This stress is mainly due to the ever-increasing challenges and skill set development required regularly. The high work pressure and achieving the required targets under tight deadlines make these jobs stressful.

My experience in working in the IT sector has always kept me on my toes. The fast-paced working environment and technologies require employees to think quickly, determine issues, and find solutions without supervision.

But why exactly are these jobs stressful? What are the factors contributing to employee stress?

Factors Contributing to IT Job Stress

If you find a coder gnawing at their nails on the job desk could be because of the following factors:

1.   Company Culture

Believe it or not, company culture plays a major role in keeping employees happy and productive. Company politics can play a major role in increasing job stress. Although the IT sector is the least interested in politics, problems like being accepted with your beliefs, culture, and background can cause severe stress.

Moreover, employees who love socializing may find themselves stuck in the office even after job hours. Constantly working will only cause tension and stress. Companies need to focus on social events, reward systems, and fun activities to release daily job stress.

2.   Getting Along with the Team

IT agencies have a team-based structure. A team works closely together throughout the lifecycle of the project. As an employee, you will work on multiple projects with your team to ensure everything is aligned.

But if one of your teammates (who you have to work closely with and communicate frequently) likes to work alone throughout the job timings, it can cause serious problems. You may encounter situations where your teammate works on the project without communicating the next steps.

If you can’t document or understand the next phase of the product, you will get stressed without knowing how to counter the situation. So, team function is critical; communication must be clear from every member while working together.

3.   Number of Projects

One of the biggest factors contributing to IT job stress is the number of projects handed to every employee. Short deadlines and high competition break the backs of many IT professionals. Specialized teams are often given too many projects, resulting in overwork, stress, and burnout.

In contrast, junior teams may require supervision from seniors. But asking for help from seniors is another barrier as they’re always busy and don’t have enough free time on hand. I have experienced these situations where, as a senior, I couldn’t help my junior team members as much as I wanted to - because time was a luxury that I couldn’t afford.

4.   Long Hours, Overtime

It is a long-established fact that an IT professional must work overtime at some part of their career. Long hours include overtime after office hours or working on the weekends. Typically, the role you have and the responsibilities assigned to you play a major role.

This drastically affects the work-life balance with no social life. If you have to work after office hours every day and give most weekends, you will quickly burn out, and the level of stress you experience will be unimaginable.

5.   Lacking Passion

Another important factor contributing to stress is the IT professional not feeling as passionate about their job as they were before. Now, there can be many factors why a technology lover would simply run out of passion. The most common one is not being able to keep up and enhance their skill set according to the rapidly-evolving technology.

When you run out of passion, even the easiest tasks will feel like a burden. This can cause a lot of stress and grief for IT professionals. Running out of passion for what you thought was your life is more painful than a breakup.

How to Manage Stress on Your IT Job?

Identify Stressors

Before you manage stress caused by your job, it’s crucial to find the stressors. You can’t treat your problem if you can’t find the root cause. The four main stressors can be:

●      Time Stress - caused by a fast-paced working environment with impractical deadlines. Time stress can impact the quality of relationships, sleep, productivity, and efficiency.

●      Situational Stress - caused by situations the IT professional can’t control. For instance, lack of autonomy in work.

●      Anticipatory Stress - caused by thinking of the future. For example, stressing over an upcoming presentation, meeting, or job security.

●      Encounter Stress - caused by interaction with others. Getting bullied, poor management, or culture can be the causes of this stress.

Ways to Manage Stress

Here are some of the tried-and-tested ways you should try:

1.    Mediate, Exercise - Find Multiple Ways to Calm Yourself

Whenever you feel stressed, take some time to practice deep breathing exercises. You can also go on a run, meditate, or practice yoga after work. Other ways of managing stress are taking daily breaks whenever work pressure gets too much.

A few minutes of stretching in between work can relieve your body of a lot of stress. Don’t forget to take proper regular vacations. These long or weekend vacations are the perfect getaway to release stress and recharge your body with positivity and energy.

2.    Learn to Manage Time

Learn to prioritize your work. If you have too much on your plate, learn to work within the timeline you award yourself. Leave all the office distractions behind and focus entirely on your work.

It’s best to avoid taking calls and replying to emails or talking to your colleagues when you have already started a task or project. Listen to music to drown out the office noise. You’ll learn to manage work and stress when you eliminate all these distractions.