Every night, IT professionals across the country go home and cry. They work until 10PM unpaid. They become "the guy" their entire organization depends on. They stay in toxic jobs because they feel guilty, or because people are counting on them, or because they simply can't imagine leaving.

In this episode of The Catalyst by Softchoice, we follow two IT professionals through their burnout journeys. Sean stayed at a behavioral health nonprofit for years, supporting 1500 users with just two techs and management that thought IT "just helps people log in." He rebuilt the entire infrastructure while crying himself to sleep at night, driven by mission and what clinical psychologist Dr. Rick Ginsberg calls "responsibility handcuffs."

John worked at a Manhattan company where he felt so grateful for his salary that he stayed through years of abuse and lies. He'd sit at his desk until 9 or 10PM—not because of emergencies, but because he had no energy left to stand up.

One stayed and rebuilt his broken department into a world-class operation. The other escaped to his dream job doing Linux work. Both had to heal from trauma. And according to Business Insider, 57% of IT workers report the same burnout they experienced.

Through their stories and expert analysis from Dr. Rick Ginsberg, we explore why burnout has become epidemic in IT, what the warning signs are, and—most importantly—what can actually be done about it.

Key Takeaways:

• Why IT professionals are particularly vulnerable to "responsibility handcuffs"
• The difference between staying to rebuild and knowing when to leave
• How gratitude can become a trap that keeps you in toxic environments
• What managers need to do differently to prevent team burnout
• Why 76% of IT workers say job stress is getting worse every year

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This episode is brought to you by Softchoice Cloud Lifecycle Services Plus for Microsoft Azure. Get control of your Azure subscriptions, optimize your cloud spend, and access the technical support you actually need when you need it. 

Visit softchoice.com/azurecls to learn more.

The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.