It’s So Much Fun Burning Out!

Wheee! It’s like self-immolation, but with Slack notifications!

Burnout gets a bad rap. People say it’s depressing or overwhelming, or even exhausting. But not us. At Miserably Employed, we know the truth: burnout is just your body’s way of letting you know you're having way too much fun at work. The kind of fun that makes you forget how to blink or why weekends exist.

Think about it—you’re always at work. Even when you’re not. Why stop the party at 6 PM when you could keep the good times rolling until 2 AM, debugging staging for a product no one uses? Who needs dinner when you can snack on anxiety and blue light? Who needs sleep when there are deadlines? You’re not tired, you’re passionate—and okay, maybe a little terrified.

And let’s not forget the emotional enrichment. You cry in new places now like the bathroom or the stairwell. The best is the produce aisle at Trader Joe’s when you suddenly remember a ticket that slipped through the cracks. At least there you feel seen. That’s versatility! That’s multitasking!

Your productivity? It’s off the charts. You work through lunch, through breaks, through any hope of a personal life. You’ve become a machine that ships tickets at 140% velocity while running on fumes and lukewarm coffee. And what do you get for it? More tickets. The system works.

As for your social life, who needs friends when you have meetings? Dozens of them. Every day. You nod, you smile, you say “great point” into a muted mic while spooning cereal from the box. You’re not sure what the meeting is for anymore, but you’re there. You’re present. You’re thriving.

And yes, you’ve become very creative. You invent whole new ways to look productive—typing loudly without purpose, scheduling meetings with yourself, whispering “interesting…” while staring at the same file for hours. You’ve rewritten the same code comment seven times and no one even asked. Your dashboard? Pure performance art.

Eventually, you stop reacting. Prod goes down, and you shrug. The CTO joins your retro, and you blink. The sun rises and sets and you barely register it. You’ve reached a higher state of being—a kind of spiritual detachment only accessible through complete emotional burnout. You are no longer a developer. You are backlog incarnate.

The best part? Everyone thinks you’re crushing it. Your boss calls you a rockstar. Your team says you’re dependable, but the truth is that you haven’t felt genuine joy in half a year. But perception is reality, and you're currently perceived as absolutely killing it. So, yay. I guess.

Let’s stop treating burnout like a problem. It’s totally not. This is totally fine. It’s a celebration of everything the modern workplace stands for: endless output, flexible boundaries (i.e., none), and a slow, delicious unraveling of the human soul. It’s not a warning sign. It’s a vibe.

Keep smiling. Keep shipping. Keep those little 🔥 emojis next to your name. Because if you’re going to burn out, you may as well make everyone that you're having fun.