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When I was 25 to 29, I used to spend a lot of time at work. For a while, it just came naturally because I was so eager to learn; I'd stay at work reading book

by wazoox 13y ago

When I was 25 to 29, I used to spend a lot of time at work. For a while, it just came naturally because I was so eager to learn; I'd stay at work reading books, programming, looking for information on the web and newsgroups (I hadn't internet access at home back then). But at some point in 1998, for a few months we entered in death march after accepting to be the rescue team for a doomed, undoable project; I've worked 100 to 120 hours a week for 4 months, one of my colleague burnt out like a candle (I remember him asleep the face literally on his keyboard, late at night, while waiting for compilation to end; two days later he lied on an hospital bed) and after that I had serious health problems repeatedly for several years. We had the satisfaction to actually save the project and make the deadline, but two of us ended in hospital, and most on the team had serious family, health of other serious problems afterwards. So what to say? Know your limits. Don't try to push it to far; it's actually very easy to kill oneself, for instance falling asleep at the wheel, late at night, on the way back home after a very long day.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
frozenport 13y ago
You saved the project and made somebody a ton of money?
- wazoox 13y ago
  There was actually a huge heap of money involved, because we made the CGI and stats software and animations for the worldwide TV broadcast of FIFA World Cup '98. It was a crazily ambitious project, not to be equalled by off-the-shelf software for 8 years, and we had to throw an insane amount of hardware at it: 2 SGI Origin 2000, 30 SGI Octanes and 60 high-end PCs, plus some custom hardware at places to interface with the video mixers. We of course got almost nothing in return :)
  - aylons 13y ago
    Upvoted both of his comments so people learn it is not worth working this much for someone else.
    - jotm 13y ago
      What happened to working and sacrificing towards a single goal? Would you say the same if the project was to bring water or electricity to a few remote villages or parts of a city somewhere? I'm not saying it's a must - everyone decides for themselves - but some might think it was all worth it even if someone else got all the recognition.
      - pmorici 13y ago
        Two things... 1. Workers that build water and electricity projects are typically unionized and get paid at least time and a half if not double for hours over 40 per week. 2. If those remote villages have gone w/o power and water for years and years there is no good reason to work excessive hours to bring those things to them a few weeks faster.
memracom 13y ago
Let me guess. You put in 3 times the effort but did not get 3 times the salary and at the end of it all you didn't even get a bonus to compensate you fairly for the health issues that were created. Nowadays, if anybody finds themselves in this position, take Aspirin every evening as a prophylactic (talk to your doctor) and cut out all junk food. Eat lots of vegetables, and a bit of meat but avoid sweet things and carbs (you are not a runner). If you are into it, try something like a paleo diet. Get exercise sessions spaced through the day (and night) even if only 5 minutes of intensive aerobics at a time. And look after your fellow workers because you only win this type of thing as a team.
- wazoox 13y ago
  In fact I've got a small bonus in the end, something like an added month of salary. I'm allergic to aspirin, and of course for months I've survived on all sort of deliverable junk foods: sandwiches, pizzas, bad sushis and the like. As a team I think we did quite OK. Imagine the tension when you're live in front of 2 billion viewers, and you know the friggin' software just barely works for one hour at a time before crashing, and that one of you must sit next to the director at the main mixer panel while the others are monitoring the screen for the fateful OpenGL glitch, ready to switch machines any second by hand. Then you realise that someone forgot to install the latest software update that we just compiled in the afternoon therefore the running software doesn't manage sudden-death playoffs. And the score is 1-1 at the 90th minute. Talk about pressure :)
  - beedogs 13y ago
    I'm guessing you did software for FIFA.

by wazoox 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

frozenport 13y ago

You saved the project and made somebody a ton of money?

wazoox 13y ago
There was actually a huge heap of money involved, because we made the CGI and stats software and animations for the worldwide TV broadcast of FIFA World Cup '98. It was a crazily ambitious project, not to be equalled by off-the-shelf software for 8 years, and we had to throw an insane amount of hardware at it: 2 SGI Origin 2000, 30 SGI Octanes and 60 high-end PCs, plus some custom hardware at places to interface with the video mixers. We of course got almost nothing in return :)
- aylons 13y ago
  Upvoted both of his comments so people learn it is not worth working this much for someone else.
  - jotm 13y ago
    What happened to working and sacrificing towards a single goal? Would you say the same if the project was to bring water or electricity to a few remote villages or parts of a city somewhere? I'm not saying it's a must - everyone decides for themselves - but some might think it was all worth it even if someone else got all the recognition.
    - pmorici 13y ago
      Two things... 1. Workers that build water and electricity projects are typically unionized and get paid at least time and a half if not double for hours over 40 per week. 2. If those remote villages have gone w/o power and water for years and years there is no good reason to work excessive hours to bring those things to them a few weeks faster.

memracom 13y ago

Let me guess. You put in 3 times the effort but did not get 3 times the salary and at the end of it all you didn't even get a bonus to compensate you fairly for the health issues that were created. Nowadays, if anybody finds themselves in this position, take Aspirin every evening as a prophylactic (talk to your doctor) and cut out all junk food. Eat lots of vegetables, and a bit of meat but avoid sweet things and carbs (you are not a runner). If you are into it, try something like a paleo diet. Get exercise sessions spaced through the day (and night) even if only 5 minutes of intensive aerobics at a time. And look after your fellow workers because you only win this type of thing as a team.

wazoox 13y ago
In fact I've got a small bonus in the end, something like an added month of salary. I'm allergic to aspirin, and of course for months I've survived on all sort of deliverable junk foods: sandwiches, pizzas, bad sushis and the like. As a team I think we did quite OK. Imagine the tension when you're live in front of 2 billion viewers, and you know the friggin' software just barely works for one hour at a time before crashing, and that one of you must sit next to the director at the main mixer panel while the others are monitoring the screen for the fateful OpenGL glitch, ready to switch machines any second by hand. Then you realise that someone forgot to install the latest software update that we just compiled in the afternoon therefore the running software doesn't manage sudden-death playoffs. And the score is 1-1 at the 90th minute. Talk about pressure :)
- beedogs 13y ago
  I'm guessing you did software for FIFA.