Work-life balance has become a growing concern in the tech industry, and a recent Reddit post by a techie highlights how demanding startup roles can make it difficult to switch off from work.
In the post, the techie described constant thoughts about projects, skills, and industry developments, even during leaves and weekends.
“My brain can’t stop thinking about work even on rest days,” the caption of the post reads.
According to the post, the techie has been working at a mid-sized startup for about a year and currently serves as a backend lead.
Despite having only two years of industry experience, the techie said that the responsibilities include managing several projects in production.
The role involves coordinating across teams, attending meetings where project requirements are finalised, building scalable solutions with a development team, and handling DevOps tasks and deployments.
Techie opens up about burnout:
The techie added that the job includes involvement in almost every stage of the development process.
“The main issue is that I can’t stop thinking about work, or how to hone my skills, or I keep chatting with ChatGPT or Claude, brainstorming, or getting clarity on concepts,” the techie wrote.
Along with describing the workload, the techie also raised concerns about salary.
“2yoe and I’m very underpaid (6 figure INR), no ESOPs or stocks,” the techie adds.
Constant focus on work has created another problem. “My brain can’t stop thinking about work even on rest days,” the techie wrote in the post.
“Work-life balance is dead. I don’t even know what to do in my free time. I’ve lost connection with myself. And trying to keep tabs on AI news is not something an employed individual can do atp.” the techie adds.
Here’s how people reacted to the post:
Reddit users commenting on the post, saying similar experiences are common in startup environments where employees often juggle multiple responsibilities early in their careers.
One of the users commented, “For learning pov its great, at the end of the day, you are still an employee for them. Don’t settle for anything, work on your goals, and switch jobs.”
“Even I am like you. The same thing is happening to me as well. But one thing I understood is that people think this way because they keep acknowledging the things they don’t know and forget to appreciate the things they are good at,” another user commented.