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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?

#421

Post by Arizhel »

wwwwwwwwww wrote: post #329
rattray wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuinely curious: why not implement the fixes you mentioned yourself? Would that count as "stepping on toes" and anger dev teams?

The dev team is very territorial about their code. They're virtually in a separate business unit - I don't even have read access to the source code. To make things worse, the dev lead's boss always defers to his team's knowledge about the issues, so getting certain security issues fixed can require getting upper management involved.

The way I see it, as long as you do your job to notify them of security problems with their code, then the ball is in their court and it's out of your hands. If they choose to ignore it, and it ends up being a disaster, it's their fault as long as you can show you did your job in notifying them properly.

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

#422

Post by Arizhel »

davzie wrote: post #350
zepolen wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So uh...what does your wife do?

She looks after my son all day, ensures we have groceries, makes sure all the clothes are washed and ironed, cleans the house, takes him to play school, makes sure he has clothes that fit him, organises birthday presents and cards and gifts, is endlessly patient to name a few. She has a harder job than I do.

Why do clothes need to be ironed? Who still wears stuff made of linen?

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

#423

Post by throwaway2016a »

fratlas wrote: post #409
throwaway2016a wrote: post #62

Profession/position: Software engineer (web) - CTO Workday: - [6:30] Wake up and get ready - Check my emails and schedule for anything urgent and deal with them if there is - [7:30] Get my daughter ready for daycare - [8:00] Drive her to daycare - [8:30] Return to my home office - Usually spend 15 minutes hunting HN and RSS for things that might be relevant to my business. I skim titles mostly using keyboard shortcut…

A little bit OT, but how much does a CTO pull in at that size company?

Really off topic but I don't mind. Sorry for the delay response. I wasn't checking in on this thread. In general, about the same amount as a senior software engineer at a larger company and significant stock options (1-2% for late stage, 5%+ for early stage, much more for co-founder).

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

#424

Post by a_lifters_life »

[04:30] Wake up

[04:30-05:30] eat breakfast

[05:30] drive 30 minutes to work

[06:00 - 08:00/09:00] arrive to work, read HN, access bank accounts, read more.

[08:00-09:00 to 12:00] begin doing work, read email (work+personal)

[12:00-12:30/13:00] eat lunch, go for a walk

[13:00-15:30] do more reading, work

[15:30-16:15] drive home

[16:15-17:30] hang out, "veg"

[17:30-19:00] relax, then workout, or vice-versa

[20:00 or 20:30 - 04:30] sleep

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

#425

Post by smoyer »

justaman wrote: post #105

IT guy -[6:30] : Wake up -[7:55] : Arrive at work -[8:00] : Check email -[8:05] : Check support forum -[8:06] : /r/aww+rarepuppers -[9:00] : Frontpage of reddit -[10:00]: Youtube vids -[10:30]: Pause youtube to take support call -[10:45]: Youtube resumes -[12:00]: Lunch and nap -[1:00] : Back to reddit/finish youtube subs -[4:55] : God damn support call

Haha ... there's always that person that calls right before the end of the business day!

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

#426

Post by soft_dev_person »

Arizhel wrote: post #366
TeMPOraL wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Profession: software "engineer" too. [08:00] First alarm goes off; [10:00] I'm starting to wake up [11:00] Some quick HN checking [12:00] Ok, off to office. [13:00] At the office; talking with customer if needed, otherwise desperately trying to get some work done amidst noise and distractions, including but not limited to people occasionally playing board games for a break. [18:00] All my cow-orkers in the room have…

>The other day, one of my cow-orkers asked me, how can I bear working late hours - it must be very lonely. I desperately tried not to answer that with "that's precisely the point". Is your cow-orker also a software engineer (or "engineer" if you prefer, esp. in their case)? I'm starting to think that a large majority of software developers actually like open-plan work environments with lots of interruptions, however…

Wow, I've never realized I may have filter bubbled myself to believe that all devs hate open offices. Not sure I want to believe that either, though. Too depressing.

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

#427

Post by Arizhel »

sockgrant wrote: post #232
patrickbolle wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for this. I'm a web developer, recent college grad. I freelance and travel a lot. It's cool, but I hate the work for the most part. I do lots of tiny UI tweaks and stuff every day. It's slowly killing me inside I think. The upside is I work from 'hpme' and can sleep in and have lots of freedom and stuff, but when it comes to work... It's destroying me. I have been living in Costa Rica for the past year and I'm…

The grass is always greener. You're (theoretically) making more money than them and most likely have a more flexible schedule. They're also tied to location. You can get bored of Costa Rica and move tomorrow if you want. There's nothing to be jealous of. You can start a surf shop if you think they have it better than you.

That doesn't seem quite right to me. You might be making more money in USD, but their cost of living is likely far lower. The cost of real estate and rent in major American metro areas is insane these days, and that's where all those high-paying software jobs are located. Even in many of the not-so-major areas, the rents have gotten really high. So sure, you might be making a lot, but it's all going to some landlord, or getting tied up in a house that could very well lose much of its value if the market crashes again like it did in 2008.

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

#428

Post by cerberusss »

bardonadam wrote: post #305
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…

SW Engineer as well. Office can get noisy quite quickly, so I wouldn't be able to focus without headphones and Spotify. If music distracts you(vocals are the main suspect), try some ambient noises, or movie soundtracks(Hans Zimmer, John Williams). Also a comfortable pair of headphones is preferable.

Earplugs are great.

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

#429

Post by Arizhel »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #369
Arizhel wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The other day, one of my cow-orkers asked me, how can I bear working late hours - it must be very lonely. I desperately tried not to answer that with "that's precisely the point". Is your cow-orker also a software engineer (or "engineer" if you prefer, esp. in their case)? I'm starting to think that a large majority of software developers actually like open-plan work environments with lots of interruptions, however…

Yes, he's also a software engineer[0]. Yes, I have a similar suspicion. This is a longer topic, but in my mind there's a bimodal distribution on a spectrum of attitude towards programming. Some, like me, are people in love with technology, who go home to tinker on side projects. Other - like that cow-orker - treat software as a career, and they go home to socialize, play board games with friends, etc. Without judging…

>For myself, looking back at the education I got, I think my feelings were best expressed by a friend of mine: "if for that I'm an engineer, then I'm afraid to go to a doctor".

Don't worry too much: doctors get far more education and training than we engineers do, and it's a lot more rigorous. They have to get a 4-year undergrad premed degree, and then at least 4 years in med school, plus residency (which is basically on-the-job training), etc. It's nothing at all like engineering where you can get a BS in 4 years or so and then be set loose.

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

#430

Post by Arizhel »

soft_dev_person wrote: post #426
Arizhel wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The other day, one of my cow-orkers asked me, how can I bear working late hours - it must be very lonely. I desperately tried not to answer that with "that's precisely the point". Is your cow-orker also a software engineer (or "engineer" if you prefer, esp. in their case)? I'm starting to think that a large majority of software developers actually like open-plan work environments with lots of interruptions, however…

Wow, I've never realized I may have filter bubbled myself to believe that all devs hate open offices. Not sure I want to believe that either, though. Too depressing.

It's pretty normal for people to believe their opinion is the majority one; I'm sure there's a psychological term for it ("confirmation bias" I think).

But I've seen way too many devs who seem to actually like being able to interrupt their coworkers to think that all devs hate that, and I've seen way too many comments on places like this in favor of open offices.

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