According to a recent survey by Lenny Rachitsky and Noam Segal, spanning over 8k+ tech professionals... guess which role reports the highest levels of burnout across the tech industry?
Yeah, its Design!
We are the ones championing empathy, crafting clarity out of chaos, stitching together business, tech & people and yet we are running on fumes. It’s not hard to see why. Design is often caught in the middle. Too upstream for product but too downstream for strategy. Judged for the aesthetics, and responsible for outcomes as well. In the room, but not always heard.
And now, add to this the rising pressure of AI, shrinking teams and the never ending cycle of feedback loops and pivots. What worries me most is that this burnout is often masked as passion. We stay late, care too much. At time we also fix problems that weren’t ours to fix. And we do it all quietly (do we?) not out of obligation, but love for the craft, hoping the craft will speak for itself one day. But even love needs boundaries.
Because burnout doesn’t just make us tired, it makes us quieter, dulls our curiosity and often makes us question if our work still matters.
But here’s the hopeful bit. This is not irreversible. As leaders, teams and peers, we have the opportunity to pause and ask:
- Are we designing work environments that protect creative energy?
- Are we identifying toxic folks in the system?
- Are we giving enough room to recharge, not just ship?
Burnout is a systemic signal that something needs to change in how we lead, collaborate and care. Let’s not wait until our best voices go quiet.
Here is the full report. I highly suggest you read it: https://lnkd.in/g_rNu-x3
burnout tech design
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