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Why I hate the weekends (2017)

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Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#111

Post by hartator »

lostgame wrote: post #21
gnulinux wrote: post #9

This resonates with me. I love my work, I really like what I do, I think it's mentally challenging, interesting, and important for our world and civilization and I believe I'm compensated well enough. But it's tiring ok? And all I can ever do on weekends is lying on my bed watching netflix. I work 9 to 6 and work out intensely for 2 hours every week day. By the time it's saturday I'm both physically and mentally exha…

First off, it seems as though your gym schedule is very intense and easing on that may help especially the physical aspect of what you’re going through. Secondly, I strongly recommend, if you don’t already, to just maybe see a therapist? It seems like you’ve got some cool things going on and like you could be a cool person, and sometimes it’s tough to reach out. I had to myself recently.

Me too. If you need someone to reach out to in the Austin area, feel free to DM me.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#112

Post by rootusrootus »

lazyjones wrote: post #102
tastyfreeze wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly is a real job? Does a job have to physically difficult to be considered real? Why is a mentally taxing job any less real than a physically taxing one? Even meaningless work can be a real job. Some people enjoy working their asses off in the hot sun. Some enjoy sitting at a desk hacking code. Just because one job isnt like another doesn't mean it is less real.

> Does a job have to physically difficult to be considered real? Sitting for 40-50 hours a week and staring at a monitor is physically difficult, ask anyone with 20+ years of that under their belt.

-raises hand-

I have been working since the early 90s, mostly in 40-hour-a-week office jobs. I spend a lot more time now trying to mitigate the physical effects and I wish I could tell 20-year-old me to pay more attention to staying on top of good fitness, health, posture, etc, instead of assuming it would always be so easy.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#113

Post by matwood »

01100011 wrote: post #25
lostgame wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First off, it seems as though your gym schedule is very intense and easing on that may help especially the physical aspect of what you’re going through. Secondly, I strongly recommend, if you don’t already, to just maybe see a therapist? It seems like you’ve got some cool things going on and like you could be a cool person, and sometimes it’s tough to reach out. I had to myself recently.

Seriously. If they're hitting the gym with any sort of intensity, 2 hours a day is going to leave you destroyed on the weekends. 3-4 days a week is plenty. Your body needs to rebuild.

2 hours/day at 100% intensity is a lot, but I have found doing something physical everyday to be key to mental health, sleeping better, and general well being. Very people go 100% even when they go to the gym 3x/week, so I don't want others reading this thinking that is all they need.

In fact, people will be surprised what the body can do (go read up on ultra-marathoners, etc...). Few regular gym goers are even close to needing rest days, and instead use it as an excuse not to go.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#114

Post by rootusrootus »

raamdev wrote: post #107
jlg23 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I get it, figuring out how to get our software working can require a lot of thinking, but compared to most of the people out there its a sweet gig. Stop complaining. "The worst part is there is hardly any time for resting the mind and body. Our jobs can be mentally and physically demanding." I don't see how any other "too much" job is excluded; you are blaming the author for his background alone. For your example:…

I have done a lot of both worlds and find an incredibly noticeable difference in my private life. Manual labor that has my body feeling ‘used’ at the end of the day makes me feel that I’ve somehow accomplished so much more than if I’ve only used my mind all day and I find myself generally happier on a day-to-day basis when I’ve been doing primarily manual labor all day. But I can’t seem to justify doing manual labor…

I know people who've given up office jobs for manual ones for exactly the reasons you mention, and I envy them. But with two kids that is easier said than done.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#115

Post by scarface74 »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #75
VyperCard wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd wish i was one of the 1%

Global 1% is about $34k. $100k gets you to the 14th percentile in the US. $150k gets you to the 94th percentile. If you're a developer in the first world, you're incredibly rich and privileged not just by historical standards, but by real world modern standards.

Just to provide a citation:

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4109731-united-states-incom...

But, I have to take a step back and realize how fortunate I am sometimes. I’m not making anywhere near Silicon Valley salary but I never felt like I was in the top n% because I live around a lot of people who I know make more than I do.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#117

Post by throwaway875u58 »

jondubois wrote: post #39

Today I just wasted the second half of the day doing nothing at all; just watching mind-numbing videos on Youtube. I had been working on a side project most weekends for the last 10 years and been particularly busy in the last year so I forgot what it felt like to just waste time. Wasting time feels great. In this cut-throat competitive industry, it does feel like a luxury through. As a software engineer, I can't aff…

Just as a counter-point: I took off 3 years to stay home with kids.

I recently started a new position after very little time looking with a >80k raise.

I've felt the same pressure to stay current. But, turns out it's all about how you can frame what you bring to the table vs what you can't.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#118

Post by matwood »

gnulinux wrote: post #9

This resonates with me. I love my work, I really like what I do, I think it's mentally challenging, interesting, and important for our world and civilization and I believe I'm compensated well enough. But it's tiring ok? And all I can ever do on weekends is lying on my bed watching netflix. I work 9 to 6 and work out intensely for 2 hours every week day. By the time it's saturday I'm both physically and mentally exha…

I can relate to your schedule, but you have to break it up. Working out every day is great, but 2 hours of 100% intensity is tough. It's okay to do a light run on some days. The Zen concept here is you want to fill everyday with as much as possible without impacting your ability to do the same tomorrow. Think of your life as a marathon instead of sprint. What hours would you need to keep to exercise and work every single day? Treat the week like that and you'll have the time and energy to do other things on the weekend.

You also need to find some things outside work. Joining a sports league would help. You get your exercise and meet people. Jiu Jitsu is fun and many gyms treat all the members like extended family. It's also mentally challenging (think physical chess), so it gets your mind off of work.

Good luck.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#119

Post by city41 »

To add insult to injury I find doing things on the weekend often a chore because everything is so crowded. Around here finding a parking place at the mall, movie theaters, etc is very difficult. There's a beautiful state park that my wife and I love. But to go there on the weekend you gotta arrive either at 6am or 6pm. The parking lot fills up solid, complete with people lurking in their cars waiting for someone to leave. Want to get out of town? Be prepared to sit in lots of traffic. I sometimes seriously wonder if living in such a crowded part of the country is worth it.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#120

Post by jniedrauer »

coldtea wrote: post #99
pjc50 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone is entitled to talk about their subjective experience. Nobody has to listen to it. And it feels a little rude to go all Four Yorkshiremen on people and tell them they don't really have it hard. .. unless they're recommending some action be taken, of course. And this blog post isn't. It's not a demand for policy, it's just talking about life.

> Everyone is entitled to talk about their subjective experience. Maybe that's part of the problem. Not that everyone is entitled to talk about their subjective experience, but that everyone feels entitled to talk about their subjective experience -- and many are socially blind and comically out of touch when doing so. That's where memes like "first world problems" came from... Everybody should be able to talk about…

I don't know why you have this misguided idea that being a software developer is as big of a jump from the median as being in the richest 0.1% is from being a software developer. Having started at the very bottom of the economic ladder, I can tell you that it's really not that different.

60+ hour weeks can really mess with your health, no matter what you're doing. I definitely have different injuries than I had when I did intense physical work. But working more than 40 hours is still not healthy. You're trading pulled muscles and joint stress for carpel tunnel syndrome and cardiovascular disease.

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