4 ms·

Good article. I hope some of these 'brogrammers' read it and realize that programming 20 hours a day is not only shortening your lifespan. It is, literally, mak

by yardie 13y ago

Good article. I hope some of these 'brogrammers' read it and realize that programming 20 hours a day is not only shortening your lifespan. It is, literally, making you more stupid.

adamnemecek 13y ago
That's what Red Bull is for, brah. /s
arethuza 13y ago
I wonder if anyone has ever done a statistical analysis of a large project to see when changes that generated bugs were actually performed. I've long suspected that when you see particularly silly bugs committed by people who really do know better there is usually some explanation that can often be that they are tired/stressed/distracted. [NB I know myself that I can do particularly silly things when tired so I will sometimes let myself spend a long time investigating a problem but I won't fix it until the next day.]
- hnbanned 13y ago
  http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-working-more-than-40-hours-a-week-is-useless.html http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-working-more-than-40... The studies showed that there's a short term gain followed by a fall in productivity.
- vidarh 13y ago
  I've had projects where we had to send people home because they became a such a noticeable burden. Personally I wanted to force people out of the office much earlier on one of them because pretty much nothing got done when people were staying late, but it left everyone more tired in the morning, but the CEO was of the "more hours == more work done" mentality and wouldn't listen.
- colanderman 13y ago
  Replying to let hnbanned (see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6319611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6319611) know he's been hellbanned again for no reason. Here's his comment: http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-working-more-than-40-hours-a-week-is-useless.html http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-working-more-than-40... The studies showed that there's a short term gain followed by a fall in productivity.
jwdunne 13y ago
This is interesting actually. I remember a time I stayed up all night trying to get a script for a game working (hobby project). I was hacking away all night until early morning and I just couldn't fix the issues. After a good sleep, I'd fixed the issue and got it working as it should within an hour. The lesson for me was that I shouldn't put my health on the line for these types of things; it doesn't help in actually making progress and it could set my performance back weeks. Another big lesson, which is more general and took a few more mistakes, was the value of stepping away from a problem after intense conscious focus on it. This may or may not mean sleep on it but just means taking your mind off it and let the back of your head tick away on it. I think this might actually be the source of "eureka" moments too, which means flashes of ingenuity are not exactly what they seem!
- RyanMcGreal 13y ago
  I find a brisk walk, jog or bike ride in the middle of the day consistently boosts my productivity.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
mistercow 13y ago
Unless, of course, you're doing polyphasic sleep, in which case eh, maybe?
- pstuart 13y ago
  Every post I've seen about polyphasic sleep shows that it is not sustainable.
  - mistercow 13y ago
    I've read multiple accounts of people who have done it for several months[1][2][3][4]. I have seen only one account of someone quitting after the initial adaptation for any reason other than convenience. I have also read some accounts[5] of people who quit polyphasic, but go back to it in various forms when they have time constraints (and apparently adapting back is not very difficult once you've done it once; my guess is that the ability to nap efficiently is not lost, and is the main stumbling block to getting started). So if by "not sustainable", you mean "very hard to fit into a monophasic sleeping world", then yes, that's true. If you mean "after a week or two, you'll feel exhausted", then yes, that's also true. It takes longer than that to adapt. If you mean "it's not enough sleep even after you adapt", then where are the posts you're talking about? [1] http://ohgodthechicken.com/sleep-discipline-experiment/ http://ohgodthechicken.com/sleep-discipline-experiment/ [2] http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/03/polyphasic-sleep-one-year-later/ http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/03/polyphasic-sleep-on... [3] http://forum.polyphasicsociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1095 http://forum.polyphasicsociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1095 [4] http://forum.polyphasicsociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1060 http://forum.polyphasicsociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1060 [5] http://www.xeeban.com/xeeban/archives/000003.html http://www.xeeban.com/xeeban/archives/000003.html
    - enraged_camel 13y ago
      >>I've read multiple accounts of people who have done it for several months[1][2][3][4]. Your "citations" are impressive, but at the end of the day they are just anecdotal evidence. We also have many accounts of people who claim homeopathy works. Should we believe them?

by yardie 13y ago

Good article. I hope some of these 'brogrammers' read it and realize that programming 20 hours a day is not only shortening your lifespan. It is, literally, making you more stupid.

adamnemecek 13y ago

That's what Red Bull is for, brah. /s

arethuza 13y ago

I wonder if anyone has ever done a statistical analysis of a large project to see when changes that generated bugs were actually performed. I've long suspected that when you see particularly silly bugs committed by people who really do know better there is usually some explanation that can often be that they are tired/stressed/distracted. [NB I know myself that I can do particularly silly things when tired so I will sometimes let myself spend a long time investigating a problem but I won't fix it until the next day.]

hnbanned 13y ago
http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-working-more-than-40-hours-a-week-is-useless.html http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-working-more-than-40... The studies showed that there's a short term gain followed by a fall in productivity.
vidarh 13y ago
I've had projects where we had to send people home because they became a such a noticeable burden. Personally I wanted to force people out of the office much earlier on one of them because pretty much nothing got done when people were staying late, but it left everyone more tired in the morning, but the CEO was of the "more hours == more work done" mentality and wouldn't listen.
colanderman 13y ago
Replying to let hnbanned (see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6319611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6319611) know he's been hellbanned again for no reason. Here's his comment: http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-working-more-than-40-hours-a-week-is-useless.html http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-working-more-than-40... The studies showed that there's a short term gain followed by a fall in productivity.

jwdunne 13y ago

This is interesting actually. I remember a time I stayed up all night trying to get a script for a game working (hobby project). I was hacking away all night until early morning and I just couldn't fix the issues. After a good sleep, I'd fixed the issue and got it working as it should within an hour. The lesson for me was that I shouldn't put my health on the line for these types of things; it doesn't help in actually making progress and it could set my performance back weeks. Another big lesson, which is more general and took a few more mistakes, was the value of stepping away from a problem after intense conscious focus on it. This may or may not mean sleep on it but just means taking your mind off it and let the back of your head tick away on it. I think this might actually be the source of "eureka" moments too, which means flashes of ingenuity are not exactly what they seem!

RyanMcGreal 13y ago
I find a brisk walk, jog or bike ride in the middle of the day consistently boosts my productivity.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

mistercow 13y ago

Unless, of course, you're doing polyphasic sleep, in which case eh, maybe?

pstuart 13y ago
Every post I've seen about polyphasic sleep shows that it is not sustainable.
- mistercow 13y ago
  I've read multiple accounts of people who have done it for several months[1][2][3][4]. I have seen only one account of someone quitting after the initial adaptation for any reason other than convenience. I have also read some accounts[5] of people who quit polyphasic, but go back to it in various forms when they have time constraints (and apparently adapting back is not very difficult once you've done it once; my guess is that the ability to nap efficiently is not lost, and is the main stumbling block to getting started). So if by "not sustainable", you mean "very hard to fit into a monophasic sleeping world", then yes, that's true. If you mean "after a week or two, you'll feel exhausted", then yes, that's also true. It takes longer than that to adapt. If you mean "it's not enough sleep even after you adapt", then where are the posts you're talking about? [1] http://ohgodthechicken.com/sleep-discipline-experiment/ http://ohgodthechicken.com/sleep-discipline-experiment/ [2] http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/03/polyphasic-sleep-one-year-later/ http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/03/polyphasic-sleep-on... [3] http://forum.polyphasicsociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1095 http://forum.polyphasicsociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1095 [4] http://forum.polyphasicsociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1060 http://forum.polyphasicsociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1060 [5] http://www.xeeban.com/xeeban/archives/000003.html http://www.xeeban.com/xeeban/archives/000003.html
  - enraged_camel 13y ago
    >>I've read multiple accounts of people who have done it for several months[1][2][3][4]. Your "citations" are impressive, but at the end of the day they are just anecdotal evidence. We also have many accounts of people who claim homeopathy works. Should we believe them?