Honestly I find your whole question rather puzzling. I mean, I get what you are asking. But the way you are asking seems as if your time is only valuable when y

Honestly I find your whole question rather puzzling. I mean, I get what you are asking. But the way you are asking seems as if your time is only valuable when you do 'real work' - which in this case I suppose is development work. In the same way you wonder about 'real life' but your life is as real as it gets. It is, of course, quite ordinary to not spend your whole day coding, but working on other stuff as well. The value you bring to the table is not _just_ in the lines of code you write, or in the hours you spend in front of an IDE. The time spent chatting with colleagues about products, writing that documentation you've been putting off for months (because it not 'real work'), or even reading HN to stay in touch with the latest and greatest in tech, all amount to the value one brings to the company.