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It's great if it's working for you. I've been in that mode in the past. I was greatly productive and was able to grow businesses and do amazing things doing 80-

It's great if it's working for you. I've been in that mode in the past. I was greatly productive and was able to grow businesses and do amazing things doing 80-100 hour weeks. Building highly complex systems alone in very short amounts of time. It also gave me incredible sense of achievement. What I can say is I'm getting older now and I can say that my body ain't the same as I was when I was in my 20s. Enjoy it while it lasts!

copperx 5y ago
If I may ask, what changes when you're older? Is it mostly the mental stamina? Or is it the body asking you to spend time resting? A combination?
- MrLeap 5y ago
  The heuristic coefficients grow. You accrete a ratio of all those 100 week crunch memories to the treasure attained, personal value, lasting purpose and meaning of them. How many death marches can you look back on N years later and think "that paid off, I'm happier now because of it."
- chrisabrams 5y ago
  Your responsibilities across the rest of your life grow but the amount of time in a given day doesn’t change. If family is important then you’ll have little ones constantly vying for your attention and the ability to just “get in the zone” for 2-12 hours goes out the window.
  - toomuchtodo 5y ago
    Very much this. My toddler will walk into my office right as I’m getting into flow, but I don’t care, because I’ll never have this time with them again, so I pick them up and walk away from the computer, off to play together and to get done whatever I meant to later. Hopefully there will be time to come back to younger sprints when they’re older, but if not, being a parent is making peace with that. Can’t have it all.
- bpodgursky 5y ago
  I do have a kid now, but the mental stamina is 80% of the problem. I just can't drive late into the night coding anymore, unless I've set myself up for success with coffee + being super in the zone. I think many people in their 20s don't understand what a mental edge they have over ancient people like me (32) if they really test the limit of their mental strength.
  - copperx 5y ago
    This fact should be disseminated. I was always aware that I was going to become less sharp and more tired, but it was surprising how fast it all came down crashing. It's definitely not linear decay.
- user123456780 5y ago
  your self reward mechanism changes, as well as the problems youre solving in your 20s are generally new problems to you. Once you have been coding for 10+, 20+ years you'll come to realise that there is a repeating set of problems you're solving. I haven't seen a truely new problem in a long time. Granted the predominate code I write is for corporate web apps. But starting out in my 20s everything was new and fun. The reward for solving a thing, or shipping a feature felt great. Now its just one of many features I have shipped that are all more or less the same. Also another big factor I think is I am significantly more productive now than when I was in my 20s. I would have had to work 80+ hours back then to keep up with myself now
- drdaeman 5y ago
  I'm not GP, but for me it's not about physical exhaustion, but a mental fatigue. I still can get in the zone and spearhead something for 8-10 hours non-stop, but afterwards I'm feeling super lazy, like not wanting to think about anything, e.g. doing something purely mechanical.
- kcplate 5y ago
  For me it was the realization that my employer didn’t really care if I worked 40 or 80 hours a week but my family sure did.
  - kamaal 5y ago
    This is probably the most important thing. Plus the whole idea that money earned is a function of hours worked itself is wrong. It sure is some times, but most of the times it isn't. You also burnout, age quickly, catch diseases like hypertension and diabetes when you go through repeated stress and over work. You miss out on exercise and good diet. Most of it has impact on your well being. On the other hand money making seems to depend on a myriad factors like luck, office politics and not just working hours alone. So optimising for one parameter just doesn't make sense logically either.
    - kcplate 5y ago
      Well I was salaried and frankly working much beyond 40 was always more about me trying to find the clever or perfect code, when all my employer really expected was just for the damn thing to work. What happened under the hood was less important than what I made it to be. When I realized striving for that perfection had zero positives beyond my own perception and tons of negatives, it was easy to find a better work/life balance.
      - kamaal 5y ago
        >>when all my employer really expected was just for the damn thing to work. Working for glory never really makes sense in any field of work. This mostly due to Ozymandias factor. But for most people the Ozymandias age is a pretty small number. I don't even remember names of several colleagues I've worked with early life, so to expect any kind of recognition or even that some one cares about your work is just plain delusion. Most people struggle to remember what they had to dinner two days back. I'd like to imagine managers don't remember whose getting the word done, as long as it is getting done. Beyond all this most products/projects/service(s) have a short life, and are EOL not very far from their creation. So it just doesn't make sense to do permanent damage to your life for short lived easily forgotten stuff.
- goalieca 5y ago
  I’m far more productive now than I was at 20. But let’s say there is a human equivalent to tech debt and as you get older, those bad habits and shortcuts have cumulative effects.
- ALittleLight 5y ago
  In addition to mental stamina and things like wife and kids taking lots of time, which others mentioned and I heartily agree with, there's also a gain of confidence. When I was young, if some management type had told me we were going to miss a deadline I would've pulled all nighters, worked weekends, whatever it took to help bring the deliverable in in time. Nowadays (at least before I stopped working) I would just say something like "Okay, let me know when we have an updated schedule." Before, when my manager had said we need to work weekends, I'd be there. Now, I'd just say that I'm not doing that. The confidence comes from experience, knowing that I could get a different job, being financially secure, and a self confidence that I didn't possess in my youth.
- jes 5y ago
  Since becoming a student of Buddhism and other related philosophies, I have more or less lost any desire to strive for particular outcomes. I was a workaholic much of my life. Here is a sermon that I like. It might seem contradictory at times, as it uses terminology specific to Buddhist and Taoist philosophy: https://youtu.be/e_DzXYI7xRU https://youtu.be/e_DzXYI7xRU
- artellectual 5y ago
  A combination of a few things, mental stamina, body need proper resting. As I got older, family becomes more important, wife, kids also need time. Also honestly you realize working more doesn't always make you more / nor does it make you happier. It's important to spend time doing things other than work. You just get wiser about spending your time.

copperx 5y ago

If I may ask, what changes when you're older? Is it mostly the mental stamina? Or is it the body asking you to spend time resting? A combination?

MrLeap 5y ago
The heuristic coefficients grow. You accrete a ratio of all those 100 week crunch memories to the treasure attained, personal value, lasting purpose and meaning of them. How many death marches can you look back on N years later and think "that paid off, I'm happier now because of it."
chrisabrams 5y ago
Your responsibilities across the rest of your life grow but the amount of time in a given day doesn’t change. If family is important then you’ll have little ones constantly vying for your attention and the ability to just “get in the zone” for 2-12 hours goes out the window.
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  Very much this. My toddler will walk into my office right as I’m getting into flow, but I don’t care, because I’ll never have this time with them again, so I pick them up and walk away from the computer, off to play together and to get done whatever I meant to later. Hopefully there will be time to come back to younger sprints when they’re older, but if not, being a parent is making peace with that. Can’t have it all.
bpodgursky 5y ago
I do have a kid now, but the mental stamina is 80% of the problem. I just can't drive late into the night coding anymore, unless I've set myself up for success with coffee + being super in the zone. I think many people in their 20s don't understand what a mental edge they have over ancient people like me (32) if they really test the limit of their mental strength.
- copperx 5y ago
  This fact should be disseminated. I was always aware that I was going to become less sharp and more tired, but it was surprising how fast it all came down crashing. It's definitely not linear decay.
user123456780 5y ago
your self reward mechanism changes, as well as the problems youre solving in your 20s are generally new problems to you. Once you have been coding for 10+, 20+ years you'll come to realise that there is a repeating set of problems you're solving. I haven't seen a truely new problem in a long time. Granted the predominate code I write is for corporate web apps. But starting out in my 20s everything was new and fun. The reward for solving a thing, or shipping a feature felt great. Now its just one of many features I have shipped that are all more or less the same. Also another big factor I think is I am significantly more productive now than when I was in my 20s. I would have had to work 80+ hours back then to keep up with myself now
drdaeman 5y ago
I'm not GP, but for me it's not about physical exhaustion, but a mental fatigue. I still can get in the zone and spearhead something for 8-10 hours non-stop, but afterwards I'm feeling super lazy, like not wanting to think about anything, e.g. doing something purely mechanical.
kcplate 5y ago
For me it was the realization that my employer didn’t really care if I worked 40 or 80 hours a week but my family sure did.
- kamaal 5y ago
  This is probably the most important thing. Plus the whole idea that money earned is a function of hours worked itself is wrong. It sure is some times, but most of the times it isn't. You also burnout, age quickly, catch diseases like hypertension and diabetes when you go through repeated stress and over work. You miss out on exercise and good diet. Most of it has impact on your well being. On the other hand money making seems to depend on a myriad factors like luck, office politics and not just working hours alone. So optimising for one parameter just doesn't make sense logically either.
  - kcplate 5y ago
    Well I was salaried and frankly working much beyond 40 was always more about me trying to find the clever or perfect code, when all my employer really expected was just for the damn thing to work. What happened under the hood was less important than what I made it to be. When I realized striving for that perfection had zero positives beyond my own perception and tons of negatives, it was easy to find a better work/life balance.
    - kamaal 5y ago
      >>when all my employer really expected was just for the damn thing to work. Working for glory never really makes sense in any field of work. This mostly due to Ozymandias factor. But for most people the Ozymandias age is a pretty small number. I don't even remember names of several colleagues I've worked with early life, so to expect any kind of recognition or even that some one cares about your work is just plain delusion. Most people struggle to remember what they had to dinner two days back. I'd like to imagine managers don't remember whose getting the word done, as long as it is getting done. Beyond all this most products/projects/service(s) have a short life, and are EOL not very far from their creation. So it just doesn't make sense to do permanent damage to your life for short lived easily forgotten stuff.
goalieca 5y ago
I’m far more productive now than I was at 20. But let’s say there is a human equivalent to tech debt and as you get older, those bad habits and shortcuts have cumulative effects.
ALittleLight 5y ago
In addition to mental stamina and things like wife and kids taking lots of time, which others mentioned and I heartily agree with, there's also a gain of confidence. When I was young, if some management type had told me we were going to miss a deadline I would've pulled all nighters, worked weekends, whatever it took to help bring the deliverable in in time. Nowadays (at least before I stopped working) I would just say something like "Okay, let me know when we have an updated schedule." Before, when my manager had said we need to work weekends, I'd be there. Now, I'd just say that I'm not doing that. The confidence comes from experience, knowing that I could get a different job, being financially secure, and a self confidence that I didn't possess in my youth.
jes 5y ago
Since becoming a student of Buddhism and other related philosophies, I have more or less lost any desire to strive for particular outcomes. I was a workaholic much of my life. Here is a sermon that I like. It might seem contradictory at times, as it uses terminology specific to Buddhist and Taoist philosophy: https://youtu.be/e_DzXYI7xRU https://youtu.be/e_DzXYI7xRU
artellectual 5y ago
A combination of a few things, mental stamina, body need proper resting. As I got older, family becomes more important, wife, kids also need time. Also honestly you realize working more doesn't always make you more / nor does it make you happier. It's important to spend time doing things other than work. You just get wiser about spending your time.