5 ms·

Everytime I read these kind of articles I see the one glaring headline, how programmers love to work outside of their regular work day Then I become sad becaus

Everytime I read these kind of articles I see the one glaring headline, how programmers love to work outside of their regular work day Then I become sad because 80% of my week I come home and have to handle something and by the end of it all, I don't have any time to play around (aka, program) because I have to go to bed. Sigh, vicious cycle :( (I know I can work on managing my time better and I am, like cooking more meals for the week, and time-boxing other tasks .. but it takes time!)

sfamiliar 18y ago
as a programmer, one of the things i look for in a company is a willingness to let a guy like me play around with technology on the side and not have scary legal documentation concerning their ownership of it. while i work for a startup at the moment, my previous employer (a well-known language learning software company) actively discouraged its employees from pursuing any side projects. if you're looking to hire someone who's driven, this is a terrible idea; a good programmer will always be thinking of something, mulling some problem over in his head. probably several, a few of which aren't related to his job. if he has to worry about whether or not he can legally work on these things outside of his regular employment, he's less likely to explore, and less likely to learn on his own time. so hiring managers and legal departments: look for someone who checks over the contracts for ownership rights and complains if they're too strict.
jcromartie 18y ago
I have found this to be creeping up on me as well. I think that particular work environments make it more likely to become a habit. To combat it, I try to find time to squeeze in little unorthodox projects with my work, as long as they can be justified as valuable. Of course, I think my sanity and skills are probably valuable to the company too.
wallflower 18y ago
Freud was once asked what he though a normal person should be able to do well. The questioner probably expected a complicated, a "deep" answer. But Freud simply said, "Lieben und arbeiten" ("to love and to work"). It pays to ponder on this simple formula; it gets deeper as you think about it. For when Freud said "love", he meant the expansiveness of generosity as well as sexual love; when he said "love and work," he meant a general work productiveness which would not preoccupy the individual to the extent that his right or capacity to be a sexual or loving being would be lost. (From "Identity and the Life Cycle", by Erik H. Erikson) Yes, this is a repost of a comment but it is relevant. Work can cut into life and life can cut into work...
- swombat 18y ago
  On the other hand, someone said: "You can't be normal and expect abnormal results".
  - yters 18y ago
    I like this philosophical quote: Kant, "To be is to do" Nietszche, "To do is to be" Sinatra, "Do be do be do"
- truebosko 18y ago
  Thanks for posting that, it's actually stuck in my head since you did yesterday .. just never got around to posting a reply :)

sfamiliar 18y ago

as a programmer, one of the things i look for in a company is a willingness to let a guy like me play around with technology on the side and not have scary legal documentation concerning their ownership of it. while i work for a startup at the moment, my previous employer (a well-known language learning software company) actively discouraged its employees from pursuing any side projects. if you're looking to hire someone who's driven, this is a terrible idea; a good programmer will always be thinking of something, mulling some problem over in his head. probably several, a few of which aren't related to his job. if he has to worry about whether or not he can legally work on these things outside of his regular employment, he's less likely to explore, and less likely to learn on his own time. so hiring managers and legal departments: look for someone who checks over the contracts for ownership rights and complains if they're too strict.

jcromartie 18y ago

I have found this to be creeping up on me as well. I think that particular work environments make it more likely to become a habit. To combat it, I try to find time to squeeze in little unorthodox projects with my work, as long as they can be justified as valuable. Of course, I think my sanity and skills are probably valuable to the company too.

wallflower 18y ago

Freud was once asked what he though a normal person should be able to do well. The questioner probably expected a complicated, a "deep" answer. But Freud simply said, "Lieben und arbeiten" ("to love and to work"). It pays to ponder on this simple formula; it gets deeper as you think about it. For when Freud said "love", he meant the expansiveness of generosity as well as sexual love; when he said "love and work," he meant a general work productiveness which would not preoccupy the individual to the extent that his right or capacity to be a sexual or loving being would be lost. (From "Identity and the Life Cycle", by Erik H. Erikson) Yes, this is a repost of a comment but it is relevant. Work can cut into life and life can cut into work...

swombat 18y ago
On the other hand, someone said: "You can't be normal and expect abnormal results".
- yters 18y ago
  I like this philosophical quote: Kant, "To be is to do" Nietszche, "To do is to be" Sinatra, "Do be do be do"
truebosko 18y ago
Thanks for posting that, it's actually stuck in my head since you did yesterday .. just never got around to posting a reply :)