There was a time that I could put in more hours and keep my productivity up. But it wears you down, and after two years of many hours I'm quite worn out. So, yes, short time you could probably get more done if you push yourself. But it will run you, and any developers, into the ground leading to lowered productivity over the long term.
Ask HN: Do you get more done working longer hours?
11–19 of 19 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you get more done working longer hours?
#12Working is like running, consistency and staying healthy are key. You can train/work your ass off and get better results short time, but you will pay for it later and geat injured/sick.
Plan your day so you can use those 4 hours of focus the most! For me that means no meetings, phone calls and email in the morning if possible.
Re: Ask HN: Do you get more done working longer hours?
#13The problem with 4-5 hours days is that you will not be efficient 100% of the time. You need those extra hours (for breaks, communication, coordination, mentoring, etc) to be able to code 4 hours in a day.
Re: Ask HN: Do you get more done working longer hours?
#14No, since I've reduced my day to ~6 work hours I am much more productive.
Re: Ask HN: Do you get more done working longer hours?
#15The problem with 4-5 hours days is that you will not be efficient 100% of the time. You need those extra hours (for breaks, communication, coordination, mentoring, etc) to be able to code 4 hours in a day.
Very much so. I work 9AM-5PM, with an hour for lunch, and sporadic 5minute breaks as I pace, or make coffee.
Some days I'm on fire and I'm working at 95% from start to finish. Other days I'm maybe 60% productive, things just "don't go well". On average I assume I'm a productive and useful employee, as I've never had any performance warnings, or criticisms.
It's just the nature of the industry. You can't perform at your peak 100% of your working life. Some days you need to mull problems over, try different approaches, cancel them debug random failures, and so on.
I love my job, I love my colleagues, but I can't be 100% efficient and if I were I suspect I'd get annoyed about it. I need to wander, to pace, and to scribble on note-pads.
Re: Ask HN: Do you get more done working longer hours?
#16Definitely
Re: Ask HN: Do you get more done working longer hours?
#17I think the connection is loose at best. Personally, yes, I'm wired so I can mostly turn more hours into more progress. That's great when I'm working alone. But I don't think I've ever been on a paid project at a company where the bottleneck was straight-ahead serial work. It feels like teams have a way of divining when's the absolute latest they can deliver something, and will pad any length workday with slacking, as needed.
Re: Ask HN: Do you get more done working longer hours?
#18Given overhead of chatting with coworkers, meetings, planning, hiring interviews, etc., I would indeed expect most programmers just write code productively for 4 to 5 hours and that longer hours don't produce any more value.
My personal experience: for past few years I have been at least as productive as most programmers, while only working 28-35 hours a week. And not all those work hours were spent coding, obviously.
I'd take it a step further: I believe enforcing a shorter workweek makes you more productive. It forces you to prioritize, instead of going off on yak shaving expeditions, it forces you to spend more time thinking upfront, since you can't (badly) compensate by working longer hours. More here: https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/11/10/work-life-balance-so...
Re: Ask HN: Do you get more done working longer hours?
#19The first few days of working longer hours, I get a ton done. By day 10 of working 55-hour weeks I'm about as productive as I was doing 40 hours. By day 15, I'm getting less done in 55 hours than I do in 30 hours when not burnt out.
Nowadays, working long days is something I do a few days a month when stuff happens to pile up that will slow other people down if I don't complete it.
I recommend thinking more about why you're not productive in the hours you're working. My solution to excessive distractions was to switch my schedule two hours earlier. I now get a solid 2-plus hours of uninterrupted concentration every morning before the office begins to fill up. Then I spend a few hours doing things that require interfacing with other people. And if I'm lucky I get a few more concentration hours later in the day too. I also work from home whenever possible to minimize distractions - those days are blissfully productive.