4 ms·

Define "Work". I'm employed full-time, but I'll be the first to admit that for not all of that I'm working. Outside of that I have projects I'm working on (whi

by buro9 16y ago

Define "Work". I'm employed full-time, but I'll be the first to admit that for not all of that I'm working. Outside of that I have projects I'm working on (which I'd be inclined to count as work) and a small business (which is definitely work though I treat that more as pleasure). I guess if it's vague enough to just be anything not personal or sleeping then > 60 hours... but if it's constrained to that for which I am employed/get paid, then it's variable.

derrida 16y ago
I agree. In reality, I have 3 or 4 hours of enthusiastic game-on work time a day. That is ok. I honestly don't believe anyone that says they can keep up concentration for longer than this (unless debugging). Here I am only counting "doing" not "dreaming" or "thinking", but I do that in my sleep.
- eelinow 16y ago
  I agree with you as well. Zone time is usually a 3-4 hour a day deal. Some people are honest about it, others aren't. There are short periods of time in which one can code at their top level for a long period of time but these are infrequent. In general I'd say that one can get a good 4 hours of solid work in on a given day. Once going beyond that time frame, especially on a regular basis just increases the chance of introducing errors into a system. The other time would be better spent thinking about the problems faced by the design and or relaxing to allow for ideas to form and work themselves to clarity. When I used to work outside of my home this meant playing table tennis or fußball as a clearing ones mind method. Or going for a walk outside of the workplace. The gung-ho brute forcing of a coding method is a dangerous path to traverse. I'm more for the cyclical clear ones mind, allow the design/ideas/concepts to brew. Commit to code the portion at hand then cool down and repeat the cycle. Honestly, my best clarity comes at 2am, the shower and/or commutes >20 minutes. Eric codedevl.blogspot.com
wazoox 16y ago
Ditto. I actually spend long hours at home reading programming blogs, tech news, programming stuff or toying around with system administration tools and techniques I may use later in production. What is work? Am I working when I'm reading HN at the office waiting for some test to end ? Am I working when I'm answering support emails from home at 11PM while still reading HN ? I spend about 35 hours a week at the office or customers premises. I spend 80 to 100 hours a week doing work-related stuff. I may pretend that I'm working even while I'm running in the woods, every morning, because while I run I'm probably rummaging about a couple of work related problems, even if it's on the back burner. What's work? Frankly, I don't know anymore.

by buro9 16y ago

derrida 16y ago

I agree. In reality, I have 3 or 4 hours of enthusiastic game-on work time a day. That is ok. I honestly don't believe anyone that says they can keep up concentration for longer than this (unless debugging). Here I am only counting "doing" not "dreaming" or "thinking", but I do that in my sleep.

eelinow 16y ago
I agree with you as well. Zone time is usually a 3-4 hour a day deal. Some people are honest about it, others aren't. There are short periods of time in which one can code at their top level for a long period of time but these are infrequent. In general I'd say that one can get a good 4 hours of solid work in on a given day. Once going beyond that time frame, especially on a regular basis just increases the chance of introducing errors into a system. The other time would be better spent thinking about the problems faced by the design and or relaxing to allow for ideas to form and work themselves to clarity. When I used to work outside of my home this meant playing table tennis or fußball as a clearing ones mind method. Or going for a walk outside of the workplace. The gung-ho brute forcing of a coding method is a dangerous path to traverse. I'm more for the cyclical clear ones mind, allow the design/ideas/concepts to brew. Commit to code the portion at hand then cool down and repeat the cycle. Honestly, my best clarity comes at 2am, the shower and/or commutes >20 minutes. Eric codedevl.blogspot.com

wazoox 16y ago

Ditto. I actually spend long hours at home reading programming blogs, tech news, programming stuff or toying around with system administration tools and techniques I may use later in production. What is work? Am I working when I'm reading HN at the office waiting for some test to end ? Am I working when I'm answering support emails from home at 11PM while still reading HN ? I spend about 35 hours a week at the office or customers premises. I spend 80 to 100 hours a week doing work-related stuff. I may pretend that I'm working even while I'm running in the woods, every morning, because while I run I'm probably rummaging about a couple of work related problems, even if it's on the back burner. What's work? Frankly, I don't know anymore.