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Episode
293
Interview
Web News

Work-Life Balance for Web Developers in 2024

Recorded:
February 22, 2024
Released:
March 5, 2024
Episode Number:
293

Work-life balance is an important topic to talk about in the tech field, especially in 2024 with the recent layoffs and overall industry downturn. It can be easy to sacrifice some personal time to log extra hours at the office in an attempt to give yourself some job security or impress your boss. The problem is that this can be a slippery slope that leads you to work all the time for no additional pay and if your company restructures, or has problems keeping up revenues, you may still get a layoff. Digital availability is also a major problem in the tech field and other industries that rely on technology heavily - work is always ready to be done 24/7, with messages and emails coming in at all hours of the day. It's easy to just "check one email" when you get home from a long day at the office, quickly leading to getting pulled into a situation that could have you working throughout the evening. During these trying times it's important that we keep our families, friends, and mental health in mind alongside our careers. In this episode Matt and Mike discussed the importance of work-life balance for web developers during these trying times.

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Show Notes

What is work-life balance in tech?

  • Being able to work and enjoy life is what I consider to be work life balance
  • This will be drastically different for everyone as some people can get enjoyment from working and some people just want to finish work and do anything else
  • I'd say even for the people that enjoy hte grind and work there is still balance that needs to be achieved to have a successful life
  • Remote work and flexible hours pose a opportunity and a challenge for managing work life balance in tech

The challenges of work-life balance in tech

  • Tech is a field that seems to never have a ‘off’ time so for a lot people it might seem like they are always ‘on call’
  • With all the modern benefits of remote work, the reality is that it can make it so that you feel obligated to work more hours to make up for the fact you’re getting to work from home. It’s almost like a guilt factor for some. 
  • The difficulty in estimating software development projects (as the vastly vary in complexity) can make it so that ‘crunch’ is inevitable to try to reach deadlines
  • It’s common for tech workers to be freelances working for several clients at once, this can make it seem like you have multiple full-time jobs
  • Constantly changing tech will make you feel bad for not keeping up with the latest frameworks that are ‘all the rage’
  • Remote teams are usually global which requires weird meeting/work hours

Work-life balance situations in 2024

  • Upskilling
  • Looking for jobs
  • Standing out to avoid layoffs
  • Content creation vs coding

What can you do to avoid going insane?

  • Find the balance that works for you
    - Do you need to workout everyday?
    - Do you need to game for a few hours?
    - Do you need family time?
    - Do you need a combination?
  • If you need it, set hard boundaries and be clear about them
    - Tell your team you’re not available at certain times
    - Mark yourself as away in your slack/teams
    - Turn off your work notifications
    - Have a emergency line that someone can still reach you on
  • Don’t over think
    - If you’re enjoying grinding and working and it’s not weighing on you, then lean into it. 
    - Certain times in your life will require it and if you’ve found something you can pour time into that you don’t hate thats a good thing
  • Learn to notice the signs of burnout
    - Is your mind cloudy and you’re not able to focus?
    - Are you dredging things you liked before?
    - Find the signs that signal you’re reaching a breaking point and steer directly away from that