Burnout among software professionals is far more widespread than we would like to admit. It sneaks up on us. At first we dread going in to work each day. We can barely focus enough to get through the day and struggle with otherwise simple-for-us tasks. It starts there and gets much worse. So what are some of the things that cause us to burn out? We will draw from personal experiences and have a frank and productive discussions on some of the well-known, and not so well-known causes of burn out, how to recognize the symptoms, how to avoid getting burned out and some tricks on coping.