have an interest outside of serious tech that you can spend some time on
to reset. Could be hobbies, reading, watching films, playing games,
exercise etc. Anything that isn't tech.
- Take a step back and try to put things into context. Things seem really
important when they are up in your face. Being able to take a step back and
reframe them helps you to make better judgements.
Like I said, possibly not on topic, but it's what I thought of when I saw
the original post...
Cheers
Tim...
On Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 12:01 AM Connor McDonald <
dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
To be honest, I'm still struggling with Lothar's talk of 1800 and 2200,
when the 600-ranked chess bot kicks my ass most days :-)
Connor McDonald
===========================
email: connor_mcdonald@xxxxxxxxx
blog: connor-mcdonald.com
twitter: connor_mc_d
On Saturday, 11 December 2021, 01:21:21 am AWST, Lothar Flatz <
l.flatz@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Guys
I mean to teach my collogues that they do a straining job (as DBAs in
Managed Service). They have to understand to take care of themselves.
By tradition we define a tough job as physically challenging. I think we
underestimate mental work.
In some way I got the effect measured in 2011. I used to play chess
tournaments since I was 16.
In 2011 I played one tournament at Monday and one on Friday.
On Monday I scored 1st Rank with an ELO performance
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system) of >= 2200 and on
Friday I had an Elo performance of roughly 1800. (Elo performance means
that just one tournament is measured.)
Thus I effectively lost 3 levels due exhaustion by work . I stopped
playing tournaments. It is no fun to be reduced to expert when you can
play on national master level.
If you would please share your thoughts on how though IT Jobs are and
how you deal with it? Maybe you can also point me to some good articles.
Thanks
Lothar
