Burnout is, truth be told, a dead-end... You studied, dreamed of working on projects, wanted to gain experience, create something of your own, become independent, and earn income from your brainchild - be it a game, utility, program, or something else. However, in the end, you realized that years were passing by, and the project to become your own boss didn't materialize. The fear of losing your job instills panic, as your brain at a cognitive level calculates that you've literally spent too much of your own time on learning and working for someone else. You've sold a considerable amount of your time to others for a coin, and now you find yourself at an impasse. Yes, this is life at 40+. Even if you become an encyclopedia, your time becomes cheap because the time of young, ambitious people is considered precious. It's like being charged printer cartridges while you're already an old printer barely printing. So burnout is the result of selling so much time that doing something for yourself to take a break and generate income, becoming your own boss, has slipped away. You didn't become a genius because you exchanged everything possible for money, and there needed to be a balance. Thirty percent of the income from your sold time should have been saved for your own time to work on your projects instead of squandering it!