4 ms·

Working 40 hours per week would kill me. For me, work IS learning, and writing code is no different than a paintbrush on canvas. The only thing that will turn

• beaumartinez 13y ago
  > Work IS learning [...] it's a fallacy to believe that work and play can't be the same thing. Come on. There's a big difference between being able to decide what to learn and at what pace, and being told by someone else to learn something as soon as possible so as to get work done.
  • AznHisoka 13y ago
    Agreed. Anyone that doesn't believe that either is doing his own gig, has financial independence, or is drinking the Kool-Aid.
• piyush_soni 13y ago
  Exactly. When people shout it online "Get a life", they really don't understand for some people the work we do might really be fun, as horse riding, gambling, or drinking and dancing in pubs is for them.
  • polskibus 13y ago
    Just beware blurring the line - it's sometimes first step towards burnout. I wanted to give a reference, here's an article from forbes, http://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2013/04/01/10-signs-youre-burning-out-and-what-to-do-about-it/2/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2013/04/01/10-signs-yo... There are studies that show that work preoccupation outside working ours can be a sign of burnout (incoming or undergoing). I know it's great to love your job, that's what flow state is all about, but there can be a darker side to it as well.
    • piyush_soni 13y ago
      Yeah, I understand that. And I do other things to just take a break, even though I find them less interesting then my programming. Also, just to clarify, I spend less time (even lesser than the official time) on the 'official' job that I do. I mostly work on other open source scripts in the free time, which are also helpful for people besides being fun.
• segmondy 13y ago
  lucky you. what about those that flip hamburgers, janitors, there are lots of work out there that people perform to keep "the system/society" in order, and there is no learning/fun in those jobs. work can be fun, but it's not guaranteed to be fun, that's why it's good to have hobbies and life outside of work. working 40 hours per week will not kill you. people have done so for thousands of years and survived.
  • nhangen 13y ago
    For those people (I used to be one), I agree that 40+ hours is probably not productive unless they want to get ahead and escape that grind. But escaping and having hobbies are generally not compatible.
• emiljbs 13y ago
  Have you ever thought about getting a hobby or two outside of programming? Hobbies are good, they let you learn more about the world and lets you see things through new perspectives. If you do have hobbies outside of programming, why wouldn't you like to spend some more time on those?
  • nhangen 13y ago
    I have a variety of hobbies. I hit the gym 3-4 days/week. I run 2/3 days/week. I coach 2 soccer teams, have tickets to local NFL team, read books, go out with friends, etc. That said, the reason I spend more time programming than anything else is because there is no feeling of achievement like the feeling of having built something.
    • AznHisoka 13y ago
      I may agree with you. But that feeling of achievement is hard to come by in a regular job, for most people, unfortunately. We have bosses, deadlines, angry clients, red-tape, etc, etc.
• cliveowen 13y ago
  Well, you write code working on your thing? Then it might be that you enjoy it and you classify it as "play" time. But what if you, like most software engineers, are working on a 20 year-old piece of spaghetti code where your 50 lines function needs to be inserted between pages and pages of complex code written by your grandpa's peers? That is not play, that's not even work, that's a straining effort in futility.
  • rietta 13y ago
    It sometimes feels a bit like a exploring a cave with a small flashlight. It's also fun when you start referring to the codebase as a patient. "Well, we can try this approach and see how she responds to it!"
  • jakejake 13y ago
    The best part is when the project you're working on is of absolutely zero interest to any of your friends or family so you can't really show anybody your hard work! My current situation is somewhat interesting to the general public, but in the past I've worked on back end system for insurance and health care. Try showing that off to your friends!
• codex_irl 13y ago
  Do you have a wife / kids? When your with the right women & have some kids, I find it is difficult not to want to get out of work to spend more time with them.
  • nhangen 13y ago
    I have a wife and 3 kids.
• workhere-io 13y ago
  It's a fallacy to believe that work and play can't be the same thing. It's also a fallacy to believe that the majority of workers are lucky enough to get paid for something they truly think is fun.
• NTDF9 13y ago
  >> Working 40 hours per week would kill me. For me, work IS learning I thought the same when I was in school (a year ago) and was completely into programming and computers. I took all the hard classes and spent 60-70 hours a week studying and doing projects. But that came at the expense of a social life. Now, I'm in the workforce doing a cool programming job. But, I have exactly no cool friends and no social life to speak of. I had exactly 3 dates in the last year, all leading to nowhere. The loss of social skills and exposure to diverse people (most of my friends are programmers), seems to be quite narrow-minded way to live. As the old adage goes "Work-life balance: Live to work or work to live"
• reledi 13y ago
  “There is no real difference between work and play – it's all living.” -Richard Branson