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Ask HN: What's your working day like?

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Re: Ask HN: What's your working day like?

#191

Post by rufugee »

mcheshier wrote: post #132
rufugee wrote: post #86

Profession: CIO - Full time at company of roughly 3400 employees - [6:45 AM] - Wake up, take out dog - [7:45 AM] - Place kids in the car, off to car pool - [8:25 AM] - Arrive at work - [8:30 - 9:30 AM] - Catch up on email and news - [9:30 - 11:45 AM] - Work on whatever - [11:45 - 12:45 PM] - Head to gym and get workout in - [12:45 PM - 5:45 PM] - Work on whatever - [5:45 PM - 7:45 PM] - Head home, spend time with fam…

I couldn't operate at a high level with that amount of sleep. You must be one of those rare people who don't need 7+ hours of sleep to function.

I generally don't. I'm lucky to get seven hours of sleep...most of the time it's six or less. If I only get 4-ish, I can feel it, but anything over 5 leaves me feeling normal...or what is normal to me.

Re: Ask HN: What's your working day like?

#192

Post by lr4444lr »

treehau5 wrote: post #46

Profession: Software "Engineer" [06:15] First alarm goes off; [06:45] Finally wake up, get out of bed, shower, shave, make espresso for me and the wife [07:15] out the door, 30 minute commute to office [07:45] breakfast bagel at my work cafe [08:00] arrive at desk, begin contemplating work -- work on something I procrastinated on the previous day so that I can have a good standup report [9:00] everyone arrives at off…

Profession: Another Software "Engineer"

[05:00 - 06:00] Wake up with the sun, and work in bed on side projects on personal laptop;

[06:00] Get myself together, spend the only waking time I have with my infant child during the week.

[06:30] Gym

[07:00] Commute to work

[08:10] arrive at desk, have breakfast at desk while picking up on momentum from yesterday, or fixing what problem I was too mind-numbed to see through the afternoon before

[8:30 - 9:30] Everyone else streams in. Catch up on non-tech business developments in informal chat.

['til 6:30] Work, work, work + mental breaks on HN. Find 20 minutes for lunch. Tea somewhere around 4:00 - 5:30 PM. Occasionally impromptu meeting with my manager for rubber ducking, feature planning, or architecture question.

Can't complain. Tiny start-ups are great when the personalities fit.

Re: Ask HN: What's your working day like?

#193

Post by dasmoth »

davzie wrote: post #14

Profession: Web Developer, self employed working remote with startups and creative agencies. Workday: - [08:00] Wake up in a daze and make my wife and son tea and breakfast - [08:30] Shower, get dressed and ready - [09:15] After prepping water canister and tea caddy, head to garden office. - [09:30] Procrastinate - [14:00] Realise the work day is nearly over. Panic. Cram work in. - [17:00] Finish work, make son dinne…

whilst contemplating an entire career change

To anything in particular?

Re: Ask HN: What's your working day like?

#194

Post by grecy »

callinyouin wrote: post #179
grecy wrote: post #144

I am seeing a lot of depressing posts here (and mostly in humor, I think) Lots of talk about sleeping in, procrastinating, pretending to work, etc. etc. I used to be a Software Engineer and I can relate extremely well. Now I am attempting to be a travel writer and photographer, driving around Africa. I spring out of bed in the morning, and have some of the best days of my life, day after day. It's hard, but I love it…

Can you comment on how easy it is to "go back"? I've always heard it's difficult to find employment as a developer once you have a gap in your resume.

I found it immensely easy. We developers are in short supply, so it's an employees market.

Don't hide it on your resume, be proud of it "I learned Spanish, I learned self-reliance, I had this and that side project, etc. etc."

I always say one of my greatest skills is my ability to self-educate (proven by learning Spanish, and now French) so you say to them "Sure, I'm a little rusty on x,y,z. Less than 2 weeks I guarantee I'll be up to speed."

So I don't have the salary of someone that stayed through (i.e. a buddy from university is now a Senior VP, and I was still low-level developer) but who cares - I made this choice because I prioritize life, not money/work. My buddy also works WAAAY longer hours than I did, and had a boat-load of stress to boot. As a lowly developer, I get good money, and walk out free and clear at 5:30. I didn't even have to be on call, because I was "junior". Perfect!

Re: Ask HN: What's your working day like?

#195

Post by macNchz »

erikb wrote: post #146
treehau5 wrote: post #46

Profession: Software "Engineer" [06:15] First alarm goes off; [06:45] Finally wake up, get out of bed, shower, shave, make espresso for me and the wife [07:15] out the door, 30 minute commute to office [07:45] breakfast bagel at my work cafe [08:00] arrive at desk, begin contemplating work -- work on something I procrastinated on the previous day so that I can have a good standup report [9:00] everyone arrives at off…

Many people complain about the usual work chaos. I'm also an engineer and I don't get it. For me, having other people come and ask questions is not distraction but an opportunity to help, learn to know their point of view, learn new things. Meetings are a way to influence the direction of the company however small my influence may be. Other people talking can really distract if it's heavily on topic, but usually also…

> I usually get this after-disco/cinema low when the amount of people in office starts to slow down

When the office slows down and things get quieter is when I find myself finally able to get completely focused in on things that require all of my attention.

I enjoy meetings, business talk, planning and miscellaneous conversations with coworkers more than (I think) most software developers, but to get any sizable software project done I do best with chunks of a few hours at a time to get into a focused state, get all of the moving parts loaded into my head, then actually write the code/fix the bug etc.

My solution to this–in an office that I share with people who talk on the phone–is to show up in the late morning after they've made their morning calls, and leave in the evening a few hours after they leave. This way we overlap in the afternoon, but I get some time with a quiet office where I can really think.

Just while writing this comment several conversations happened around me that drew my attention away from what I was writing. When I focused my attention back to the comment, I had to skim what I'd just written to 'reload' my thoughts. At least for me, this 'reloading' process takes a long time when it comes to writing software, despite various tricks I've come up with over the years to help speed it up.

Re: Ask HN: What's your working day like?

#196

Post by 3hr0way4234 »

HappyTypist wrote: post #168
3hr0way4234 wrote: post #96

I'm amazed by how early you all get up! Profession/position: Software developer - full time, office-located* - peers are remote but boss is local - [9:45-10:30] wake up, shower, breakfast [10:30-11:00] either cycle to work if there are any bikes/slots in the local bicycle rental system, otherwise walk [11:00-12:15] sometimes we have a video meeting with the remote coworkers at this time, otherwise, mainly procrastina…

Quit. You will thank me.

I wouldn't quit without having another job lined up. But like I say, I'm definitely (maybe) semi-planning to move on this year. It's the three year anniversary and I feel I've learned enough. But interviews suck and all the jobs I see advertised I'm either not qualified for or they look worse than this, or they just look boring. Eventually I'll have to bite the bullet and do it though.

Re: Ask HN: What's your working day like?

#197

Post by artursapek »

treehau5 wrote: post #46

Profession: Software "Engineer" [06:15] First alarm goes off; [06:45] Finally wake up, get out of bed, shower, shave, make espresso for me and the wife [07:15] out the door, 30 minute commute to office [07:45] breakfast bagel at my work cafe [08:00] arrive at desk, begin contemplating work -- work on something I procrastinated on the previous day so that I can have a good standup report [9:00] everyone arrives at off…

Get a remote gig ;)

Re: Ask HN: What's your working day like?

#198

Post by _ao789 »

traviswingo wrote: post #163
v3gas wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get it - how can it matter that you make tons of money if you are not satisfied with your life? (legit question)

It's easier to argue money doesn't matter when you're not making a sh*t ton. If you have a family to support and are making a crap ton of money it's more difficult to walk away from. But yeah, it's definitely not worth dying inside for.

Completely agree with this point.

Re: Ask HN: What's your working day like?

#199

Post by scriptkiddy »

ravenstine wrote: post #177

Profession: Web developer - full time, remote flexible, team of 3 developers, 1 project manager, 1 designer [7:00] Alarm goes off [7:45] Actually wakes up, shaves [8:00] Jumps in the shower, brushes teeth [8:15] Gets dressed [8:25] Drives to 7-11 for a Rockstar Zero and Quest Bar [8:35 - 8:45] Boards the train [9:10] Arrives at work [9:15] Yells at computer with Black Screen Of Death caused by IT department remotely…

> [5:45] Stops at grocery store to buy a block of cheddar cheese

> [6:15] Arrives home, melts the cheese in the microwave, and eats it for dinner

That kind of threw me for a loop. Sounds like you may want to work on your nutrition. Don't get me wrong, I love cheese, but I don't believe it has all the nutrients necessary for a healthy body.

Re: Ask HN: What's your working day like?

#200

Post by positivecomment »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #176
erikb wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people complain about the usual work chaos. I'm also an engineer and I don't get it. For me, having other people come and ask questions is not distraction but an opportunity to help, learn to know their point of view, learn new things. Meetings are a way to influence the direction of the company however small my influence may be. Other people talking can really distract if it's heavily on topic, but usually also…

I enjoy helping when people come up to me with legitimate questions, for all the reasons you mention. It feels like half the time, I'm being bugged not for any real reason, but because the person couldn't bother to put some effort in first. For example, I've become known as "the regex guy" at the office. I know regex really well as well as the ins and outs of the regex engines of languages we use. I don't mind when I…

Programmer who doesn't know regex is something like a system admin who doesn't know sed.
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