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4 hours a day of real work seems low, but certainly not 40 hours a week.
As a programmer, I've always felt that, on an average, 4 hours of actual work gets done by me on a daily basis. This does not include meetings, communication etc. This is essentially the time spent towards a tangible deliverable.
4 hours a day of real work seems low, but certainly not 40 hours a week.
What do you define as "real" work? In most productive days of coding I get 4/5 "real" hours of focused, concentrated work. Very, very rarely would I get more than 6 without finishing the day mentally exhausted. Meetings? Doing more than two back-to-back, hour-long meetings is an ordeal if you want a productive meeting. You can sit there and stare into space for far longer, or just keep minimum attention. But intellig…
"The details of this are somewhat career specific, and my experience is mostly with a mix of software development, writing, coaching, and consulting." Somewhat career specific is a colossal understatement.
I can quibble with the specific hours, but this resonates a lot with me. My average day looks something like: Hour 0-0.5: Get ready for the workday - messages, email, write standup report, take a shower. Hour 0.5-1: standup meeting + offline meetings. Hour 1-2: meetings or brain work Hour 2-3: mealtime, active availability Hour 3-5: active availability, light work, meetings Hour 5-7: brain work (I do my best brain wo…
Until recently I was a dev manager for about 20 devs (not all direct). I did work 80 hours a week, still do. I know I am unhealthy. I don’t like doing things that are not technical. I get uncomfortable and bored quickly.
My work gives me complex tech problems constantly. So I feel better working. But I attribute this to an unhealthy grip on life that stemmed from somewhere.
All my devs wanted to also work 80 hours a week. I had to keep on top of their own hours to tell them to go home and find a girlfriend.
DONT work crazy hours because someone else in your sphere is doing it. Only do it if you can honestly say you are unhealthily obsessed with it and can’t actually have a normal life.
"The details of this are somewhat career specific, and my experience is mostly with a mix of software development, writing, coaching, and consulting." Somewhat career specific is a colossal understatement.
I think every service industry worker is laughing their ass off at this post. That is, if they can get past the tears and fury at the injustice of the world that allowed this post to exist.
Working 80 hours a week is unhealthy and a bad idea. I don’t think there is any solid argument against that. Until recently I was a dev manager for about 20 devs (not all direct). I did work 80 hours a week, still do. I know I am unhealthy. I don’t like doing things that are not technical. I get uncomfortable and bored quickly. My work gives me complex tech problems constantly. So I feel better working. But I attribu…