If you’re a data scientist, then you’ve probably had your fair share of stressful workdays. Tons of rushed projects. Urgent bugs to be squashed. Managers that don’t understand why a simple feature add-on might take more than a week to complete.
It can be rough.
Ever wonder why Google’s offices look like a millennial’s dream? They’ve got ping pong tables, unlimited free meals, state of the art gym, free (high-quality) coffee, comfortable couches, and a full-time massage therapist.
While there are probably a lot of reasons for all the amenities, one of them might be because Google knows how stressful working as a data scientist can be. And if you weren’t aware, a lot of data scientists work at Google – it’s their bread and butter!
If you’re a data scientist and don’t work at Google, here are 3 ways to prevent burnout.
Meditation
Many people regard meditation with a lot of skepticism. However, there have been dozens of studies on meditation and the results are overwhelmingly positive, especially when it comes to stress and anxiety relief.
So if you ever feel like you’re on the verge of a breakdown at work or if you feel the weight on your shoulders getting a little too heavy, try mediation. However, be sure you do it correctly, as your first impressions will likely be the deciding factor as to whether or not you continue.
Sleep (a lot)
For whatever reason – perhaps it’s the fault of the Gary Vaynerchuck era – but there’s this idea being thrown about that sleep shouldn’t be a priority on your ladder to success.
Bologna.
Without enough sleep, you’ll die.
With little sleep, you won’t be as productive – and cranky, stressed, and prone to anxiety attacks.
If you aren’t sleeping enough, go to bed earlier.
Never stop improving
Too often, people like to take long sabbaticals when it comes to improving the skillset that puts food on their table.
This is a mistake.
The better you get at a particular skill, the easier and faster you perform. A particular programming bug that may have taken you 5 hours to solve when you were 19 may take you 30 minutes to solve when you’re 25.
The quicker you get your work done, the more time you have to learn and decompress.
If you want to find ways to become a better data scientist, consider researching various online data science bootcamps.