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Why Programmers work at night (2011)

swizec.com

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Re: Why Programmers work at night (2011)

#3

Post by rasur »

"I think it boils down to three things: the maker’s schedule, the sleepy brain and bright computer screens."

I think a lot of it boils down to being expected to perform in really noisy not-conducive-to-thinking environments (yes, open-plan office, I'm talking about you)

At least, that's been my experience over the last 30 years.

Re: Why Programmers work at night (2011)

#4

Post by joefreeman »

Whilst I don't disagree with the points in the article, I think the primary reason for the increase in productivity at night is the 'soft' deadline - knowing that I really should go to sleep, but perhaps I can just finish off One Last Thing. I find the same effect from working in a cafe (I've been here a while, I really should free up this table), or even just from drinking lots of water and needing to go to the bathroom.

Re: Why Programmers work at night (2011)

#5

Post by iskonkul »

>Because being tired makes us better coders.

This is a far-fetched claim. The argument doesn't hold water and it is less convincing given that the author only uses his own anecdotal example of how he is forced to concentrate given low energy to back up the claim. Willpower needs energy and thus most people need energy to concentrate on difficult tasks.

I like to work at night for his other reason that there is almost zero distraction save the social media feeds. However, I think my well-being in the day time is being compromised as I do so. Haven't found a good solution to that yet.

Re: Why Programmers work at night (2011)

#7

Post by chuckcode »

rasur wrote: post #3

"I think it boils down to three things: the maker’s schedule, the sleepy brain and bright computer screens." I think a lot of it boils down to being expected to perform in really noisy not-conducive-to-thinking environments (yes, open-plan office, I'm talking about you) At least, that's been my experience over the last 30 years.

Less distractions at night, so hard to get a few hours of uninterrupted coding time in the day to really dig into something.

Re: Why Programmers work at night (2011)

#8

Post by greenyoda »

"Because being tired makes us better coders."

I've never noticed that being tired makes me code better.

It might also depend on the kind of code you're writing: there could be a difference between how fatigue affects our ability to write straightforward code vs. algorithmically complex code.

But I agree that programming late at night (or at least after everyone else in the office has gone home) makes me more productive because it limits distractions.

Re: Why Programmers work at night (2011)

#9

Post by blencdr »

marak830 wrote: post #6

Now im just an amateur programmer so a bucket of salt here, but i prefer early morning before my wife and everyone gwts up on the weekend is the most productive for me.

Professional programmer here, totally agree with that, I'm not more productive than between 7am and 12am.
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