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Ask HN: Why aren't you coding?

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Re: Ask HN: Why aren't you coding?

#61

Post by irvingprime »

Because my boss's boss has sent down a directive that there will be NO MORE MEETINGS. This then requires every manager to meet with everyone they have ever talked to (not just their direct reports) to explain that there will be no more meetings.

However, customer meetings are exempt, so the time previously taken up by meetings with co-workers is now used by sales and project management to "improve communication" about the customer needs or to "give them higher visibility" into our (non-existent) progress.

Re: Ask HN: Why aren't you coding?

#63

Post by PopGreene »

At a previous job, I was asked to write up a list of my accomplishments for the previous year in preparation for my performance evaluation. During the evaluation my manager and I went over this list and I commented that it seemed to me that I hadn't accomplished a year's worth of work. He as happy with my work but acknowledged that there were a lot of things I did that wouldn't go on the list and I can't be expected to be producing all of the time. I suppose that's like focus factor in Scrum.

I still think it took too long to complete some tasks. They would occasionally bog down while I had to noodle with existing code to be able to add new features. So even if I'm coding, I may not be creating value but rather I'm paying down the company's technical debt.

Re: Ask HN: Why aren't you coding?

#64

Post by yetihehe »

EliRivers wrote: post #43

from developers who are being paid to write code Who is paid to write code? I'm paid to ensure my team delivers quality software, on time and to spec. Typing out code is the least difficult part of that.

I'm paid to write (valid, working) code. If I sit all month just thinking but no effects, I will be fired. Of course, thinking about what code to write is a big part, I've spent twoo weeks once not writing code and the result was changing one number from 4096 to 8192, which made one shitty iot device a little more stable, which was seen as a big success. So, I wrote 4 bytes/2weeks, most of it was thinking and finding what to change, but essentially it WAS writing code.

Re: Ask HN: Why aren't you coding?

#65

Post by PopGreene »

I finally checked out the link. You're looking for material to use in a comic? And I'm trying to give you a serious answer. Maybe these experiences will help:

Had a coworker get promoted way past his level of incompetence. He never accomplished much before, but afterward he spent all of his time lobbying for his ideas and undermining those of us that were trying to get work done. Wasted a lot of time dealing with him until mgmt got a rare clue.

Another coworker would ask a 5 minute question and an hour later come back and spend a 1/2 hour telling me over and over how my answer helped him solve his problem.

Incomprehensible emails from corporate telling us something that might or might not be important. We had to try to decipher them to be sure. Much unproductive discussion ensues.

Had an company exec that liked to go around glad handing everyone. Nice guy, but man could he blow a couple hours of our time.

Woman in the next cubicle arguing with her kids over the phone - loudly - for two hours.

A loud snuffler in another cubicle. Still can't understand how he didn't give himself brain damage.

Yak shaving: get a bug report. Run the debugger: crashes with no message. Research debugger failure to no avail. Go to file a problem report: reporting tool is down.

I'm sure a lot of people have this problem: naming things. Can't code until you figure out what that variable should be called.

Re: Ask HN: Why aren't you coding?

#66

Post by gremlinsinc »

- Burned out

- Depressed

- Anxious

- Covid-induced (likely) brain fog (maybe the depression/anxiety also is from presumably having covid back in April)

- Can't find a freelance client

- Broke

- Want a passion project

- Want to be part of a co-op not a cog in a machine

- Want to be on a team again

- Can't pick a side project to work on for some cashflow

- Too busy promoting my gofundme to pay rent

- Want to be a game dev this week

- Will want to be a systems dev next week

- Wanted to be a blockchain dev last week

- ADHD (apparent?)

- Mid-life crisis? Or is it just covid brain

- Wow, this has been catharctic just free-writing like this.

- Are you still reading this?

- Really bad schedule

- Brain struggling with organization

- MOTIVATION - I'm 41, I guess as senior a dev as you can be in php/vue, feel like a junior dev, imposter syndrome.

Re: Ask HN: Why aren't you coding?

#67

Post by burnthrow »

gremlinsinc wrote: post #66

- Burned out - Depressed - Anxious - Covid-induced (likely) brain fog (maybe the depression/anxiety also is from presumably having covid back in April) - Can't find a freelance client - Broke - Want a passion project - Want to be part of a co-op not a cog in a machine - Want to be on a team again - Can't pick a side project to work on for some cashflow - Too busy promoting my gofundme to pay rent - Want to be a game…

Start by getting off of HN and Reddit. Turn off non-local news.

Re: Ask HN: Why aren't you coding?

#68

Post by yoav »

tomxor wrote: post #13

I am paid to solve problems, programming is one part of that, thinking about the problem and the code is a prerequisite to programming. Sometimes one needs to step back and let things sink in rather than continuous action (programming)... while doing that you can even play games, I'll admit some activities are better than others for the purpose of de-focusing your subconscious - but sometimes you also just need a sho…

While off topic I’d echo this for managing coders as well.

A lot of the problem set is debugging people and teams. For example “why is x person performing differently” and the debugger are time boxed to 1:1s, sprint cadence meetings, and looking at output, so the thinking between those debugging events is increased because you can’t just brute force it like a sticky code problem.

I think the pandemic has worsened this. Pre-pandemic I had a 40 min walk buffer to and from work where I’d naturally start thinking about my own life. Others had dedicated offices at home and other social interactions, or a coworking space.

Now most social interactions and validation for many come from work slack or zoom, no commute for everyone, and for those in smaller spaces their living room or kitchen or bedroom is their office so work is always within reach and their is no buffer. There’s also not much else to do.

So even if you can pull yourself away from your laptop your thoughts are more often than not focused on solving these kinds of work problems.

Re: Ask HN: Why aren't you coding?

#69

Post by yoav »

yetihehe wrote: post #22

I'm constantly bombarded with "quick" questions from coworkers about how some part of my code works (or more often why it doesn't). After several such interruptions it's harder and harder to even try to focus, maybe some kind of neurosis, fear of being interrupted once you are again in flow?

I’ve been there before. Would recommend starting a document and answering the questions there then linking people to the doc after you’d added their question/answer.

The habit of check the docs first and maintaining docs in this way is really critical for remote teams and bandwidth.

Re: Ask HN: Why aren't you coding?

#70

Post by yoav »

nexthash wrote: post #10

I guess I have coder's block... the thought of a big project makes me more reluctant to start.

The trick here is to break it into the smallest possible pieces and just start doing the first piece as your only task for today.

Most likely that will build momentum.

Can also try accomplishing a small not-work task like laundry or something to solve it from the other end. (You’ll feel like you can take on bigger pieces because you just accomplished something)

Lastly reading the specs or playing with the app with no other windows open and eventually boredom will take over and you’ll start making bits of progress.

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