The ‘B’ word in this case is Burnt-Out. now I am not an expert in this field in any way, Just experienced in seeing it in real life. I have seen genuine Burnout, I’ve seen fake Burnout, I’ve seen people well on the path to it, I’ve seen people recover from it if caught in time. But if you genuinely burn out, you are gone from that job or role. You just walk out the building, or you sit at your desk with tears rolling down your face while trying to take part in a meeting and not understanding why your shirt is wet, or worst of all you are completely zombified so you aren’t able to do anything but don’t even realise it.

Its not a mild thing. It’s serious. So if you are feeling under stress and under pressure, do not start by claiming you are Burnt-Out immediately. its not very likely, If you genuinely feel you are Burnt-Out then I would get professional help Immediately!. 

However, Burnout takes many many forms, and again, I’m not an expert. I’ve seen people Burn-Out fully in six months under very, very high pressure. I’ve seen people slowly Burn-Out after two decades and then decide to quit. quit the corporate world, move somewhere different and take up painting or Sheep herding ¹.

But please don’t overuse the word, it makes it harder to find friends and colleagues that are in genuine danger, and means that Bosses/Clients/Employers become numb to it. If you feel yourself going past normal levels of exhaustion or stress ², and you can feel the first inklings of what you think is Burn-Out. Then you might be starting to Burn, but you’re not actually Burnt-Out.

I feel that you get far more positive feedback from Managers/Employers/Clients if you say you are exhausted and need a break, and then explain that they will get you back at 100% if they work with you on this, also if you approach it this way they can stop it spreading in the team, as its rarely just one team member that is suffering, and someone might be far closer to full Burn-Out than you, but is suffering in silence, its in their interest to address it.

As the great Gimli son of Gloin once said.

“I must rest a little to run the better”

1. Which is a hideously stressful Job in its self[↩]
2. and Yes, I am aware that “normal levels of exhaustion or stress” is a terrible phrase, but this is the world we live in[↩]

It was with great joy that I saw the First Tuesday club notification come up on LinkedIn.

Run by the owners of Information Security Solutions, I’d been going to the event since they first started many many years ago, but they’d obviously stopped during lockdown, and I was happy to see that they restarted, This was the 185th one and I was wondering it they still had kept the same key points that made it such a solid event before the pandemic.

I’m glad to say they have, and for those who are new to the event let me explain

1.  The Attendees: The club consists of a very broad group of people from the London security scene. yes It’s invite only, but it’s not just managers, or just technical, or die hard security. It’s a group of people who are all to do with security in a professional capacity. Everybody there knows their stuff, and that means that you are free to have an open and easy-going conversation on just about any subject. You meet a wide variety of people, So I had conversations with various souls, ranging from hardware encryptions and the latest hacking tools such as the flipper zero all the way through to very anonymized anecdotes of security horrors that we’ve all seen during life, as well as how we solve individual problems and any recommendations we might have. All in all, it’s one of those places where you always learn something new and meet someone fresh. Never just the same faces, always a new addition. If you’re brand new to the club and to this audience, just grab a drink and within about 40 seconds ¹ Someone will come up and introduce themselves, shake hands and off you go.
2. No Hard Sale: With so many of these social things, particularly those that are sponsored, you’re living in dread of the hard sales pitch. Everybody wants to flog something or you’re expected to hand over your details and then you’ll get a hard sale later on. None of that exists at the First Tuesday Club, I was pleased to see that this events sponsor Cybereason behaved in the same way. They had their very minor sales pitch. Very easy-going and professional and because of that their name sticks in your brain.
3. Good food, Good drink, Good Venue: The food and Drink has changed subtly over the years to adapt to a changing world. So when I went to the first one, Vegan options were not really a thing. Now Every possible food taste is catered for with a never ending supply of nibbles. Not enough to make you bloated and tired, but enough to keep you full because you will have arrived straight after work. The drink selection also had something for everyone:  champagne, Red wine, White wine, bottled beers and all soft drinks.

So it was great to be back at the First Tuesday, its survived the pandemic and has come back better then ever, I look forward to next month.

1. if your not actively dealing with emails[↩]

Definition:

“It is defined as the point where high difficulty stops being a stimulating challenge and becomes merely f**king me about” – Zero Punctuation

Explanation:

This phrase has been lifted in its entirety from the review of “The Surge” by Zero punctuation,

In corporate terms, this is when you have finally reached the stage with any kind of stakeholder where you know nothing you can do or say will make them stop blocking your deliverable.

This could be a member of business for whom you are changing the way they have to work for an accepted reason i.e. New regulations

This could be a localised stakeholder where you are implementing a global project, and it will ruin their little empire.

This could be a technical staff member for whom you’re either taking control away from what they’re currently doing, or implementing a way that they suddenly receive oversight.

It is just a time where you have made every attempt to cater to someone’s needs, you have bent over backwards and they still just keep making stuff up in meetings.

You can see it in people’s eyes when you or they hit this moment, and it’s always a definition of professionalism as to how its handled. Do people utterly flip out and rage? or is it taken offline and hard evidence is presented that this person is an active hindrance to delivery (always a grim moment).

Anyway, I have met no better phrase for that moment of realisation that someone is just a blocker and holds no further use to the project.

Disclaimer: As always these posts are not aimed at anyone client or employer and are just my personal observations over a lifetime of dealing with both management and frontline associates.