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By Lenny Rachitsky · lennysnewsletter.com · @lennysan on X · YouTube · LinkedIn
Lenny Rachitsky and Noam Segal report results from a survey of over 8,200 tech workers on burnout, optimism, manager effectiveness, work setup, company size, career clarity and AI anxiety. The core argument is that burnout and declining optimism are widespread, while leadership quality and company size strongly shape how people feel about their work.
Subscriber post — summary only01Key takeaways
- Nearly half of respondents report significant burnout, which correlates strongly with quitting intentions and low engagement.
- Only about a quarter of tech workers rate their managers as highly effective, and manager quality tracks closely with engagement, belonging and retention.
- Founders report the highest optimism, enjoyment and engagement, suggesting autonomy, ownership and purpose drive satisfaction.
- Smaller companies outperform large ones on most sentiment measures, and mid-career workers show the weakest outlook, burnout and career clarity.
- Correlations in the survey do not establish causation, and confounders like age, company size and role affect the work-setup findings.
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.