It seems that both blue and white collar jobs have their share of workplaces where in a do-the-task-or-maybe-get-fired situation, it's up to the employee to enforce their own boundaries and decide when saying no is a safer choice for their long term physical/mental safety. (Of course, sometimes you only realise this when it's too late.)

Classifying burnout as a dismissive term is a problem in and of itself. It's a real thing, but I also understand that people who have never experienced it can have a hard time taking it seriously and would be tempted to dismiss it. To be honest, I was one of them, until it happened to me a few years ago. It took me 5 months to recover and be able to go back to work. Since then, everybody in those shoes gets my support.

In trades, those projects have obvious beginnings, ends, and results. The driveway is poured. You’re often not expected to maintain that driveway either.

A lot of tech is basically a treadmill. You’re never finished. It is no wonder people burn out mentally.

Something like cybersecurity? Great, we made it through today, tomorrow will be worse. Repeat until something bad happens.

My knees and back might last longer though.