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This is entirely anecdotal. I'm very very skeptic that "the most productive time" is very late at night (or waking up at 4am). Yes, there's some work done in th

This is entirely anecdotal. I'm very very skeptic that "the most productive time" is very late at night (or waking up at 4am). Yes, there's some work done in the evenings (6pm-8pm) or at 6-8am, but that's more an indication of a noisy workplace or with multiple interruptions. And getting into some sort of "pushing the limits to focus" sounds very daft. Specially if done often, the quality of the work will be very bad. There are people that like to work by night, that's for sure. But I think that's the minority compared with the ones that like to work at reasonable hours (including the ones that start later than the standard 9-5)

MaulingMonkey 12y ago
> And getting into some sort of "pushing the limits to focus" sounds very daft. Specially if done often, the quality of the work will be very bad. I find I'm more productive at certain types of tasks (including programming related ones) when I have a certain level of fatigue. My brain can be noisy even if the workplace isn't, and fatigue reduces that noise. Even for my own anecdote, however, this absolutely does not generalize to all types of tasks, and absolutely does not mean "pushing the limits", and I'll certainly agree it can be a daft excuse for a daft mistake that will result in some really daftly written code.
- Jhsto 12y ago
  > I find I'm more productive at certain types of tasks (including programming related ones) when I have a certain level of fatigue. For me, reaching that fatigue means going to the gym. I feel like the physical fatigue helps me to get into a form of mental focus and tranquility. Even though I usually hit the gym at 8PM and return circa two hours later, I can keep pushing code for at least three more hours. I also play competitive video-games with my friends, who keep on saying that they play better during the nights. Most of them are not into sports, but they can still say to be mentally more focused. Whilst I cannot really prove that I would produce better code during the nights, the matchmaking in the games do turn out to have a trend of win streaks. I succeeded to rank myself to the fourth topmost ELO pool by playing during mere midnights. To reach that rank from the previous one, it requires approximately 12 wins in a row, which is not an easy feat. About the original post, I also reason staying up late because the time difference between US and my current residency is such that any Github issues, PR's or emails tend to be sent at about midnight my local time. By staying awake an hour or two more, I can deal with those tasks to wake up to a less busy day.

MaulingMonkey 12y ago

> And getting into some sort of "pushing the limits to focus" sounds very daft. Specially if done often, the quality of the work will be very bad. I find I'm more productive at certain types of tasks (including programming related ones) when I have a certain level of fatigue. My brain can be noisy even if the workplace isn't, and fatigue reduces that noise. Even for my own anecdote, however, this absolutely does not generalize to all types of tasks, and absolutely does not mean "pushing the limits", and I'll certainly agree it can be a daft excuse for a daft mistake that will result in some really daftly written code.

Jhsto 12y ago
> I find I'm more productive at certain types of tasks (including programming related ones) when I have a certain level of fatigue. For me, reaching that fatigue means going to the gym. I feel like the physical fatigue helps me to get into a form of mental focus and tranquility. Even though I usually hit the gym at 8PM and return circa two hours later, I can keep pushing code for at least three more hours. I also play competitive video-games with my friends, who keep on saying that they play better during the nights. Most of them are not into sports, but they can still say to be mentally more focused. Whilst I cannot really prove that I would produce better code during the nights, the matchmaking in the games do turn out to have a trend of win streaks. I succeeded to rank myself to the fourth topmost ELO pool by playing during mere midnights. To reach that rank from the previous one, it requires approximately 12 wins in a row, which is not an easy feat. About the original post, I also reason staying up late because the time difference between US and my current residency is such that any Github issues, PR's or emails tend to be sent at about midnight my local time. By staying awake an hour or two more, I can deal with those tasks to wake up to a less busy day.