28-year-old Eric Yu is making headlines after he quit Meta due to his mental health condition. The techie had been working long hours, developing codes even on the weekends. It was only after the panic attack he realised that he needed to quit. The software engineer remembers his heart beating really fast and a ringing in his ears.
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While speaking to the Business Insider, Yu said, “Landing job offers like these had been a huge goal of mine. I worked hard during school, and it seemed like I finally had my life figured out. But I was pretty torn between Facebook and Google. At the time, Facebook seemed more like a startup and less ‘corporate’ than Google. I also preferred its campus more, so I chose Facebook.”
Yu had chosen to work with Meta after rejecting an offer from Google.
The techie explained why he felt a lot of pressure while working at Meta. He explained that the tech giant has a pretty high bar when it comes to code quality. Also, the code reviews were tough with a very limited scope for constructive criticism.
“There was some tension at times, and I received tough feedback on how to fix the code after numerous reviews. It sometimes left me feeling bad,” he said.
Yu explained that he had his first panic attack in November 2019. Yu was working from home at that time. “It was around 4 pm, and my left pinky went completely numb. At first, I ignored it, but it got worse: An hour in, my ears were ringing, and my heart was beating really fast,” he said.
Yu also made a post on Instagram where he talked about his experience with anxiety and panic attacks. Here, have a look:
Yu explained that soon he was zoning out and felt intense thoughts. “It felt like a water dam — like if too much water pushed against it, it might break, and all the water would pour out. The more I tried to block my feelings away, the more it felt like bursting out all at once.”
Fortunately, his girlfriend Wanda, who is now his fiancee, was there and recognised it as a panic attack.
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