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I think the top answer is very reasonable. As long as it relates to your work it's fair game. I'd add that exploring other technologies (through reading) wouldn

by Oculus 13y ago

I think the top answer is very reasonable. As long as it relates to your work it's fair game. I'd add that exploring other technologies (through reading) wouldn't be too unethical as if you stay in the bubble of your own stack, you won't ever be able to explore other tools that might do the job more effectively.

demallien 13y ago
I think it comes down to how directly related the book in question is to the work you are currently doing. If you're trying to debug a problem and to do so you need to understand a system that was previously a black box to you, well, you shouldn't feel bad about leaning back and reading a book or two - until you know enough to fix the bug. This also applies when trying to optimise systems. If the book is something that is not directly related to the job at hand, for example you want to know a bit more about Git or Vim, as tools that you use every day, this is also fair game, although I would expect it to be done more as a one-hour block here or there, particularly when you're tired and not able to focus on coding. If it's about some new technology that isn't going to be of direct benefit to your employer it's a little trickier. In those cases it comes down to your current workload. If you have deadlines coming up this is not the thing to be doing. On the other hand I have noticed in my career that it's quite common for things that I have read from pure personal curiosity to turn out to provide game-changing insight into my job. That afternoon you wasted reading about a reverse engineering technique came into play when a library you bought wasn't working correctly and the supplier is stone-walling you. That book on SQL databases turned out to be really useful when you all of a sudden had to manage a large data set. The thing is that any decent employer should be OK with you spending a portion of your time in pure learning mode. If they aren't it's more of a signal that you should be looking to change jobs, rather than that you are goofing off.

by Oculus 13y ago

demallien 13y ago

I think it comes down to how directly related the book in question is to the work you are currently doing. If you're trying to debug a problem and to do so you need to understand a system that was previously a black box to you, well, you shouldn't feel bad about leaning back and reading a book or two - until you know enough to fix the bug. This also applies when trying to optimise systems. If the book is something that is not directly related to the job at hand, for example you want to know a bit more about Git or Vim, as tools that you use every day, this is also fair game, although I would expect it to be done more as a one-hour block here or there, particularly when you're tired and not able to focus on coding. If it's about some new technology that isn't going to be of direct benefit to your employer it's a little trickier. In those cases it comes down to your current workload. If you have deadlines coming up this is not the thing to be doing. On the other hand I have noticed in my career that it's quite common for things that I have read from pure personal curiosity to turn out to provide game-changing insight into my job. That afternoon you wasted reading about a reverse engineering technique came into play when a library you bought wasn't working correctly and the supplier is stone-walling you. That book on SQL databases turned out to be really useful when you all of a sudden had to manage a large data set. The thing is that any decent employer should be OK with you spending a portion of your time in pure learning mode. If they aren't it's more of a signal that you should be looking to change jobs, rather than that you are goofing off.