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I work a lot. I'm working right now (took a break to read HN). I just enjoy getting things done and it's paid off well for me. I've learned though that my abi

by ronnier 10y ago

I work a lot. I'm working right now (took a break to read HN). I just enjoy getting things done and it's paid off well for me. I've learned though that my ability to work many hours and my drive to do so doesn't mean I should enforce that on others, so I don't let my teammates know when I work outside of normal hours. I don't send emails at night or weekends. I don't send code reviews on nights and weekends. I try to stay invisible outside of normal work hours to avoid creating an environment where people feel like they must work as much as I do. I realize that also means it might look like I produce a lot more code during my 40~ hours, but I think that's better than the team receiving non-stop emails and code reviews from me. I figured I'd work hard while I have any bit of youth and energy left and relax later in life.

kpil 10y ago
Define later. I'm 42 and I still work too much. If you're like me and not starting your own extremely successful company, or possibly seriously working on your career in the true sense - in order to get economically independent, you won't get much slack to relax in "later" regardless of what you do... I've quit consulting and got a boring job at a large boring company in order to spend more time with my family, but somehow I find something that triggers me anyway, and I work too much, which probably affects my health.
wheelerwj 10y ago
This is the right answer without really being an answer. I work a lot too, its not uncommon for me to 2x the hours my coworkers put in. And i don't care because I enjoy it. I'm passionate about the work I do and the company I'm contributing to. I do need to be more mindful of the hours I send emails and slack messages. My current justification is that while I may send outbound communications 24/7, I only follow up during work hours. I could use a tool to queue messages and make me seem less active I guess. I don't really know what OP is expecting, but if OPs colleague is open to feedback, maybe a quick aside to let them know how they are being perceived is in order. Short of that, VW shuts off email after-hours, maybe OP could do something similar: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-16314901 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-16314901
- TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
  What motivates you to send emails 24/7? Unless you're actively involved in incident response, I find it hard to imagine a scenario that necessitates sending regular email at 3 in the morning.
  - jakobegger 10y ago
    I guess it's convenient when you've eg. fixed an issue at 3AM in the morning to send an email to affected people right away (so you can focus on the next thing) instead of remembering to send the email in the morning.
    - webmaven 10y ago
      There are solutions to write and 'send' an email now for scheduled delivery. Gmail users for example can use Boomerang: http://www.boomeranggmail.com/ http://www.boomeranggmail.com/
      - pc86 10y ago
        Wouldn't this potentially result in the same person receiving multiple emails from you at 8:01 am (for example)? I would think a better solution would be a manual summary email early in the morning of everything you did since the office closed the prior evening.
        webmaven 10y ago
        > Wouldn't this potentially result in the same person receiving multiple emails from you at 8:01 am (for example)? Boomerang lets you set the time the email will be sent differently on each scheduled email. Or you could go with "send in 8 hours" for each, and they will be spaced out by however long it took to write each one.
  - wheelerwj 10y ago
    Nothing necessitates it. But if I'm actively working, id rather draft and send the email while it's fresh. Sometimes I'm working at 3 am, but mostly 90+hour weeks translate to 9am to 12 pm 7 days a week. Those aren't egregious hours to be communicating, they are egregious hours to expect an immediate response though.
pc86 10y ago
> I figured I'd work hard while I have any bit of youth and energy left Some would argue your youth and energy is better spent on things outside of work.

by ronnier 10y ago

kpil 10y ago

Define later. I'm 42 and I still work too much. If you're like me and not starting your own extremely successful company, or possibly seriously working on your career in the true sense - in order to get economically independent, you won't get much slack to relax in "later" regardless of what you do... I've quit consulting and got a boring job at a large boring company in order to spend more time with my family, but somehow I find something that triggers me anyway, and I work too much, which probably affects my health.

wheelerwj 10y ago

This is the right answer without really being an answer. I work a lot too, its not uncommon for me to 2x the hours my coworkers put in. And i don't care because I enjoy it. I'm passionate about the work I do and the company I'm contributing to. I do need to be more mindful of the hours I send emails and slack messages. My current justification is that while I may send outbound communications 24/7, I only follow up during work hours. I could use a tool to queue messages and make me seem less active I guess. I don't really know what OP is expecting, but if OPs colleague is open to feedback, maybe a quick aside to let them know how they are being perceived is in order. Short of that, VW shuts off email after-hours, maybe OP could do something similar: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-16314901 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-16314901

TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
What motivates you to send emails 24/7? Unless you're actively involved in incident response, I find it hard to imagine a scenario that necessitates sending regular email at 3 in the morning.
- jakobegger 10y ago
  I guess it's convenient when you've eg. fixed an issue at 3AM in the morning to send an email to affected people right away (so you can focus on the next thing) instead of remembering to send the email in the morning.
  - webmaven 10y ago
    There are solutions to write and 'send' an email now for scheduled delivery. Gmail users for example can use Boomerang: http://www.boomeranggmail.com/ http://www.boomeranggmail.com/
    - pc86 10y ago
      Wouldn't this potentially result in the same person receiving multiple emails from you at 8:01 am (for example)? I would think a better solution would be a manual summary email early in the morning of everything you did since the office closed the prior evening.
      - webmaven 10y ago
        > Wouldn't this potentially result in the same person receiving multiple emails from you at 8:01 am (for example)? Boomerang lets you set the time the email will be sent differently on each scheduled email. Or you could go with "send in 8 hours" for each, and they will be spaced out by however long it took to write each one.
- wheelerwj 10y ago
  Nothing necessitates it. But if I'm actively working, id rather draft and send the email while it's fresh. Sometimes I'm working at 3 am, but mostly 90+hour weeks translate to 9am to 12 pm 7 days a week. Those aren't egregious hours to be communicating, they are egregious hours to expect an immediate response though.

pc86 10y ago

> I figured I'd work hard while I have any bit of youth and energy left Some would argue your youth and energy is better spent on things outside of work.