Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What's your working day like?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 443 posts

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

#251

Post by soneca »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #231
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…

When I left NetApp (single office) and joined Google (quad cube) it was quite a shock and very disorienting. However, since it was the way Google wanted to do things I practiced non-listening, which is to say keeping my focus on my screen and project and ignoring my ear inputs. Oddly the best tool for practicing was 'World of Warcraft' as it provided a continual level of required attention so it was easier to practic…

Selective hearing was always Superman's superpower that I envied the most. He could hear just exactly when Lois Lane would cry for help, even if not expecting. All else he could just ignore

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

#252

Post by hasbroslasher »

Profession: Software "Engineer"

[07:35] First alarm goes off but sometimes I wake up at 6:30 a.m. randomly because traffic noise.

[07:45] Wake up, drink coffee and brush teeth. Never eat breakfast. Maybe work on some music for 20 mins before work.

[08:15] Get on bike and go to work.

[08:35] Arrive at work. Sometimes fetch breakfast, usually eat potato chips.

[09:00] By now I'm usually working unless i'm still on HN.

[10:00] Irritating that daily standup happens in the middle of the morning but whatever.

[12:30] Return from lunch, now work "really" starts. Usually code a whole bunch while listening to Boards of Canada

[17:00] By now I'm either mentally or physically absent from work, as is everyone around me. Get on the bike and ride home.

[17:30] Now it's beer and food time. After that, music or biking or maybe just arguing about Ancient Greece with my friends.

[22:00] Shower and drink a Nalgene of water.

[22:30] Either I'm still feverishly working on music or falling asleep to something on https://www.nfb.ca/

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

#253

Post by raamdev »

monkmartinez wrote: post #31

Profession: Firefighter - Full time Workday (kind of, nothing is typical at the firehouse): - [06:00]: Wake up - get dressed covertly and slip out of the house - [06:30] Arrive at the station - Get coffee! Find my "relief" which is the similarly ranked person on the off going shift. - run 911 calls - [07:30] Have "line up"; Where we discuss what drills we have planned, eat some breakfast... drink more coffee. Talk ab…

I've been a software engineer for the past 20 years but I'm really looking at changing things up and doing something totally different—I just can't stand spending so much time in front of a computer anymore (I find myself looking for excuses to do physical activity away from the screen). This sounds exactly like the sort of thing I'd enjoy, and I'd get to learn lots of useful skills and serve my local community at the same time. I'd be fine with taking a pay cut.

Do you have any advice for someone wanting to become a firefighter? Or any resources that you can point me to?

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

#254

Post by tzhenghao »

Profession: Software Engineer

[5:20] First alarm rings.

[5:40] Ok that's enough snoozed alarms. Time to wake up. Take a bath and start 30 min commute to work.

[6:15] Camp at a downtown Starbucks and catch up on HN. Work on a couple programming puzzles.

[9:00 - noon] Get to office. Fix a couple of outstanding tasks from the day before.

[1:00 - 3:00] Code, a meeting or two scheduled in this time slot a couple times a week.

[3:00 - 5:00] Code then go home.

[6:00 - 7:00] Dinner.

[7:00 - 11:00] Read more technical articles/books, moar programming puzzles, contemplate my career choices, fb/whatsapp with friends. Sleep.

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

#255

Post by TeMPOraL »

macNchz wrote: post #195
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 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 soft…

Same here. As described in the schedule I posted elsewhere in this thread, I tend to come to office at 12:00 - 13:00[0]. And I like it quite much. Most of the cow-orkers in my room work ~09:00 - ~17:00, so there's 4-5 hours of overlap in the afternoon, followed by 3 hours of peace when I can focus and get something done. There are days when I do actually manage to come as early as 08:00, and those days I really miss being alone in the room.

--

[0] - Had long battles about that with my boss. He gave up after a year, realizing that there's no way to make me come before 10:00 regularly (my sleeping patterns are weird), but I am there when it matters and get the job done.

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

#256

Post by woogiewonka »

UI / UX designer checking in:

- Wake up and exercise 30 min-1h - prepare and have breakfast - get on laptop, check email, Trello, slack and Skype - take care of any communication or quick follow-ups - respond to any new business inquiries and draft proposal if any - Start working on ongoing projects from 11 - have lunch around 1 or 2 - work some more with breaks in between until about 5 - take an hour break and get ready for dinner around 6 - work a bit more after dinner till about 7 - work on personal projects or portfolio or anything else that will help me land new business till 8pm - rest of the time I just chill, watch TV, snack wind down until bed time around 10:30 or 11:30 - rinse and repeat until weekend . I take weekends off to avoid burnout.

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

#257

Post by mikejmoffitt »

lr4444lr wrote: post #192
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…

>[06:30] Gym >[07:00] Commute to work

Serious question: How does this work? Do you work out for exactly 30 minutes and jump straight on transport / in the car / etc? 20 minutes plus a quick shower? Is there no time factored in for cleaning yourself up after working out, to be presentable at work?

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

#259

Post by swampthinker »

Insanity wrote: post #208

Profession: Software Engineer (medical software) start: [07:50] First alarm [08:10] Out of bed and getting ready [09:05] 10 minute trip to campus + 5 min walk to office [09:20] Catch up with Slack, Email [09:50 - 12:30] Work with regular interruptions [12:30 - 12:45] Eat a quick lunch [12:45 - 17:30] Coding, or meetings with some interruptions again. [17:30] Head home, cook, have dinner with my wife and talk with her…

Wow, I haven't swam in years. I should see if there is a YMCA close to me.

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

#260

Post by joshtronic »

Profession: Senior Software Developer - full time, in office - Also a husband / father and run some revenue generating side projects

[08:00ish] Wake up, piss, weigh myself, brush teeth then read

[09:00] Shower, get dressed, etc

[09:30] Drive into the office

[10:00] Get some coffee, plan my day and get to working (standing desk)

[11:15] Get up and walk around

[12:00] Lunch (catered in)

[12:30] Back to the grind (sitting down)

[15:00] Another walk

[17:30] If it's Wednesday, there's some Whiskey about now

[18:30] Hit the road

[19:00] Get home, dinner with the family, sometimes a quick board game

[20:30] Do some burpees then get to hacking on side projects

[23:00] Read

[00:00ish] Sleep

Weekends are dedicated to more family time

Post reply on HN