I've personally burned out a couple of times. First was a Fintech startup back in 2011 or so. Second was at an aerospace startup that you've heard of.
In both cases, the unique factor was an extended period of time where I was the sole person who could some considerable piece of work that the business relied upon for day to day operations, which meant that I couldn't take effective breaks and I lived constantly on call and in the critical path.
I had to quit both jobs in order to both grant myself the space to not feel captive and also to show management that more than a single person was necessary to perform the tasks that I had been performing.
I've burned out once, but that was enough. I am working again but it's been more than 7 years and I'm not fully recovered. I'm very careful now not to paint myself into a corner (or let some manager do it for me) as I know I wouldn't survive the next time it happens. Also my ability to put crazy hours or handle stress has been permanently impaired. While I function normally, if stress is a glass that can take water until it starts to spill, my glass has permanently shrunk in size.
I keep less vital, less exciting positions and compliment the missing excitement or fulfillment with things from my personal life. I do miss those times when I had the complete overview and agency but it wasn't worth this.
Im just like that more than 10 years after my last burnout and I think I found a ballance to not let it ever wreck my life again. But it’s a very fragile ballance and there’s this everpresent subtext that it could happen again at any time. Im lucky that im paid hourly and overtime requires approval and is rareley approved.
Avoiding overtime helps but if the work conditions are conducive to burnout it can happen even to part time workers.
How much work it takes to protect the balance to avoid burnout can itself also contribute to burnout, say if you constantly have to fight getting overstaffed or repeatedly having to push back on being on call...
In both cases, the unique factor was an extended period of time where I was the sole person who could some considerable piece of work that the business relied upon for day to day operations, which meant that I couldn't take effective breaks and I lived constantly on call and in the critical path.
I had to quit both jobs in order to both grant myself the space to not feel captive and also to show management that more than a single person was necessary to perform the tasks that I had been performing.