4 ms·

Ask HN: Where do late-night coders work from?

14 points by heelhook 14y ago

Like many others, I enjoy coding during the night much more than during the day, and I always end up doing it at home for the lack of a better venue. Are there any cool places I'm missing out on?

mnicole 14y ago
I'm interested in finding such places in Portland as well. I know we have a few hackerspaces, but I've heard mixed reviews on their locations/[most] active hours/the type of crowds that mingle there. If anyone has any suggestions for web folk/designers, let me know.
ben1040 14y ago
For my day job I work for a university, and I live two blocks away. Maybe one night or so a week, after dinner and the kid's put to bed I will head back up to the campus library and work. They're open until 3am, which is later than I can afford to stay up these days. But it means I can still get 3 or 4 hours of uninterrupted work done even if I get there at 9:00 PM. After so many years spent in school, I have been conditioned that when I enter a library my brain goes into "head down and get to work" mode. So it's a great place for me to get things done.
- heelhook 14y ago
  I know, same thing here too, I love working out of the library. I sometimes go to the Boston Public Library, but the place closes at 9pm most nights :S
evoxed 14y ago
Well that depends a whole lot on where you live. Between Yokohama and NYC, I work both from home or any number of 24hr cafes. Sometimes, if I feel like working outside I'll just drag a chair or mat out to the beach for a few hours of breezy keyboard clapping.
- heelhook 14y ago
  Ok, that just sounds too amazing. Lol, I'm in Boston, but I live nowhere near a (decent) beach where I'd feel... hmm, safe? doing that.
wilfra 14y ago
HackerDojo in Mountain View gives you 24 hour access for $100 a month and is a pretty great place to code at night (and during the day).
- hboon 14y ago
  That sounds incredibly affordable. Any idea why?
  - wilfra 14y ago
    Just guessing but: -I don't think they are aiming to make a profit -They have a lot of corporate sponsors -Economies of scale: large membership, large building = lower fixed cost per head -Most (all?) of the staff are member volunteers, so low (no?) labor costs. -It's in a converted industrial warehouse, not A1 office space, so it's probably fairly inexpensive rent, relative to a place like PARISOMA (which charges 3x more).
jamesjguthrie 14y ago
I live nowhere near any cool places to code unfortunately, as I live in a little village 25 miles outside of Glasgow, Scotland. I code in my living room, beside the 50" plasma and all the satellite TV channels :)
- heelhook 14y ago
  Do you actually code with your TV on? I used to be able to do that when I was 15, but now I find it way too distracting.
  - jamesjguthrie 14y ago
    Oh yeah, repeats of Friends, Two and a Half Men etc. seem to help a lot. It's probably like a balance of getting some entertainment when I'm stuck on a problem and already knowing what's going to happen so that it's not too distracting.
ohashi 14y ago
I suppose it depends where you are. In Washington DC (where I live) there is a DC Nightowls group (http://nightowls.dcacm.org http://nightowls.dcacm.org) which meet up at night for people who want to work. It's a nice community of people. Maybe your city has something similar? Or you could always start one. I also work late at my coworking space, sometimes there are other people, sometimes there aren't. I've definitely scheduled late night work sessions with fellow coders there though.

14 points by heelhook 14y ago

Like many others, I enjoy coding during the night much more than during the day, and I always end up doing it at home for the lack of a better venue. Are there any cool places I'm missing out on?

mnicole 14y ago

I'm interested in finding such places in Portland as well. I know we have a few hackerspaces, but I've heard mixed reviews on their locations/[most] active hours/the type of crowds that mingle there. If anyone has any suggestions for web folk/designers, let me know.

ben1040 14y ago

For my day job I work for a university, and I live two blocks away. Maybe one night or so a week, after dinner and the kid's put to bed I will head back up to the campus library and work. They're open until 3am, which is later than I can afford to stay up these days. But it means I can still get 3 or 4 hours of uninterrupted work done even if I get there at 9:00 PM. After so many years spent in school, I have been conditioned that when I enter a library my brain goes into "head down and get to work" mode. So it's a great place for me to get things done.

heelhook 14y ago
I know, same thing here too, I love working out of the library. I sometimes go to the Boston Public Library, but the place closes at 9pm most nights :S

evoxed 14y ago

Well that depends a whole lot on where you live. Between Yokohama and NYC, I work both from home or any number of 24hr cafes. Sometimes, if I feel like working outside I'll just drag a chair or mat out to the beach for a few hours of breezy keyboard clapping.

heelhook 14y ago
Ok, that just sounds too amazing. Lol, I'm in Boston, but I live nowhere near a (decent) beach where I'd feel... hmm, safe? doing that.

wilfra 14y ago

HackerDojo in Mountain View gives you 24 hour access for $100 a month and is a pretty great place to code at night (and during the day).

hboon 14y ago
That sounds incredibly affordable. Any idea why?
- wilfra 14y ago
  Just guessing but: -I don't think they are aiming to make a profit -They have a lot of corporate sponsors -Economies of scale: large membership, large building = lower fixed cost per head -Most (all?) of the staff are member volunteers, so low (no?) labor costs. -It's in a converted industrial warehouse, not A1 office space, so it's probably fairly inexpensive rent, relative to a place like PARISOMA (which charges 3x more).

jamesjguthrie 14y ago

I live nowhere near any cool places to code unfortunately, as I live in a little village 25 miles outside of Glasgow, Scotland. I code in my living room, beside the 50" plasma and all the satellite TV channels :)

heelhook 14y ago
Do you actually code with your TV on? I used to be able to do that when I was 15, but now I find it way too distracting.
- jamesjguthrie 14y ago
  Oh yeah, repeats of Friends, Two and a Half Men etc. seem to help a lot. It's probably like a balance of getting some entertainment when I'm stuck on a problem and already knowing what's going to happen so that it's not too distracting.

ohashi 14y ago

I suppose it depends where you are. In Washington DC (where I live) there is a DC Nightowls group (http://nightowls.dcacm.org http://nightowls.dcacm.org) which meet up at night for people who want to work. It's a nice community of people. Maybe your city has something similar? Or you could always start one. I also work late at my coworking space, sometimes there are other people, sometimes there aren't. I've definitely scheduled late night work sessions with fellow coders there though.