It is very tiresome and painful for me (AuDHD) because of the:
- Open office setup which leaves me unable to slack comfortably when I have reached my limit, leading me to overwork
- The forced socializing because I have to negotiate with the rest of the developers and testers, while having to mask throughout the whole day (I reached the point where most days I don't eat with the rest of the devs but I just eat alone to recharge)
- The fact that most of my working time consists of waiting for the programs to compile, while I just scroll on the phone in waiting mode and feeling very understimulated
- The long commute (2h back and forth), which combined with the 8h of work have left me with no time and energy for my personal interests. I imagine neurotypicals also suffer greatly from this, but as my interests are a fundamental part of my identity I feel like my self has been completely squashed to fit into the "job mode" box
- My work PC is monitored so I can't even go into this site or talk with my leftist gf and friend group (also occasional drug users). I need this communication and shitposting time as a break from work yet I don't have it. I feel socially castrated
- The daily status report meetings force me to work even on days where I can't fucking take it anymore just so I have something to say, and also interrupt me while I am working by forcing a context switch
I just cope by using drugs bi-weekly (pregabalin, psychedelics and dissociatives) but even then instead of enjoying the trip I always come back to venting about work and capitalism to my poor gf
Have you found some trick to survive while working, without getting burnt out? I want to listen to your experiences. If this post isn't appropriate for this comm, feel free to delete it
Is your commute two hours each way, or two hours total per day? Either way that sounds brutal.
I try and find a quiet corner away from people to work at, and wear headphones so mostly people leave me alone. I take long bathroom breaks and shitpost on the toilet. I take all my vacation time every year, and sometimes call out sick if I'm not feeling like working. I don't volunteer for overtime or special responsibilities. I stay out of office politics as much as possible. Maybe this is why I've never been promoted ever.
As you do, eat alone and don't socialise with workmates. I try to read actual books or podcast on my free time to give my eyes a break.
How do you cope with your job?
Poorly
The long commute (2h back and forth)
Is moving closer to your workplace at all an option? Moving is always a huge pain in the ass, but in my experience, I've found that the reduced commute time is worth it.
But yeah, I feel you. It's definitely worse at some jobs than others (my current job is actually one of the best I've ever had as far as being autism-friendly goes), but on some level, work is always a panopticon.
My workplace lies outside of the city, so by moving more closely, I would have to do that commute to reach the city center in order to go for dates with my gf and meet with my friends. My quality of life might drop even more.
weed & shrooms everyday.
i didn't get burnt out, but i used to leave every job 3 years or so once the forced socialization got to be too draining on my psyche; but that stopped being a thing when i started working from home since covid and now i do a lot less of both but it's still everyday.
now my employer wants us to return to office so i'm going to quit.
Don't psychedelics have that 2-week tolerance period? Or is it OK if you microdose
microdosing with emphasis on the micro since it relaxes me to the point of falling asleep.
I work in a field that suits me. The hard part is the pay is low and the conditions often suck. The work though, not so bad.
Eat alone, nicotine-based smoke break alone, a gin cocktail with dinner, and a blunt before bed.
My workplace is also within a comfortable bike ride's distance, though; so I don't have the commute issue right now at least.
Badly, and it's close to an ideal job situation all things considered
I'm unemployable so I just spend all day in crippling depression, worrying about money. I don't really recommend it.
When I need to engage hyperfocus I hang a sign on my chair that says "Headphones in, unless the building is on fire please make this conversation an email." And then input in headphones and listen to music too loud. That really helps me stay engaged with work for a while.
