4 ms·

I think 'lack of time' generally has more to do with family, then T.V. I know I have a LOT more time for 'fun stuff' now my son is grown.

michaelt 6y ago
If you're making a pro-side-projects argument, "work instead of watching TV" is probably more convincing than "work instead of spending time with your kids"
- moron4hire 6y ago
  Every single person I've met who had kids and complains about spending time with them keeps them from their projects also watched a lot of TV or plays games or wastes time on social media after the kids go to bed. Every person I know who has kids and finds time for their projects are bringing their kids with them to meetups, getting the kids interested, and not spending time on consumptive pursuits. Spending time with your kids, being a good, engaged parent, has little to do with working on side projects.
  - odshoifsdhfs 6y ago
    Do you have kids? Not an attack just curious. Edit: I just saw in the post below you do, will leave it here anywhere Between 1 hour in the morning getting them ready for school, commute, work 8/9 hours, commute back and pick him from school/grandparents, cook dinner, play with them a bit, put them in bed, most people don't have energy to so a side project and just need some time to relax in front of tv or social media. If you want to be a good parent, it is tiresome and exhausting.
    - moron4hire 6y ago
      Yes, it's tiring. I sometimes complain I don't have any time to play video games anymore. But that's it: I complain about not playing video games, not about not working on projects. I suck it up and open the code editor. And I want employees who have the fortitude to do the right thing rather than the easy thing. Edit: I want to also note, I don't just dump the kids on my wife. She has her own side projects she does. She writes sci-fi novels.
      - odshoifsdhfs 6y ago
        You are lucky. I don't watch tv/play video games, but also don't do side projects. Even if I wanted I couldn't stand staring at a monitor at 10 in the evening to write code. (but to be fair, I also value other things in my life more than my job/money, so I probably 'waste' my time on other things, but I still don't agree with side project hiring. I did a lot of hiring, and I prefer employees that have a balanced life and way of living) (ps: if your hobby is to write code at night, all power to you, but I don't think you should discriminate against people that prefer to watch a show, go surfing or to the gym or just have a beer with friends. A side project doesn't mean anything in terms of your performance at work to be honest)
        moron4hire 6y ago
        > A side project doesn't mean anything in terms of your performance at work to be honest That's as ridiculous as only hiring people who work side projects.
      - loriverkutya 6y ago
        > And I want employees who have the fortitude to do the right thing rather than the easy thing. And this way you get employees burning out I’m a few years. But you know, you can suck that up too.
  - mech422 6y ago
    so ... anecdata ? Some of the best coders I've worked with are people that totally unplug off the clock, but I wouldn't try to generalize that...
moron4hire 6y ago
I have two small kids and I still find time to work on projects. It's specifically not watching TV, not Facebooking, and not playing games that gives me that time. I just hired a person at work where part of her resume that stood out to me was that she knits and had designed and sells a knitting loom that a person can use one-handed, after she broke her wrist some years ago. She had kids and volunteers at her local fire department, too.
- balfirevic 6y ago
  > I have two small kids and I still find time to work on projects. It's specifically not watching TV, not Facebooking, and not playing games that gives me that time I think many people are more constrained by their energy than by literally not having time. And this isn't something that's always under person's control - different people need different amount of sleep, have different quality of sleep, different mental endurance, might have various mental and physical health issues (not even necessarily perceiving themselves as unwell in any way - just enough that they can't muster energy to do that hour of coding that they would like to do each day).
  - zrail 6y ago
    Also kids can be very different in how much emotional and physical energy they require from their caregivers.
    - odshoifsdhfs 6y ago
      Amen to that. I love my boy to death, but there hasn't been anyone, from family members to his teachers that has said he was 'easy'. He is polite and nice, but sucks your energy with all the 'whys?' and curiosity. Is amazing to read deep space science books to your 5 year old, is exhausting to try and find answers for 3 hours for every little question he has (one afternoon, we went from talking about atoms in rocks/minerals and ended up with questions about the Big Bang, it is amazing, but it tiresome as hell)
    - elpescado 6y ago

michaelt 6y ago

If you're making a pro-side-projects argument, "work instead of watching TV" is probably more convincing than "work instead of spending time with your kids"

moron4hire 6y ago
Every single person I've met who had kids and complains about spending time with them keeps them from their projects also watched a lot of TV or plays games or wastes time on social media after the kids go to bed. Every person I know who has kids and finds time for their projects are bringing their kids with them to meetups, getting the kids interested, and not spending time on consumptive pursuits. Spending time with your kids, being a good, engaged parent, has little to do with working on side projects.
- odshoifsdhfs 6y ago
  Do you have kids? Not an attack just curious. Edit: I just saw in the post below you do, will leave it here anywhere Between 1 hour in the morning getting them ready for school, commute, work 8/9 hours, commute back and pick him from school/grandparents, cook dinner, play with them a bit, put them in bed, most people don't have energy to so a side project and just need some time to relax in front of tv or social media. If you want to be a good parent, it is tiresome and exhausting.
  - moron4hire 6y ago
    Yes, it's tiring. I sometimes complain I don't have any time to play video games anymore. But that's it: I complain about not playing video games, not about not working on projects. I suck it up and open the code editor. And I want employees who have the fortitude to do the right thing rather than the easy thing. Edit: I want to also note, I don't just dump the kids on my wife. She has her own side projects she does. She writes sci-fi novels.
    - odshoifsdhfs 6y ago
      You are lucky. I don't watch tv/play video games, but also don't do side projects. Even if I wanted I couldn't stand staring at a monitor at 10 in the evening to write code. (but to be fair, I also value other things in my life more than my job/money, so I probably 'waste' my time on other things, but I still don't agree with side project hiring. I did a lot of hiring, and I prefer employees that have a balanced life and way of living) (ps: if your hobby is to write code at night, all power to you, but I don't think you should discriminate against people that prefer to watch a show, go surfing or to the gym or just have a beer with friends. A side project doesn't mean anything in terms of your performance at work to be honest)
      - moron4hire 6y ago
        > A side project doesn't mean anything in terms of your performance at work to be honest That's as ridiculous as only hiring people who work side projects.
    - loriverkutya 6y ago
      > And I want employees who have the fortitude to do the right thing rather than the easy thing. And this way you get employees burning out I’m a few years. But you know, you can suck that up too.
- mech422 6y ago
  so ... anecdata ? Some of the best coders I've worked with are people that totally unplug off the clock, but I wouldn't try to generalize that...

moron4hire 6y ago

I have two small kids and I still find time to work on projects. It's specifically not watching TV, not Facebooking, and not playing games that gives me that time. I just hired a person at work where part of her resume that stood out to me was that she knits and had designed and sells a knitting loom that a person can use one-handed, after she broke her wrist some years ago. She had kids and volunteers at her local fire department, too.

balfirevic 6y ago
> I have two small kids and I still find time to work on projects. It's specifically not watching TV, not Facebooking, and not playing games that gives me that time I think many people are more constrained by their energy than by literally not having time. And this isn't something that's always under person's control - different people need different amount of sleep, have different quality of sleep, different mental endurance, might have various mental and physical health issues (not even necessarily perceiving themselves as unwell in any way - just enough that they can't muster energy to do that hour of coding that they would like to do each day).
- zrail 6y ago
  Also kids can be very different in how much emotional and physical energy they require from their caregivers.
  - odshoifsdhfs 6y ago
    Amen to that. I love my boy to death, but there hasn't been anyone, from family members to his teachers that has said he was 'easy'. He is polite and nice, but sucks your energy with all the 'whys?' and curiosity. Is amazing to read deep space science books to your 5 year old, is exhausting to try and find answers for 3 hours for every little question he has (one afternoon, we went from talking about atoms in rocks/minerals and ended up with questions about the Big Bang, it is amazing, but it tiresome as hell)
  - elpescado 6y ago