Re:Study finds 83% of software developers feel burnout
by eaton on Tuesday July 13, 2021 @11:07PM
(#27829179)
> If a fire has burnt out, it can’t deliver any warmth anywhere, not just at some things.
You're putting a lot of weight on the mechanics of "burning," but the physics of combustion are an analogy of convenience, not the diagnostic criteria.
One of the reasons that "burnout" applies particularly to work rather than hobbies or recreational pursuits is that people (generally speaking) can't afford to just walk away from their job and return when they feel like it.
Similarly, for me, the term “burnt out” means not only that you can’t accomplish anything useful at work, but also “take that home”, and stay feeling powerless there. If you feel tired at work, but the first day of a holiday feel full of energy again, I wouldn’t call that burnout.
Wikipedia doesn’t seem to fully agree, though. It redirects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupational_burnout, and quotes The Who as “Burn-out refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.” (https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupat...)