How to find balance in data work (and prevent burnout before it finds you)

In the latest episode of The View on Data, hosts Erica “Ric” Louie, Faith McKenna, Paige Berry, and Jerrie Kenney get real about one of the hardest parts of working in data: finding balance and recognizing burnout before it finds you.

From late-night debugging sessions to the pressure to learn faster and ship more, the team talks about how they set boundaries, recharge creatively, and redefine what success looks like as their lives and careers evolve.

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What balance looks like when you work in data

The group started with a simple but impossible question: Does balance even exist?

For Jerrie, a mom of three, balance means being fully present in whatever is in front of her. “There’s no perfect balance,” she said. “It’s always shifting based on what needs my attention most right now.” Having hard boundaries on start and finish times—along with being fully in “work mode” or “family mode”—helps her stay grounded.

Faith described balance as something seasonal. “Coalesce is the perfect example,” she said. “During the run-up, there’s pretty much no work-life balance, and that’s okay. But once it’s over, I rebuild those boundaries. I start my day at nine, and if I’m ready early, I use that time for something personal instead of jumping back into work.”

Paige and Ric both rely on structure to create separation. Paige starts every morning with meditation and a treadmill walk before checking Slack. Ric plans her week every Sunday and has a hard 7:00 p.m. cutoff to avoid letting work spill into her evenings. “If I work past seven, I know I won’t feel good,” Ric shared. “It’s about being honest with myself about what’s sustainable.”

How to recognize burnout before it sneaks up on you

Burnout can show up quietly, and often by the time you notice, it’s already taken hold. For data practitioners, it often hides behind productivity. You might be shipping dashboards, answering questions, or debugging pipelines, but something feels off.

For Jerrie, the red flag is when work follows her into her dreams. “When I start dreaming about data problems, that’s when I know I need to step away,” she said. Her fix is simple: she writes the problem down, gets it out of her head, and gives herself permission to think about it later.

Paige recognizes burnout when she stops feeling joy outside of work. “If I’m anxious all the time or overthinking something from the day, I write it all down,” she said. “Once I can see everything in front of me, I realize not everything needs solving right now.”

Faith described how burnout often stems from an imbalance between effort and reward. “Burnout happens when you put in a lot of work but don’t feel any payoff,” she said. Ric agreed, adding that when she starts oversleeping or dreading work, she knows it’s time to pause. “Sometimes that means taking a vacation. Sometimes it means asking, ‘What’s this all for?’”

Why boundaries matter in data work

Setting boundaries is hard in any field, but especially in data, where work is naturally reactive. There’s always another request, another metric to check, another dashboard to fix.

Faith noted that boundaries shift depending on your stage of life or career. “It’s something we have to keep re-learning,” she said. “What works when you’re early in your career might not work later, especially when life outside of work changes too.”

Jerrie shared that the hardest part isn’t saying no, it’s giving herself permission to pause. “I’ve always operated on go, go, go,” she said. “Now I block recharge time in advance. I pick an afternoon or a random day off that doesn’t even have to make sense, because if I wait until I feel burnt out, it’s already too late.”

Paige talked about learning to accept what comes with setting boundaries. “If I miss a conversation at work because I’m at the vet with my cat, that’s okay,” she said. “That moment mattered more.” Her morning routine has become non-negotiable: 12 minutes of meditation, 30 minutes on the treadmill, and no Slack until both are done. “It makes the chaos of the day manageable,” she said.

Ric added that boundaries don’t have to be hard lines. They can also be questions. “I keep a sticky note on my desktop that says, ‘Does this need to be done by me? Does it need to be done now? Can it wait until next week?’” she said. “It helps me remember that not everything needs to happen right away.”

Redefining what success means in your career

As the conversation unfolded, the group got candid about ambition and how their definitions of success have changed over time.

Paige shared that early in her career, she worked nonstop to prove herself. “A lot of it was about showing my parents that I was successful,” she said. “But at some point, I realized their opinion didn’t matter as much as my own. I’m proud of where I am and what I do, and maybe that’s enough.”

Faith talked about the anxiety that comes with being a household breadwinner. “There’s no safety net,” she said. “I sometimes overwork because I’m afraid of what would happen if I lost my job.” Her way to reset? Spreadsheets. “I look at my finances and remind myself I’m fine. It’s grounding to have something tangible.”

Jerrie shared how motherhood and experience shifted her mindset. “I’ve had to accept some seasons of being mediocre,” she said with a laugh. “There’s nothing wrong with just being okay. I still care deeply about my work, but I don’t have to be at 110% all the time.”

Ric agreed, emphasizing that growth isn’t mandatory. “There’s so much pressure to keep climbing,” she said. “But if you love what you do and it’s enough for you, that’s valid. You can step back without it meaning less.”

Making space for joy outside of work

The episode closed with a simple truth: rest and creativity are part of the job.

For Jerrie, that looks like drawing and dreaming of one day writing a graphic novel. “It’s my way of staying playful,” she said. “I’ll even draw with my kids. It’s a creative recharge.”

Faith finds energy in improv and writing. “When I’m not doing improv, I can feel it,” she said. “It makes me see everything differently. It’s like a mental reset.”

Paige signs up for one creative class each term at her local community college—acting, stop-motion animation, and next, screenwriting. “I love being a beginner again,” she said. “It gets me out of my head.”

Ric’s hobbies are tactile. “I build mechanical keyboards and do woodworking,” she said. “Anything that gets me off the screen. Rest is work too. It’s what helps me show up better on Monday.”

Episode takeaways

Finding balance isn’t a one-time fix. It’s a practice.

It’s checking in with yourself when things start to feel off. It’s giving yourself permission to pause. It’s remembering that “enough” can be exactly that. And it’s making space for the version of you that exists outside of your job title.

As Ric summed it up, “Work is a marathon, not a sprint. But it’s also not the whole marathon.”