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Top developers can have a life outside coding

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Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding

#231

Post by CydeWeys »

JamesBarney wrote: post #210
CydeWeys wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But no one is paying to have me (or others) learn to code or update my skills. It's part of your job to be good at what you do. That does involve getting better at programming, updating your skills, keeping abreast of the newest frameworks, and learning new languages. So do it at work. If you're spending every hour of every week at work only working on the exact project in front of you, then you are doing both your…

This sounds great but I don't think this is standard for most companies, at least none I've worked at. But I'd love if it were added to the joel list.

It doesn't matter what is standard at most companies, you just do it. It'll work fine unless you have a taskmaster looking over your shoulder the entire time you're at work, or a micromanager who demands that you account for your time in hourly increments. And if those things are true then you should quite for reasons.

Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding

#232

Post by donmatito »

patio11 wrote: post #48
Wonnk13 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You almost certainly know one topic well enough to post something which clears that bar of utility on any given day I'm only 27, but I don't believe this. I know just enough to know I don't know anything deeply. Does the internet need another github page regurgitating the same stuff as everyone else?

Github pages seem to be a very suboptimal way to publish for professional purposes unless you decide to design them, since the credit for whatever you publish there goes to Github rather than to you. (Not an exaggeration, either: I got quoted in the BBC recently as "this page on Github.") I don't know what you know, but I bet it is a lot more than what you think you know. I was 27 once, too. My day job at the time in…

What is a good place to plant such flags? Personal domains? Medium?

I've started writing a couple of posts on conversational interfaces recently. Having them linkable from Medium was definitely a key to land more speaking at events, in turn enabling potentially freelancing & consulting gigs (not closed yet), as well a good credibility and ice breaker when reaching out to interesting people

Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding

#233

Post by [deleted] »

dkrich wrote: post #226
andrewstuart wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the very best developers I know rarely if ever did anything outside work hours. BUT I have known some of the best developers there are, and the guy I mention above is the definite exception to the rule. And I never said that there are no great developers who only work during office hours - there are - but the strongest indicators of how good a developer is are their level of interest and this is typically expr…

How do you suggest your over 40 family man genius programmer could be identified as a genius programmer by someone who does not know him? As a recruiter you may not like this answer, but you'd have to ask him questions that require him to demonstrate ability rather than interest. You may not like that because it requires you to possess a lot of the skills the jobs you are looking to fill require, and there's not a sh…

[deleted]

Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding

#234

Post by chris_7 »

andrewstuart wrote: post #206
chris_7 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much of your free time do you spend recruiting?

Not much, but recruiting is not a craft that particularly benefits from being honed with long hours of practice and learning - software development is.

Long hours of software development leads to burnout and depression. People need to exercise and see their friends.

Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding

#236

Post by rmc »

lgieron wrote: post #103
hawkice wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems that professional programmers have little understanding about the limits of human endurance in skilled labor. Junior doctors work 100 hour weeks and 36 hour shifts so busy they often don't have time to visit the bathroom. It may slightly harm your productivity by working more (almost certainly will) but to say you can't do anything on your own time except for watching Game of Thrones is overly pessimistic.

The doctor's job is not exactly equivalent. After a day of programming, I feel I could still put in a couple hours of light manual labor or say drive for Uber, but I'm unable to focus intensely any longer. Doctors probably use a much greater variety of skills (and not just intense focus on 100% abstract problems for 8 hours), hence I think their resources deplete slower. I know that when I've worked at jobs which wer…

OTOH doctors are literally working with life and death scenarios.

Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding

#237

Post by fit2rule »

dominotw wrote: post #137
98129129 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The field isn't rapidly evolving. It's about cramming new pointless APIs and frameworks that are pushed by $company in order to dominate some market segment.

>The field isn't rapidly evolving. web/mobile from only 5 years ago was so different from what we have now.

Web/Mobile is still as broken as it ever was.

Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding

#238

Post by Schwolop »

caseysoftware wrote: post #160
cagmz wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the idea of applying less time, but more strenuous effort, towards programming, but how does someone do this?

I started five things a few years back and have had great results: - I set up an email filter where if I'm not on the TO line, it skips my inbox for another folder. I only read that folder twice a day. If it's important, they'll write to me directly. - I (almost) never accept a meeting with less than 2 hours notice. The exceptions are rare and far between.. and usually come down to a few legitimate emergencies. Poor…

I never normally take advice about email habits, but that simple filter is a good one. I already have ~100 filters that move things and mark-as-read useless things - and that works for me - but that one addition might well keep the inbox (which is basically my task list) cleaner.

Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding

#239

Post by gerrys0 »

manmal wrote: post #104
jkot wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All hours? Sometimes I code with a baby on my lap. They are in next room when I take break. And little baby sleeps like 16 hours a day. It has some trade-offs, we dont have a car or macbooks, but it works just fine.

Yes, in German we have a saying like "One kid is no kid". The increase from zero to one kid might feel like you mastered a big step (and it is!).. But a second kid is a total game changer. I am hard pressed to find some time for Netflix and a bit of guitar playing every once in a while. Do I want to exchange that for coding for some bigger cause? Nope.

Agree. When we had one kid, I started a business. Looking back, it was totally doable. When we had two kids, I was a solo freelancer, worked a ton, and don't remember any issues. The third one, though, we called him The Crusher. Even though he was as easy as the first two, all three constantly demanded attention, and we were outnumbered. There was no "relaxing with the baby". As they got older, the sheer logistics with school and multiple activities got ridiculous (let's say 3 children x 1 activity each x 2 days/wk (1 practice + 1 game) = 6 afternoons/evenings gone). Expenses suddenly got out of hand (preschool++).

Of course, wife & I always wanted three. I was not going to not have three kids, just so I could spend more time coding. I would never tell anyone who has < 3 kids that they have it easy, but this was a very interesting sub-topic of the OP.

Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding

#240

Post by gerrys0 »

lrem wrote: post #230
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The progression is not linear. It is exponential in terms of time.

There was a post here a few months(?) ago from a guy describing his life with his over ten kids. I'm pretty sure he doesn't spend x*2^10 hours per day on them ;)

The hardest is from 2 to 3. After 3, the acceleration goes down. It kind of goes like this (x-axis is # of kids):

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