Overwhelmed or Overloaded
Hi, Been working at the same company for over a decade now and it’s the only company I have ever worked for. Lately I’m feeling very stuck. There is always a sword hanging over head of getting fired. The team and I worked on doesn’t have much work and it’s mostly maintenance. Also I have an ethical dilemma to help to do the KT to others and risk juniorising my role and probably get laid off in next round or to keep things close to my chest and not pass my knowledge to peers and juniors. Also since I have been working on the same team for years now and it was always self learning. Self prioritisation of the tasks, from gathering requirements, design, coding, testing and releasing. Majority of the time I was one person team only and it was tiring. Now I’m feeling burnt out and overwhelmed that even after putting heart and soul into it I’m scared. Also I feel my juniors and peers are taking behind my back and don’t respect me and I don’t have enough backing from senior management anymore. My knowledge is very limited to what I have worked on in last decade and it’s boxed. I know everything about the box, but what’s outside the box? How does the things other than the box work? I always wanted to learn new things, but considering being one person team it was always fast to market. So got no time to go in depth. I have surface level knowledge about lot of things but doesn’t help in deep technical discussions with others. At this point even I have stopped respecting myself. I feel ashamed to see myself where I am. I don’t know what to do. People always told me I’m smart and have great future ahead of me and I am very hard working but I’m not sure if I’m smart. I used to be the person who would just mug up everything repeatedly and get good grades and forget things the next day. Now my memory is also not supporting me and it’s always foggy. I’m constantly indulged. And doing 5 things at the same time! I’m skimming through whatever is coming in front of me. Whether it be people taking and I’m just constantly overloaded and not thinking straight. There was once a get together at my friends place and we wer taking while watching a cricket match and in parallel I was scrolling through twitter and watching football. I’m not sure if I’m overthinking things or if it’s just my brain fried up or is it all true? What do I do!
One interview, 1000+ job opportunities
Take a 10-min AI interview to qualify for numerous real jobs auto-matched to your profile 🔑
You are likely experiencing burnout, combined with imposter syndrome, career stagnation fears, and anxiety around job security. These emotions are valid, and not a sign of weakness — it’s a signal from the mind and body that something needs to change.
Being a one-person team for years is unsustainable. The body and brain are not meant to be in constant high-effort mode.
Before anything else, pause and recover. Even a 5-7 day break (detox from screens, sleep, nature, no obligations) will help reset your nervous system.
Consider talking to a therapist or counselor — burnout and self-worth issues often need safe, guided unpacking. Try journaling thoughts instead of bottling them up. Even 5 minutes a day can bring clarity.
Regarding your experience being narrow within one team — realise that you have also built depth, resilience, and ownership. These are transferable skills.
Sharing knowledge can be done smartly. Set boundaries, document things without making yourself obsolete. Mentor 1-2 people, and also start exploring on up skilling yourself. What are your core interests, what are you naturally good at... build on those.
Start connecting with people outside of your org for career exploration. Document all the work you've done these many years... I've always found preparing my resume for a job interview becomes an eye opener to what I've actually contributed and achieved over the years. Stuff that just gets forgotten in the daily grind.
List down projects you've delivered, crisis you managed, bugs you've solved burning the midnight oil...
A friend of mine has the habit of attending one interview every year to keep himself relevant and know his worth in the job market. A very great strategy in my opinion. When feeling stuck everything looks dark and gloomy, it is not really so. It's a phase. It'll pass. You are self aware, the next step is to start work on it. Slow but steady.
Hope this helps 👍
