3 ms·

This explains a lot.

paganel 4y ago
It sure does. Not that scientific but maybe a little on topic, I'm just reading a book about the memoirs of past Soviets leaders, and at some point Khrushchev is complaining how Stalin had an almost all nocturnal life, how for him 2AM was still "an early hour". Afaik Churchill was also a very nocturnal man. I'm wondering what other past leaders were in the same category as Stalin and Churchill when it comes to their night life.
- zdragnar 4y ago
  It was probably the only time they could get anything done without constant interruption. In a past life where I was a lead of a larger team, I would have a fair chunk of my work day devoted to mentoring and meetings, and spent a few hours late in the evening doing actual programming work.
  - sho_hn 4y ago
    This is me, too. I start work relatively late, because it gives me a few hours of uninterrupted, productive work past "EOB" when everyone else fades out and the meetings are over.
  - wizofaus 4y ago
    I'm actually seriously worried my current role is going to end up like that. The annoying thing is that the meetings are actually quite important and useful too (undoubtedly some of them could be shorter). But I know it's not inevitable as I did manage to avoid it in previous roles as a principal engineer, just not sure how now!
  - pmontra 4y ago
    Did they pay you to both program and lead the team? I realized that I didn't have any time left to program one week after I was given the lead of a small team. Meeting customers and the sales team to get requirements, design, explain to the team, check for progresses, etc. I could have been writing code at night but it was clear that my company didn't expect me or anybody else in my position to do that. I was writing code at night anyway, but on my own projects.
    - zdragnar 4y ago
      The company did have a "production bonus" if you worked a certain number of hours or more (couldn't call it overtime for legal reasons, as we were salaried). A major reason for the number of hours worked is that it was a consultancy / agency type company. The types of contacts we worked varied, but we were building for clients. I couldn't bring myself to let our clients get sub-par work just because I didn't feel like taking the time to mentor juniors or rushed my own output. I eventually left for a variety of reasons, only in part because we were paid below market, the company was terrified of raising rates, and struggled to be profitable. It is a shame, as the variety of work- everything from quick two month marketing sites to years long projects for three-letter government agencies- was fantastic, and there was no better place to get rapid exposure to many types of problems and solutions. I still find myself working some evenings, but that's because I'm at a company with a small team that is fine with very flexible working hours. Being able to pop out to the store in the middle of the day or taking an extra long lunch without anyone caring is a perk I no longer want to do without.
echelon 4y ago
This hypothesis is my new go-to to explain my night owl habits.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

It sure does. Not that scientific but maybe a little on topic, I'm just reading a book about the memoirs of past Soviets leaders, and at some point Khrushchev is complaining how Stalin had an almost all nocturnal life, how for him 2AM was still "an early hour". Afaik Churchill was also a very nocturnal man. I'm wondering what other past leaders were in the same category as Stalin and Churchill when it comes to their night life.

zdragnar 4y ago
It was probably the only time they could get anything done without constant interruption. In a past life where I was a lead of a larger team, I would have a fair chunk of my work day devoted to mentoring and meetings, and spent a few hours late in the evening doing actual programming work.
- sho_hn 4y ago
  This is me, too. I start work relatively late, because it gives me a few hours of uninterrupted, productive work past "EOB" when everyone else fades out and the meetings are over.
- wizofaus 4y ago
  I'm actually seriously worried my current role is going to end up like that. The annoying thing is that the meetings are actually quite important and useful too (undoubtedly some of them could be shorter). But I know it's not inevitable as I did manage to avoid it in previous roles as a principal engineer, just not sure how now!
- pmontra 4y ago
  Did they pay you to both program and lead the team? I realized that I didn't have any time left to program one week after I was given the lead of a small team. Meeting customers and the sales team to get requirements, design, explain to the team, check for progresses, etc. I could have been writing code at night but it was clear that my company didn't expect me or anybody else in my position to do that. I was writing code at night anyway, but on my own projects.
  - zdragnar 4y ago
    The company did have a "production bonus" if you worked a certain number of hours or more (couldn't call it overtime for legal reasons, as we were salaried). A major reason for the number of hours worked is that it was a consultancy / agency type company. The types of contacts we worked varied, but we were building for clients. I couldn't bring myself to let our clients get sub-par work just because I didn't feel like taking the time to mentor juniors or rushed my own output. I eventually left for a variety of reasons, only in part because we were paid below market, the company was terrified of raising rates, and struggled to be profitable. It is a shame, as the variety of work- everything from quick two month marketing sites to years long projects for three-letter government agencies- was fantastic, and there was no better place to get rapid exposure to many types of problems and solutions. I still find myself working some evenings, but that's because I'm at a company with a small team that is fine with very flexible working hours. Being able to pop out to the store in the middle of the day or taking an extra long lunch without anyone caring is a perk I no longer want to do without.

echelon 4y ago

This hypothesis is my new go-to to explain my night owl habits.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]