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Ask HN: Should engineering jobs have a nap time?

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Re: Ask HN: Should engineering jobs have a nap time?

#11

Post by koder2016 »

chriscampbell wrote: post #3
symfony_ wrote: post #2

Let me reiterate: - You take on contracts on the side and do not get enough sleep because of that. - You think the company you work for should maybe compensate you with some time to sleep during their working time. What happened when you asked the people you do some contracting for if you could sleep an hour and bill them your hourly for that? I would think it reasonable for your full-time gig to respond in the exact…

You hit the nail on the head. I can not imagine reacting any other way if an engineer on my team asked for nap time.

The funny part is that your expectation is probably "I get the legitimate 1 hour of work instead of them taking a nap" but the reality is "I get 4-5 hours of poor quality work after lunch due to lack of nap".

Re: Ask HN: Should engineering jobs have a nap time?

#13

Post by ItsJason »

My workplace has a "Wellness Room". It's just a room with a lockable door and a couch. Probably once every week on average, when I'm feeling beat, I'll lay down and set my phone alarm for 20 minutes. It really helps. That said, I agree that prefacing this with the bit about side work does seem to undercut the question. In general, naps are good, but also not eating a ton of carbs over lunch will help prevent you from crashing in the afternoon!

Re: Ask HN: Should engineering jobs have a nap time?

#14

Post by vemv »

yunti wrote: post #8

you could work in spain. Everyone gets a 2 hour nap time - it's ciesta baby!

Normally you get a lunch pause which can take anything between 30-120 minutes. Up to you how long the pause takes, later you have to compensate obviously.

I often have been the only guy at the office who took naps at lunch time.

Re: Ask HN: Should engineering jobs have a nap time?

#15

Post by vemv »

> Does anyone else have this experience and do you think it's reasonable to request the company you work for to provide a nap time?

Yes, definitely. Word it as an extended lunch time though. Also, remark your productivity boost, which is what they really care about.

Re: Ask HN: Should engineering jobs have a nap time?

#16

Post by peterkelly »

You: "Hey, you know that 40-hour work week we have in order to give us enough time for rest and relaxation?"

Boss: "Yep. What about it?"

You: "So instead of getting enough sleep at night I've been using that time to take on lots of extra paid work for other companies. To make up for it, can you give me time off to sleep at work?"

Boss: ಠ_ಠ

Re: Ask HN: Should engineering jobs have a nap time?

#18

Post by jondubois »

It would be nice if offices had black sound-proof pods which we could lay inside when we want to take a short nap.

I think it's also important to take holidays from time to time. Coding can get really exhausting mentally after a while and an occasional 2+ weeks holiday allows you to clear your head.

A lot of software developers spend time thinking about the projects that they're working on while outside of work hours - When you're working on two or more projects simultaneously, this effect is magnified and it can be overwhelming.

Re: Ask HN: Should engineering jobs have a nap time?

#19

Post by jnbiche »

peterkelly wrote: post #16

You: "Hey, you know that 40-hour work week we have in order to give us enough time for rest and relaxation?" Boss: "Yep. What about it?" You: "So instead of getting enough sleep at night I've been using that time to take on lots of extra paid work for other companies. To make up for it, can you give me time off to sleep at work?" Boss: ಠ_ಠ

> 40-hour work week

Where in the software industry are you working a 40-hour week? Outside of government, I've never heard of a programming job that consistently limits employees to 40-hour weeks.

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