I feel anxious about work and my performance recently

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Sanctus
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08 Jul 2019, 6:21 pm

I've been in my current job as a software developer for 2 years now and I'm not sure why but in the last months my performance really has gone downhill apparently. I've been unfocused and making way more small errors than usual. Also oversights, like not reading things properly or finishing tasks. I think it's mostly because I've been fighting with depression and some personal problems so I just haven't been able to focus normally.

Well now it happened a few times that coworkers commented on me having forgotten something or basically telling me I need to pay more attention. It's all still on a friendly or even joking level, and I haven't really gotten into trouble yet, still it sucks. Now I'm currently working on something more complex that I haven't really done before, and I asked a more experienced coworker to guide me a bit. At first he was friendly and said sure and showed me how to start. Then after a while I had another small question for him and he basically made a snide remark about how he should just do it himself, or if I want him to paint me a picture so I know how it works. I said 'no it's fine, I'll do it' and he was like 'yeah sure I can't wait to see'.

That dude is kind of an as*hole anway. But I feel like sometimes at this job there's been the unfair assumption that I should just instantly know how something works even if I've never worked with it before, beyond what would be reasonable for my experience level. Still, I definitely feel like my 'brain performance' hasn't been great recently and I struggle with problems I would have figured out way faster normally.

So... this has chipped away at my self esteem and I feel like I'm getting dumber. I always used to be the student/worker who is pretty fast, learns well, good with logic, complex stuff etc - I've never been bad at anything like this, unless I really didn't care or try at all. But recently it's like my brain just abandons me with these kinds of things. By now, every evening when I think of next day's work, I feel this sinking feeling and a small rush of anxiety because I feel like I'm not performing as well as I should and maybe people think I'm too dumb for this job.

Thing is, I'm leaving my current job anyway and will start something new in September, but now I worry even more, because obviously I'll wanna be on my best behaviour for that and right now it feels like I might just disappoint them and maybe not make it past a few months.

Anyone dealt with this before? This is totally new, I've never really had issues like this in school or work. I wish I knew why I'm so scatterbrained lately...


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shortfatbalduglyman
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08 Jul 2019, 6:42 pm

Sanctus wrote:
I've been in my current job as a software developer for 2 years now and I'm not sure why but in the last months my performance really has gone downhill apparently. I've been unfocused and making way more small errors than usual. Also oversights, like not reading things properly or finishing tasks. I think it's mostly because I've been fighting with depression and some personal problems so I just haven't been able to focus normally.

Well now it happened a few times that coworkers commented on me having forgotten something or basically telling me I need to pay more attention. It's all still on a friendly or even joking level, and I haven't really gotten into trouble yet, still it sucks. Now I'm currently working on something more complex that I haven't really done before, and I asked a more experienced coworker to guide me a bit. At first he was friendly and said sure and showed me how to start. Then after a while I had another small question for him and he basically made a snide remark about how he should just do it himself, or if I want him to paint me a picture so I know how it works. I said 'no it's fine, I'll do it' and he was like 'yeah sure I can't wait to see'.

That dude is kind of an as*hole anway. But I feel like sometimes at this job there's been the unfair assumption that I should just instantly know how something works even if I've never worked with it before, beyond what would be reasonable for my experience level. Still, I definitely feel like my 'brain performance' hasn't been great recently and I struggle with problems I would have figured out way faster normally.

So... this has chipped away at my self esteem and


" I feel like I'm getting dumber."

You are always getting smarter, neither or dumber

No drama necessary


I always used to be the student/worker who is pretty fast, learns well, good with logic, complex stuff etc - I've never been bad at anything like this, unless I really didn't care or try at all. But recently it's like my brain just abandons me with these kinds of things. By now, every evening when I think of next day's work, I feel this sinking feeling and a small rush of anxiety because I feel like I'm not performing as well as I should and maybe people think I'm too dumb for this job.

Thing is, I'm leaving my current job anyway and will start something new in September, but now I worry even more, because obviously I'll wanna be on my best behaviour for that and right now it feels like I might just disappoint them and maybe not make it past a few months.

Anyone dealt with this before? This is totally new, I've never really had issues like this in school or work. I wish I knew why I'm so scatterbrained lately...



Mountain Goat
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08 Jul 2019, 6:46 pm

It can be fairly common for me to want to put in my very best performance before I leave my employment only to find I try too hard and I make mistake after mistake after mistake..
I never forget a train driver I often worked with when I was on the railways. He used to live somewhere in the London area of the UK (To me anywhere in South East England is London... But he may have come from a little further south west? Not sure. Anyway. he was telling me about when he had a job working at a car garage which did car repairs. He was in his late teens and as he had a new job pending in a couple of weeks time, he wanted to do his very best to impress his boss and as a thank you to his boss. Well, he was servicing a little Fiat 500 (The older type which were proper Fiat 500's as they had a 500cc engine) which had an automatic transmission. He had it on the ramps and he had done everything to this car when giving it a service. Then he put the ramp down halfway, and while the gearbox was in neutral he touched the throttle. The car wasn't supposed to move... But this one did. It lept forward off the ramp and crashed into a newly resprayed body which was sitting on jacks on the floor, and the body came crashing down. The other workers ran in all directions! Chaos!
The boss called him in the office, put his arm round his sholder and said "I think its time for your two weeks annual leave!" He was apologising but he doesn't think his boss believed him that it was an accident!

So I would not worry. You can't do worse! Just relax and enjoy your final few weeks of employment with them. :) Smile. You have a new adventure to come!


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nick007
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09 Jul 2019, 8:45 am

If you think part of your problems focusing are due to depression Sanctus, you could try treating your depression assuming your not already that is. Counseling might help you deal with the personal problems your having & help you deal with the depression. Meds might help with the depression & anxiety. These suggestions are incase you haven't tried em already.


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