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I effing love what I do. The result is that I frequently "work" 14+ hour days, skip social stuff to code (or sneak in my iPad to research the problem I'm stuck

by crikli 15y ago

I effing love what I do. The result is that I frequently "work" 14+ hour days, skip social stuff to code (or sneak in my iPad to research the problem I'm stuck on), and I love talking shop. I'm this way in my own business and I was like this at the job I had before I left to start it. Honestly, with all of the slack ass clock punchers out there that can't write a lick of code, the idea of canning someone for working too hard seems pretty silly. And FWIW, I found time in the last couple years to get my pilot's certificate.

tathagata 15y ago
Agree 100% I often work passionately 16 or even 18 hours a day, but that's like for a couple of weeks (or maybe a month) in a year, when we are about to launch something exciting, rest of the year I usually work 5-6 hours a day, sometimes even less, an hour or a couple of hours a day, spending the rest of the time catching up on technology, making art and some music. That said, I get more work done than almost a 100 other people combined. If I were to work for a fixed number of hours a day every day of the year, I would probably be doing some boring chore of a work, and would likely 'burn out' due the boredom.
awj 15y ago
Both the article and you are talking in terms of extremes. Some people work 14+ hour days regularly because they are excited about the work. There is nothing wrong with this. Working 14+ hour days because you feel like you must do so to "keep up" is bad. In general working well past the point where you are productive is bad. Some people want to slack off and punch the clock, and do not give a crap about their work. This is bad. Some recognize when they've done all of the productive work they can today, and seek to use the remaining time to balance out their life. There is nothing wrong with that, either. Basically it comes down to reasons and effective self-evaluation. If you're working 14+ hours while being useful and engaged, great for you. If you're doing it as some badge of honor and hacking together crap because you're tired, you really aren't helping. Know yourself, and your limits. Use them as tools to do the best you can. The only people you should fire here are the ones who refuse to do this.
cipherpunk 15y ago
Some of us "slack ass clock punchers" have lives outside of work. I have friends and family and hobbies that do not involve sitting in front of a computer screen for every waking moment of the day. Working to live, vs. living to work.
- sliverstorm 15y ago
  If you love your work, what is wrong with living to work? (When I say living to work, take it as implied that I mean taking good enough care of yourself to prevent physical or mental health problems from tanking your work quality)
  - strlen 15y ago
    Exactly. I love what I do. If I had to work a job that didn't involve programming, I'd still do it after work (I've played an amazing 3d game that as written by somebody who worked a summer job at a gas station). I regularly program outside of work, I've stayed at work for long hours. When I'd have a day with multiple meetings, I'd frequently stay late to write code as otherwise I'd feel unsatisfied. At the mean time, some days I'd prefer to have dinner with my girlfriend after work. On weekends I'd occasionally prefer a get away outside of Silicon Valley. Exercise is an absolute must. I also have interest outside of computing: reading (history, philosophy), photography. Pursuing them only helps re-invigorate my passion for computing: occasionally ideas would come to me when I'm reading an unrelated book, working out at the gym or taking photographs. Many times there's a direct link: I'd write my own photo gallery software and host the pictures myself, build creative ways to backup my images, research ways to do interesting image manipulation from Linux (photo manipulation libraries, etc...) etc... Pursuing photography as a hobby while on a budget as a college student meant I had to do "casual programming" quite frequently to get what I want done (now, however, I've shelled out for Aperture). It's important to understand that performance requires maintenance, good ideas come form outside. At the mean time, there's nothing wrong with working long hours if you want to do so: it's only healthy and pleasant if you actually have a passion for what you do (as long as you don't go to the extreme of forgoing maintenance and ignoring other sources of inspiration).
  - 15y ago
kenjackson 15y ago
I love my "job" too. Although there's nothing I love so much to do it 10 hours a day on a regular basis. Not sleep, eat, sex, listen to music, read, watch Tv, play XBox, nor work. Nothing. If I can't regularly do what I need to do in 9 hours day, for virtually anything, then I'm doing something wrong.
- jradakov 15y ago
  I wish I could upvote this 1000 times.
  - tarmstrong 15y ago
    This is better written as "I agree".
    - alnayyir 15y ago
      I agree.
T-R 15y ago
> the idea of canning someone for working too hard seems pretty silly I think you're taking the article too literally. It seemed to me that he was taking the (decidedly silly) polar opposite position to emphasize the extremity of Jason's suggestion, and that there are perfectly legitimate reasons not to follow it, to the extent that the exact opposite could be argued. I don't think he actually expects anyone to fire someone for working overtime, just recognize that expecting overtime has negative effects.

by crikli 15y ago

tathagata 15y ago

Agree 100% I often work passionately 16 or even 18 hours a day, but that's like for a couple of weeks (or maybe a month) in a year, when we are about to launch something exciting, rest of the year I usually work 5-6 hours a day, sometimes even less, an hour or a couple of hours a day, spending the rest of the time catching up on technology, making art and some music. That said, I get more work done than almost a 100 other people combined. If I were to work for a fixed number of hours a day every day of the year, I would probably be doing some boring chore of a work, and would likely 'burn out' due the boredom.

awj 15y ago

Both the article and you are talking in terms of extremes. Some people work 14+ hour days regularly because they are excited about the work. There is nothing wrong with this. Working 14+ hour days because you feel like you must do so to "keep up" is bad. In general working well past the point where you are productive is bad. Some people want to slack off and punch the clock, and do not give a crap about their work. This is bad. Some recognize when they've done all of the productive work they can today, and seek to use the remaining time to balance out their life. There is nothing wrong with that, either. Basically it comes down to reasons and effective self-evaluation. If you're working 14+ hours while being useful and engaged, great for you. If you're doing it as some badge of honor and hacking together crap because you're tired, you really aren't helping. Know yourself, and your limits. Use them as tools to do the best you can. The only people you should fire here are the ones who refuse to do this.

cipherpunk 15y ago

Some of us "slack ass clock punchers" have lives outside of work. I have friends and family and hobbies that do not involve sitting in front of a computer screen for every waking moment of the day. Working to live, vs. living to work.

sliverstorm 15y ago
If you love your work, what is wrong with living to work? (When I say living to work, take it as implied that I mean taking good enough care of yourself to prevent physical or mental health problems from tanking your work quality)
- strlen 15y ago
  Exactly. I love what I do. If I had to work a job that didn't involve programming, I'd still do it after work (I've played an amazing 3d game that as written by somebody who worked a summer job at a gas station). I regularly program outside of work, I've stayed at work for long hours. When I'd have a day with multiple meetings, I'd frequently stay late to write code as otherwise I'd feel unsatisfied. At the mean time, some days I'd prefer to have dinner with my girlfriend after work. On weekends I'd occasionally prefer a get away outside of Silicon Valley. Exercise is an absolute must. I also have interest outside of computing: reading (history, philosophy), photography. Pursuing them only helps re-invigorate my passion for computing: occasionally ideas would come to me when I'm reading an unrelated book, working out at the gym or taking photographs. Many times there's a direct link: I'd write my own photo gallery software and host the pictures myself, build creative ways to backup my images, research ways to do interesting image manipulation from Linux (photo manipulation libraries, etc...) etc... Pursuing photography as a hobby while on a budget as a college student meant I had to do "casual programming" quite frequently to get what I want done (now, however, I've shelled out for Aperture). It's important to understand that performance requires maintenance, good ideas come form outside. At the mean time, there's nothing wrong with working long hours if you want to do so: it's only healthy and pleasant if you actually have a passion for what you do (as long as you don't go to the extreme of forgoing maintenance and ignoring other sources of inspiration).
- 15y ago

kenjackson 15y ago

I love my "job" too. Although there's nothing I love so much to do it 10 hours a day on a regular basis. Not sleep, eat, sex, listen to music, read, watch Tv, play XBox, nor work. Nothing. If I can't regularly do what I need to do in 9 hours day, for virtually anything, then I'm doing something wrong.

jradakov 15y ago
I wish I could upvote this 1000 times.
- tarmstrong 15y ago
  This is better written as "I agree".
  - alnayyir 15y ago
    I agree.

T-R 15y ago

> the idea of canning someone for working too hard seems pretty silly I think you're taking the article too literally. It seemed to me that he was taking the (decidedly silly) polar opposite position to emphasize the extremity of Jason's suggestion, and that there are perfectly legitimate reasons not to follow it, to the extent that the exact opposite could be argued. I don't think he actually expects anyone to fire someone for working overtime, just recognize that expecting overtime has negative effects.