How Farming Saved Me From Developer Burnout

Burnout. According to some studies, 81% of developers have experienced it in recent years. While there’s no clear remedy for burnout, Anselm Hannemann has found one way to combat it… by planting vegetables.

This mini-doc follows Anselm as he mixes development with being in nature. This is probably our most relaxing doc yet, so grab a tea and get cosy!

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[Honeypotio]

As always, thanks for watching (and thanks to Anselm for sharing his story)! If you have any advice for people experiencing stress or burnout, let’s pay it forward and share below. <3

[TechAtScale]

I took two years out from the tech scene, I thought I would be outdated, I thought nobody would hire me again, and I'd need to spend a year catching up. Reality, nothing had really changed that much. Sure, a new framework to learn but that isn't anything new and everyone is learning a new framework at some point. I thought I would lose syntax or forget critical information, but within a month I'd say I was 95% back to where I was before taking the break. Don't let the internal fear get to you! Take the time, enjoy life and find a way to do this sustainable.

[iam_maechan]

A nice video!! I'm a web developer in Japan. Last year, my wife and I left Tokyo, where I had lived for about 10 years, to live in the countryside. I wanted to change my way of life like Anselm. We live in northern Japan now. For some reason, not many people leave Tokyo to live in the countryside, but it was a good decision for us. I was encouraged by this video. Thanks so much for sharing your great journey, Anselm. You are so cool! ARIGATO!!

[ayushsuman_]

This doc brings out the reality of where we are heading ourselves into. The idea of metaverse, social media and staying connected to the world is cool but human brain is not built to handle such a high bandwidth of information flow.

[matthewlivingston]

I took almost 5 years off from tech, started an organic smallholding, and now been back 6 months as remote software engineer on 4 days/week managing the farm in the other hours - it took a little while to get back into it but not as much as I thought, and really enjoying the balance so far as Anselm has done!

[alishapayne]

Feelings of burnout can really go under the radar, especially during these covid times.. somehow being unmotivated has become part of my everyday existence - thanks for reminding me of the importance of staying balanced, Honeypot and Anselm! Also, what a beautiful family, the wife wiping away a little tear made me all emotional

[masumonweb]

We are loosing balance everywhere. If tech can't bring happiness, reduced work hours, more time with family, more time to enjoy what we love, then how are we better than the old days. We are overworking everywhere. Leisure is a luxury now. Thanks a lot Honeypot for such a great story. I too moved out of city this year and loving my village walks every morning. I am not going back to city again. Hope I can survive with freelancing and will start a farm soon.

[isaacelinamspielberg]

Burn out turns your passion to a burden. This the best video for devs and coders. Thanks. Amazing family

[moeman]

been through similar experience, got all of the burn out symptoms he mentioned and it hit so hard that I had to quite my job, even after quitting my job I had to let 3 months goes by without doing anything to start healing!!!

My advice to junior/new developers is to not ever overwork, make sure to have enough sleep, food, and exercise.

[filip_kastl_cz]

Ok, so there are missing few things in my list:
1) be a front-end / full-stack developer for 15+ years - passed
2) have several burnouts and got crazy - passed
3) become a gardener - in progress - last month I've replanted my home plants for the first time in my life
4) move out to off-grid/off-city - sometime in future

Anyway, great video and great inspiration! It's very interesting and great, what topics honyepot brings to the social bubble of the devs, ... from 'how to program on micro-dosed LSD' to 'how to become less stressed in/with the nature'. Totally love it!

[AntonyNorthcutt]

Oh my word this was so beautiful. What a wonderful family and such a beautifully filmed piece. Thank you for making this.

[ranand]

As someone who is in the information technology sector and someone who had kept a vegetable garden in the past can do relate to this - thank you honeypot for making this (this is the need of the hour) and other high quality documentaries.

[lukasluftlaufer]

I can totally relate. My small garden on my balcony helps tremendously to re-focus my brain from coding.

[imikepena]

I Am web developer from Mexico, in the actuality for the pandemy I start the home office and the farming saved me of stressed, I have a chayote orchard, and this activity is relaxing and help me to not block me

[alexandrosharisis]

Wow, thanks for sharing! Spot on with the description of the toll it has on us being connected all the time and people firing questions non-stop. That would never happen in a traditional office setting where people needed to queue behind your desk to ask those questions and directly see how overwhelmed you are.

[TodorescuProgramming]

thank you for making me cry... can't wait for spring/summer since I live in a small 7000 inhabitants village, moved here after 4-5 years of living in big cities, with my wife, animals it's so refreshing

[wilbertmuza]

I have experienced this and I couldn't figure out what was happening with my life. I constantly told my wife that I want to retire from coding but she knew that is my passion up and until I decided to move and stay on the farm. Since then I started gaining weight that I lost due to stress and started understanding all the conceipts that i was forgetting during the burnout period. I am happy that this is shared and its exactly what I am doing now.

[headlights-go-up]

Awesome stuff, as always.

Gardening/farming is a wonderful way to stay in touch with the earth.

[andreatognoli]

Well done Honeypot! Inspiring contents as always.

[Aaronmoreno]

One of my favorites so far. So relevant to where I am at and very encouraging