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Programming & kids do not go together. Deep thinking and juggling complex structures in mind with past and future states... "Hey dad, check out my new dress a
by keyle 6y ago
Programming & kids do not go together.
Deep thinking and juggling complex structures in mind with past and future states...
"Hey dad, check out my new dress and ring I stole from mum!" <gone>
... 15 mins later.
Where was I... Ah yes, deep thinking and juggling complex structures in mind with past and future states...
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad! She took my toys" <gone>
I literally end up jotting pseudocode as fast as possible and then translate it for the simplest things.
So I work when they sleep.
You'd think these constant interruptions would make you super efficient with focus and time, but it's the opposite. Concentration is much harder to obtain and retain because of the constant potential for interruption looming.
- aspaceman 6y agoOr the suspense of, “wait it’s quiet... too quiet, oh no what’s wrong”
- lifeisstillgood 6y agoYes ! Years ago I took a remote job and started in the spare room upstairs. Hear them shout - wish they would be quiet. Hear them cry - wish I could comfort them. Hear them laugh - wish I could join them. Not hear them at all - OMG they died suddenly! Yeah I rented an office for the next two years.
- majkinetor 6y agoI suggest best noise/human cancelation headphones. It makes tremendous difference.
- burlesona 6y agoUnfortunately noise canceling headphones to nothing about a child tugging on your shirt. When children are little, they truly need attention. If there’s no one else around to provide it, then there’s really no way to deep work, because you will have to help them with something at least a few times per hour. There are some kinds of work that aren’t too disrupted by this, but programming isn’t one of those.
- keyle 6y agoYou can't noise canceling your children. They know you're ignoring them and it's just unleashing the kraken.
- ironmagma 6y agoI worked in an environment like this once, except the interruptions were a little less silly and were from PMs, managers and designers who had no concept of flow. It never was ideal, but I still feel it’s possible to adapt to the situation by adopting a mindset that doesn’t get as bothered by interruptions. This is said with no evidence of course, so take it as you may.
- cosmodisk 6y agoYou can always tell the PM or designer to crawl back where they came from and give you some space. it's not an option with children. I still remember Peppa Pig playing on a full blast while I'm trying to bulkify some parts of the code.
- aaron-santos 6y agoI feel the same. Resuming flow state is a skill just like any other. I've seen my own ability to resume flow increase while working from home with two young children. There's also something to be said for improving one's ability to do serious work in a non-flow state. All other things being equal, people who can improve both of these abilities have an advantage over those who can't.
- keyle 6y agoYour pm doesn't tap you on the leg, scream in your ears like the world ended and start poking things on your desk... I hope.
- ironmagma 6y agoYes, the idea of the comment was not to say that PMs are comparable to children.