You’ve returned from vacation even more stressed…
The idea that programmers are also good at making plans in contexts unrelated to computers is a false myth. Even in a dev’s life, deadlines and events arrive like bolts from the blue, causing rude awakenings, like when the calendar works against you and instead of a nice August 32nd, it presents you with a completely unexpected September 1st.
So you hastily evacuate families, forget cables and dogs at your vacation spot, and return home bringing along nonsensical things like masks and flippers, because you never know if in December in Milan, the season for shark hunting in the canals might open.
You’re still confused when your alarm clock goes off, and there’s no blue pill.
On the day of returning to the office, about 35% of the workforce in Italy is affected by return syndrome, also known as post-vacation blues (I swear it exists), a psycho-physical discomfort that manifests with feelings of unease, exhaustion, and in some more severe cases, depression. The remaining 65% don’t seem to be affected or stay on vacation by sending improbable medical certificates.
What to do if you fall into the first percentage?
Consulting your doctor, of course, is the right thing to do (I was advised to write this to avoid lawsuits).
But we know it’s easier to search the web than to look for a number in your contacts.
Google, when asked about this, usually points to articles that suggest planning the return a few days in advance.
The reaction is quite unanimous, and the responses are always very colorful; the substance is that planning the return is itself the return, so no thanks.
Tied for second place are advice on how to start exercising right away and avoid binging, just now that you’ve returned to occupy your seated and immobile position for eternity, not even Ramses II had it this good.
Perhaps the Egyptians already had programmers and put them at the top of the social ladder? Even last year, you paid for the annual gym membership but only went on December 24th and June 30th, your exercise bike has become yet another clothes hanger, and as for your diet, you have to hope that the least healthy stuff exceeds the possibilities of your meal voucher, otherwise there’s nothing to be done, you’ll eat what you can afford.
A bit lower in the rankings but good advice for singles is to plan a weekend of fun right after returning to the office.
If your credit card can still be swiped without triggering atomic alarms, you can decide to have an extension of your vacation in a closer and less expensive place. I can tell you it works better if you don’t change the type of destination; if you’ve been to the sea, go back to the sea, so you don’t even have to touch your luggage. I have single friends who completely unpack their suitcase only around Christmas holidays.
For those with families, however, this advice is inapplicable. The week you return from vacation, suitcases are around the house, open as if they had been checked at any American airport and you were traveling with a passport from a rogue state of your choice. And anyway, not even your cat wants to touch its carrier again in such a short time.
So if you can’t leave and have to man your desk, you can research other extreme solutions. On the internet, a series of figures dedicated to our mental health now proliferate, ranging from the good old psychologist to fortune tellers, passing through psychiatrists, counselors, coaches, personal trainers, motivators, and knight pushers.
Everyone is a creature of God, so far be it from me to express judgment, but on many of their sites, there is advice that’s quite beyond my reach, like changing your look, focusing on your passions and hobbies. But if you know programmers who have passions and hobbies that go beyond using a PC, please let me know.
One of the most bizarre suggestions I’ve found is to meet with friends specifically to talk about the vacation you’ve just had.
Once upon a time, maybe you could do this: the 36-exposure film cost 6,000 lire and development another ten thousand, anyone who took more than 4 rolls was considered rich or a megalomaniac. The photos were put in folders that could be easily passed around, and whoever held it could cheat by taking the plastic sheets two at a time, thus greatly reducing the tedium of seeing poorly cut photos, with red or closed eyes, tilted horizons, and improbable objects in the background.
Now, the ritual passing of the cell phone where thousands of identical photos are stored is prohibited at Guantanamo but still tolerated at dinners with friends, despite the prior publication of the same on Instagram, Facebook, and f2f bombardment via WhatsApp group.
Personally, I prefer to simulate Covid symptoms.
So what to do as soon as you return from vacation to overcome the trauma?
Plot to redo your CV and look for a new job.
I know that where you are, you feel fine and wouldn’t change for anything in the world, but use it just as a pretext to have a better perspective, understand where you are, and of course, where you want to go.
First of all, working on your CV allows you to understand how much you’re growing, have a timeline that puts milestones for every significant experience, and allows you to understand your speed and that of the company you work for. And also see what’s missing from your career to make it satisfying.
To see the missing pieces, you have no other way than to compare yourself with the market, understand what the trends are and also the novelties, always remembering that we can’t learn everything but we have everything to learn.
Most people don’t want to do the same thing in the same way forever. They want to try new things, be creative, and push themselves to improve themselves and their work. For those who think this involves risks, well, absolutely, but it’s only by taking risks that you truly grow.
And this applies to companies too.
The fact remains that September is the best time to look for a new job, even if platonically.
There are many factors to consider, such as identifying the period of greatest staff turnover and reorganization of economic resources, achieving objectives and budget forecasts for the following year, as well as complicated fiscal conjunctions that put a damned hurry on HR colleagues.
In fact, sending your CV in September is more effective also because recruiters have just returned and have a mindset better disposed to face new challenges and positively evaluate candidates.
So take stock, look around, and send your CV where you least thought you could apply, your message in a bottle waiting to be picked up by someone.
And if you’re still kissed by the sun, can only lie down, and even seeing your monitor from afar causes you nausea and dizziness, delegate the search to those who do it professionally for you.
Naturally to someone like Jerry Maguire, not to nameless people. Someone to whom you can sing “Show me the money” over the phone without hearing the usual complaints about heartless devs on the other end…
Naturally to someone like Jerry Maguire, not to nameless people.
Someone to whom you can sing “Show me the money” over the phone without hearing the usual complaints about heartless devs on the other end…
