zlacker

>>Philpa+(OP)
This is a good description of what life is like working on almost any significant open source project. The only thing not included was the comments from overly entitled users that saps whatever morale and energy you have left. Probably best he did not include that though as that is what all discussion would be about.

I am not sure what to do about the burnout problem. The way he described it is very on point though. Since everyone working on the project is overloaded there is a great feeling of things only get done if you do them.

Most of my open source work was in the pre-GitHub days when we used mailing lists, not pull requests, to build community. I do think there was something better about that for the project itself as it encouraged a lot more discussion and community building. PR's and Issues become silos and are not great for general discussion. I think they also encourage drive-by contributions which honestly are intoxicating initially but once you see people are not coming back become defeating.

>>markph+H4
This generalises to any idealism. You would not think veterinarians to be at elevated risk of suicide, but they are [0], and I think the reasons are similar: a moral dilemma caused by the mismatch between expectation and grim reality which ultimately leads to burnout and desperation.

The other extreme is a "bullshit job", work that you don't enjoy and which serves no meaningful purpose.

[0] https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20231010-the-acute-suic...

>>MrBudd+F5
I 100% understand why veterinarians are in a crisis.

We had to let our pupper go a few weeks ago. The vet had to basically sit there and watch us while we processed the fact that we were about to pay her to kill our best friend.

For us, it was the worst day we had experienced in years. For her, it was Tuesday. She had other people waiting in the room next door, and had to go from solemn to bright and cheery over the span of ten footsteps, and she has to do that every day.

Her job is often to put a very real price tag on the life of a beloved companion. "I'm sorry, but keeping him alive will be $10,000... or we can humanely put him down for much, much less."

It's grim business. Necessary, but grim.