Ich bin nicht mehr dein Ambassador-Sponsor/-Mentor

[Rick Sewill]

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Please people, let's calm down.

I mistakenly thought this message was in German.  I can't speak German.
I mistakenly started deleting messages without reading them.

How did this discussion start?  How do I think this discussion started?

People get burned out.  It happens all the time.  It's normal.

People start to question.  Why am I here?  Is what's happening fair?
Couldn't I be doing something else or couldn't things go better?
Who is running the show?  Couldn't I run the show better?

This happens all the time.

This is a sign of job burnout.  Like it or not, this is job burnout.

A wise employee, suffering job burnout, will have a serious talk with
his manager.

A wise manager will listen.

The employee needs a change.

Perhaps it's working on a different project.
Perhaps it's taking a sabbatical.
Perhaps the employee really needs to change companies.

I am not throwing stones at anyone.  Job burnout is a fact of life.
We all suffer it, one time or another.

We say we are a community...yes and no.

We are an organization.  We have a board.
We have workers, whether they be paid or unpaid.
We have customers, of which I am one.

We have a product.  We have advertising.  We have distribution.

We have all the ingredients and needs of a company.
We suffer the same pitfalls of a company.

I will give you my view of Fedora, and it will be unpopular.

I view the relationship between Redhat and Fedora as a parent/child
relationship.

Fedora is Redhat's prized child.

Redhat will defend Fedora, protect Fedora, feed and clothe Fedora.

Like any parent, Redhat will try to keep Fedora out of trouble.

A parent will do nothing to hurt the child it loves.

Ask yourself this question...what has Redhat done to hurt Fedora?
Redhat sells it's Redhat Enterprise Linux.

Are there things Redhat puts into Enterprise Linux not available to
Fedora?  I assume not.

I assume Redhat Enterprise Linux value add is paid support.

Periodically, the child will rebel.  All children think they know what's
better.  If you'd dealt with children, you know what I mean.

Where would Fedora be without Redhat?
And where would Redhat be without Fedora?
Redhat wouldn't be where it is now and Fedora probably wouldn't exist.

Back to job burnout.

The employee needs to face the fact he is suffering job burnout.
The employer needs to face the same fact.

If you want to keep the employee, don't push the employee out.
Give the employee a different job or give the employee a sabbatical.

Specifically, on the question of being part of the ambassadors group or
not....

I was at Apple at one time.  Apple still had sabbaticals back then.
Not sure if Apple still does or not.

My managers had an unwritten rule...when you took a sabbatical, you
didn't come into work.  The company didn't expect you to read company
email.  You didn't get phone calls from the company.  You weren't
expected to come to meetings.  You were expected to disappear.  You were
supposed to take a vacation, travel, forget about work.

I don't believe a sabbatical works if you can't be completely separated
from the company for a while.

When you come back, you're refreshed.  It's like taking a new job.
You feel good.

My advice to the person suffering job burnout is as follows.

Get off the mailing lists.  Take two months off.
Don't look for meetings, emails, or phone calls.  Relax.

In two months, if you still wish, the people running the mailing lists
said they will welcome you back.  They'll add you back to the mailing
lists and invite you to the meetings.

You'll come back feeling better.  It will be like starting fresh.

And yes...I ramble.  Yes...I should stay quiet.
In my thirty years in the business, I've seen job burnout many times.
I've suffered job burnout.  Please talk to your own manager friends.
Please deal with job burnout and don't let job burnout control you.
Please don't do things, because of job burnout, you'll later regret.
I say this to both the employee and the employer.

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