And here I am, in an early stage startup, putting more than 8 hours a day, sometimes weekends and still missing deadlines
Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?
941–950 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?
#942It turns out that a lot of software development work is "thinking", which is hard to quantify.
Re: Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?
#943Whew, glad someone finally said it. Amen.
Re: Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?
#944Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of the best ideas I've had in my career were in the shower before work. The problem is making that a regular occurrence.
> The problem is making that a regular occurrence. Ideally you shower every two days or so.
I suppose I walked into that one.
Re: Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?
#945I'm exactly the same way. From what I can tell, we really are just lazy 10x devs. I've seen and mentored enough people in the office to realize that I am objectively much faster and more efficient than the average developer, sometimes up to 10x as much. The sad fact is that outside of FAMGAN (maybe even in there), the average developer is so mediocre that this isn't noticed. I've had around 7 developer jobs of variou…
It’s certainly not worth underestimating that many developers stagnate and don’t even try to keep up to date. I joined a C++ shop that was claiming to do modern C++ and one dev in particular took both an age to write anything and did it in a way that ignored anything from C++11
Re: Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?
#946Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is your title/job description? Are you more of a team lead/engineering manager?
It is a technical director of engineering position, but as we know jobs are more nuanced than the title they have
Yeah definitely. Is it possible to work in a similar way for a lower-level management position? I'm not interested in the Managerial track, but it's worth a try if this is possible.
Re: Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?
#947I really think this post is onto something, many people sharing similar experiences. Is this something to do with working remotely?
Does anyone have any book / podcast recommendations that can help understand this dilemma?
Re: Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?
#948Funny to see how many people are against what you're doing, not realising that there must be plenty of people in their companies that do the same. Not everyone has to be a top performer, the point of a job is getting paid one way or another. We are all company slaves, your only point to work is getting paid, and if you can get that without working then good for you. There is no point giving your life to something you don't care about, keep doing what you doing and enjoy.
Re: Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?
#949I'm literally about to get fired from Google for this, possibly today (HR is calling wondering where I am). Dumb thing is, I've been working like crazy on my 20% project. I just can't stand the other one, got an NI on my first (and presumably last) review cycle so pretty much killed any chance of a transfer. I've never outright lied, though certainly hemmed and hawed. And occasionally blatantly "I haven't done anythi…
If you do need help, I hope you get it. I have been having success with narrative conversational therapy. At my best, especially on projects I care about, I’m a high performer. At my worst, I’m slow and mediocre. In the end, most of us are simply average.
you make it sound like it's a named condition, which one is it?
Re: Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?
#950Imagine a security guard at an office building. 90% of the time might be sitting in a booth watching monitors. The other 10% of the time is buzzing people in or making rounds. But that 90% of the time when they are sitting around is important, since they are on call. So you are like a security guard. Your employer gladly pays you for the 90% of the time you are doing nothing, because they need the comfort of having a…
you honestly think they are this alert and actually work? Honestly most of them just watch tv all day long and sit out their shift. I've seen people's bicycles get stolen right in front of the security guy. Most security guys are useless and don't do anything all day.