And those who can and do pull all nighters often don't have much insight into how productive they are actually being. I know I've been surprised in the past whe

And those who can and do pull all nighters often don't have much insight into how productive they are actually being. I know I've been surprised in the past when getting folk to work fewer hours results in more getting done (see this previous comment for the story http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4781103 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4781103 ). I can and have pulled all nighters. I probably still can. It's just that I've learned that doing so, or spending more than about 30-35 hours a week coding, makes me slower - not faster - overall. Even, and I can't emphasise this point enough, if I feel completely fine doing those extra hours. People are really bad at introspecting on their own productivity. Figure out some metrics for productivity. Try cutting the time spent in front of the keyboard for a few weeks. Measure. You may be surprised.