Burnout Chronicles III: Return to the Code

Burnout can erase the simple pleasure of writing code. After years of management pressure and a career pause following maternity leave, the author discovered that rest and family time were prerequisites for any spark of motivation to return. The insight is that without first meeting basic human needs, attempts to revive technical passion will falter.

The post walks through several concrete attempts to code again. Early open-source tickets felt like chores on an old MacBook, lacking a story to pull the author in. A deep-fake mitigation tool forced a messy but satisfying hack that eventually powered a podcast episode. An ERCOT REST API experiment showed how a compelling data problem can reignite curiosity, and a weather-station project turned a dead-old device into a live lightning-strike logger. Each example proves that the right narrative and workable hardware can transform coding from duty back to play.

Practical takeaways are simple: use decent hardware, hunt for projects with a clear, interesting story, and treat coding as a hobby rather than a deliverable. Leaders can support team members by allowing downtime, encouraging personal side projects, and removing the pressure to build something "new" or "valuable". The goal is to rebuild confidence and joy, which in turn lifts morale and performance.