5 ms·

I worked at 50% capacity for some years. It was just great until I chose to want more money for the time being and returned to 70% capacity. That was just great

by yason 11y ago

I worked at 50% capacity for some years. It was just great until I chose to want more money for the time being and returned to 70% capacity. That was just great, too, until I realized that I was as productive as a full-time guy without the full-time pay so I eventually went back full-time but trying to keep my output roughly on the same level as I had been getting good reviews all the time. However, last year I got tired of the full hours and a bit depressed because of lots of factors that prevented me from getting things done, and after one realisation I took a month off. Coming back to work I figured I shall be going with working full hours for three months and then taking a month off again. So that comes to three months of spare time and nine months of work annually. The realisation was about working patterns. For a programmer like me, the best productivity comes in bursts so I'd happily do three ~12-hour days and keep two days off as opposed to working the official 7.5 hours (in my country) every day. This has always been so, even as a kid. I could work on something really intensively for a few days and then I needed to do something completely different. The newest realization was that it works on longer timescale too. I can work three months and do my absolute best, and then relax and have time for my own things. This sort of a contract――relax pattern is quite reminiscent to life and nature itself. I feel much at home between the pushes and pulls. I'll see how the first year will turn out to be. Over the years I've also realised that staying productive is mostly just about conserving these important productivity patterns. A lot of what happens at work eats away from these patterns but if you can keep them mostly intact then you'll get productivity by default. That is, assuming that you love programming. Hint: if you're known to occasionally spend hours on hacking something at work at an intensity where nobody can pull you away from it, it's a good sign that you love programming.

givinguflac 11y ago
This sounds amazing and I'm happy you've found a solution that works for you. Unfortunately in my experience this scenario is basically impossible for 98% of people in the US - I assume when you say 'my country' that you are not from the US?
- yason 11y ago
  I work in Europe but I'm actually employed by a very much US company. Practically my whole team is in the USA and other than receiving salary locally I have surprisingly little to do with the European subsidiary. I also work from home a lot because working at the office would be effectively telecommuting, too. Decisions such as my unpaid time off come from the US. My employer is not a particularly conservative company and it helps that my boss is great and if he has to cross-check something with his boss, his boss is great too. And it probably helps to have a somewhat senior position (next milestone: ten years) and having made my mark years ago. But most importantly: getting your shit done. If you can get your shit done you're in a much better position in getting everyone to agree on more flexibility into your job because companies need to get shit done. Wise employers recognize that it's of everyone's benefit, including theirs, to keep productive employees in a loose leash with more freedom of choice rather than impose binary requirements on how and when to do the work. If my employer wasn't wise like this some other company would be enjoying the fruits of my productivity as I would've left them years ago. Even if you work at the very best companies and love your work, work is still always work and it will at some point become too much, meaningless, source of frustration, or any combination of those.
dilap 11y ago
Yes! This is exactly what I've been thinking for a while as well; I've been sort of badly approximating it by saving up money and taking a while off between jobs.
- yason 11y ago
  Next time you're negotiating a salary and they aren't willing to match what you want, don't walk away yet but offer to take the salary with reduced hours in proportion to how much you're missing. Taking an exaggerated example: if you want 150K and they're only willing to pay 100K, suggest to take 100K with 2/3 of the hours. You have nothing to lose but potentially lots to gain.
taurath 11y ago
That is exactly what I've always thought would be ideal for me - 3 month hyper productive periods and a good chunk of time off.
graeme 11y ago
How do you manage these? I'm most productive that way too. But the trouble is I'll keep going longer than I should, and then I just get tired and unproductive and not sensible enough to rest. Are there signs you look for to leave it on a high note, or do you use hard time limits?
- kolinko 11y ago
  Kindof related - one famus writer had a habit of always ending his work day mid-paragraph and mid-semtence. That way he had an easy start next day. Perhaps it's also a good method to work as a programmer? Don't fight to close that ticket before the end of the day?
  - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
    My old colleage Mike Rowe wisely said "Always leave it compiling". That way you could go home thinking, that was probably the right fix. Then the next day you could go in and see that it wasn't, and pick up where you left off.
- yason 11y ago
  I kind of keep a (mostly mental) tally of the week's hours and when I've done a full week +/- N hours, I've done enough. But because of N it's a bit hazy sometimes. If I can finish something in a day what could've easily taken three days, I'll probably end the week a bit earlier. And if I get fixated on doing some "simple thing" that ends up taking a lot longer, then I allow myself to work extra to get that squashed. It's important keep your conscience fair so that you know you can mentally match the hours with results produced. Programming isn't strictly about wallclock hours but wallclock hours are a good starting point for measuring a fair effort because your pay is likely to be based on the wallclock too. (Such as 22 days * 8 hours or so.) But some hours are indeed "thick" and some hours are "lean" and you need to balance those somehow. Otherwise you'll be working way too much or way too little in relation to what you are paid. If you only look at the chronographic units you will realize that you can't do so. If I'm walking in the woods and figure out how to architect some component, is that work or not? And how is it work if I sit at my desk for half a day and get nothing done? That's what you have to live with as a programmer and striking the balance is delicate business, but luckily it's enough that you only need to find the balance in the average. Then again, it's all about shit. As long as you get shit done the hours don't matter. And as long as you don't work too many hours to feel shitty yourself, the scheme is sustainable. That's the ultimate balance.
jxm262 11y ago
This is exactly my goal as well. I'm currently working a full time job, moonlighting contract jobs on evenings/weekends, with the goal to save enough money to cover my expenses for 6 months. After that I plan to go into full time consulting and specifically target shorter term contracts and take off blocks of time in between. I've always seemed to work best in spurts and software development (new projects anyway) are a good industry for this type of environment.

by yason 11y ago

givinguflac 11y ago

This sounds amazing and I'm happy you've found a solution that works for you. Unfortunately in my experience this scenario is basically impossible for 98% of people in the US - I assume when you say 'my country' that you are not from the US?

yason 11y ago
I work in Europe but I'm actually employed by a very much US company. Practically my whole team is in the USA and other than receiving salary locally I have surprisingly little to do with the European subsidiary. I also work from home a lot because working at the office would be effectively telecommuting, too. Decisions such as my unpaid time off come from the US. My employer is not a particularly conservative company and it helps that my boss is great and if he has to cross-check something with his boss, his boss is great too. And it probably helps to have a somewhat senior position (next milestone: ten years) and having made my mark years ago. But most importantly: getting your shit done. If you can get your shit done you're in a much better position in getting everyone to agree on more flexibility into your job because companies need to get shit done. Wise employers recognize that it's of everyone's benefit, including theirs, to keep productive employees in a loose leash with more freedom of choice rather than impose binary requirements on how and when to do the work. If my employer wasn't wise like this some other company would be enjoying the fruits of my productivity as I would've left them years ago. Even if you work at the very best companies and love your work, work is still always work and it will at some point become too much, meaningless, source of frustration, or any combination of those.

dilap 11y ago

Yes! This is exactly what I've been thinking for a while as well; I've been sort of badly approximating it by saving up money and taking a while off between jobs.

yason 11y ago
Next time you're negotiating a salary and they aren't willing to match what you want, don't walk away yet but offer to take the salary with reduced hours in proportion to how much you're missing. Taking an exaggerated example: if you want 150K and they're only willing to pay 100K, suggest to take 100K with 2/3 of the hours. You have nothing to lose but potentially lots to gain.

taurath 11y ago

That is exactly what I've always thought would be ideal for me - 3 month hyper productive periods and a good chunk of time off.

graeme 11y ago

How do you manage these? I'm most productive that way too. But the trouble is I'll keep going longer than I should, and then I just get tired and unproductive and not sensible enough to rest. Are there signs you look for to leave it on a high note, or do you use hard time limits?

kolinko 11y ago
Kindof related - one famus writer had a habit of always ending his work day mid-paragraph and mid-semtence. That way he had an easy start next day. Perhaps it's also a good method to work as a programmer? Don't fight to close that ticket before the end of the day?
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  My old colleage Mike Rowe wisely said "Always leave it compiling". That way you could go home thinking, that was probably the right fix. Then the next day you could go in and see that it wasn't, and pick up where you left off.
yason 11y ago
I kind of keep a (mostly mental) tally of the week's hours and when I've done a full week +/- N hours, I've done enough. But because of N it's a bit hazy sometimes. If I can finish something in a day what could've easily taken three days, I'll probably end the week a bit earlier. And if I get fixated on doing some "simple thing" that ends up taking a lot longer, then I allow myself to work extra to get that squashed. It's important keep your conscience fair so that you know you can mentally match the hours with results produced. Programming isn't strictly about wallclock hours but wallclock hours are a good starting point for measuring a fair effort because your pay is likely to be based on the wallclock too. (Such as 22 days * 8 hours or so.) But some hours are indeed "thick" and some hours are "lean" and you need to balance those somehow. Otherwise you'll be working way too much or way too little in relation to what you are paid. If you only look at the chronographic units you will realize that you can't do so. If I'm walking in the woods and figure out how to architect some component, is that work or not? And how is it work if I sit at my desk for half a day and get nothing done? That's what you have to live with as a programmer and striking the balance is delicate business, but luckily it's enough that you only need to find the balance in the average. Then again, it's all about shit. As long as you get shit done the hours don't matter. And as long as you don't work too many hours to feel shitty yourself, the scheme is sustainable. That's the ultimate balance.

jxm262 11y ago

This is exactly my goal as well. I'm currently working a full time job, moonlighting contract jobs on evenings/weekends, with the goal to save enough money to cover my expenses for 6 months. After that I plan to go into full time consulting and specifically target shorter term contracts and take off blocks of time in between. I've always seemed to work best in spurts and software development (new projects anyway) are a good industry for this type of environment.