I Quit My Software Engineering Degree Because of Autistic Burnout
Why I Thought It Would Work
A year ago I decided to pursue a software engineering degree from WGU. WGU is self-paced. I thought that would help.
I heard about all of the perks it could bring—being able to work remotely and to myself, much better pay than my warehouse job, and very stimulating in a good way since coding is a special interest of mine.
I thought pursuing a special interest would help my burnout. It made it worse.
Coding was one of the few things that used to give me energy. Watching it become another drain was harder than the burnout itself.
Burnout Made Learning Nearly Impossible
I quickly noticed that being in autistic burnout for over 5 years was significantly impacting my ability to learn programming. Majority of my cognitive resources were already depleted. Small debugging errors and habits drained me a lot more than I expected.
I knew the learning curve would be hard and I was fully expecting that. But I didn't realize my brain was having an extremely difficult time absorbing the information and repetition I was trying to do. Writing arrays, functions, variables—simple things that often complimented and worked together in code—was just extremely hard.
I thought I simply wasn't trying or studying enough.
Yet after reviewing a skill or definition term for hours, I would come back the next day even after a modest good night of sleep and forget nearly everything I reviewed the previous day. I had to take additional time to review what I've forgotten on top of what I already planned just to make some progress.
Learning programming in burnout takes days per concept. I was living that.
The Daily Cost
I'd start at roughly 5–6 energy, open up Anki, review terms like "What does the AND (&&) operator for short circuiting do?"—and forget nearly everything in terms of what it means.
I don't remember the terms for multiple reps per card. Most of the time I review around 8 to 11 cards per day. After that, my energy is around a 2 or 3.
I have no additional resource to actually start practicing and reviewing the code I was about to write and what I wrote yesterday. I'm just writing lines of syntax and nothing is absorbing unless I read it around 5 or 6 times. The recall is still shaky. It quickly felt like I was going nowhere.
Tracking showed me the pattern I couldn't see while living it: every study session ended at 2-3 energy, and I never recovered above 4 the next day. I just didn't have the energy to do any more.
The Math Didn't Work
The main driver was unpredictability. Not knowing if a flashcard or new syntax was going to take 4 days to learn instead of 1–2.
The deadlines I set for myself to save on costs weren't working. Course credits on Study.com were costing me $95 a month, on top of spending $500 a month just to get to work—not including surge pricing.
This quickly added up after weeks of trying. My energy baseline remained at around a 3 or 4. I was really upset since I spent so much money and time trying to pursue this seriously when I don't have the mental resources to actually complete it.
If I continued, that would further extend my burnout recovery timeline. Job interviews—even if I got my degree and an internship—would be much harder.
And I realized I would still end up having to mask a great deal anyways. Mandatory webcam interviews and meetings.
So I quit.
It's been about 9 months. My baseline is still around 3-4 energy, but I'm not losing ground anymore and not being completely exhausted.
About Me
I'm Omari, a 23-year-old autistic adult who's been managing chronic burnout for 5+ years while working warehouse shifts.
This is why I built Spoons. I realized my degree was making burnout worse, not better. Building a tool to track moments that drain me—moments I didn't fully see until I started tracking—was enough to quit and prioritize recovery.
Launching April 2026. getspoons.app - One email when it's ready. No spam.
— Omari
Note: I'm sharing my personal experience as an autistic adult, not medical advice. If you're experiencing severe burnout or crisis, please consult a healthcare provider familiar with autism.