31–40 of 144 posts
"Personally I cannot listen to technical podcasts while I develop software" What? I've never known anybody that could do that! Anyone that can do that meaningfully must be some kind of savant.
In this last project I was in, which was a bit of a death march - we (Team) ALL got to the point of incurring bizarre sleep disturbances and other cognitive/emotional disturbances: It would take 3-4 hours once home at our set stop time to "shut off" our brains from thinking about what we were working on - and switch over to "being home" mode and interacting with spouses etc. without being irritable. We also all had d…
I have "programming dreams" every night. Probably isn't healthy, but I program all day at work. Go home and spend a few hours with family, then program an additional few hours every night. Sometimes I fall into the rabbit hole and emerge at 2-3 am after finally finishing what I started. Go to bed, and rinse and repeat the next day. My brain just won't shut off at this point, but I enjoy absolutely everything about wh…
Movies are my unwinding method. And daily 1 hour walks.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
All true, but neither should we deny ourselves a long session of "flow" if it makes us happy.
That's why it would be good to get paid by hour. When I was freelancer when things flowed I sometimes worked 24+ hours straight through or had several 16 hours days. But then I had other days when I got nothing done and took off. In a salaried position the company takes the long "flow" session for free but still expects you to be there the next day.
A) Naps are awesome.
B) Putting down that mental model of functions, open files, and unsolved problems for a while often results in sharper thinking.
Not gonna lie though - most of my unwinding consists of refreshing HN, daytrading Bitcoin or making another cup of coffee. But ideally I'm napping.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's why it would be good to get paid by hour. When I was freelancer when things flowed I sometimes worked 24+ hours straight through or had several 16 hours days. But then I had other days when I got nothing done and took off. In a salaried position the company takes the long "flow" session for free but still expects you to be there the next day.
Sounds like the solution isn't "getting paid by hour," if an adjustment of expectations is just as good.
"Personally I cannot listen to technical podcasts while I develop software" What? I've never known anybody that could do that! Anyone that can do that meaningfully must be some kind of savant.
I can't listen to anything with words I understand. Podcasts would be ridiculous.
I just listen to white noise.
We need to restrict the amount of hours we spend in front of computers per day and take weekends completely off. There are so many downsides: blue light that damages your vision, lack of exercise, depression and other disorders, missing out on social life, etc. There is a direct relation between productivity and having a life put together. Not taking care of ourselves (programmers) could have lead to disaster: mental…
Can anyone explain to me how looking at a computer screen is not several times less harmful than spending time outside from a lifetime-blue-light-exposure perspective? The sky is blue and natural light has a blue component in probably about the same proportion as white light from a screen.
Maybe I'm wrong — and I'd like to find out if I am — but this whole blue light scare really just feels like a weird bandwagon.
I've found that the most important thing is not engaging in marathon sessions, full stop. My code is better, I'm healthier, and I get more done per working minute. Take a break every hour or so, minimum ten minutes, and step away. Make coffee, ponder the infinite, pet your cat, listen to some Chicago or Slayer, whatever suits your preferences.
> Chicago or Slayer Really covering a wide gamut here!
In this last project I was in, which was a bit of a death march - we (Team) ALL got to the point of incurring bizarre sleep disturbances and other cognitive/emotional disturbances: It would take 3-4 hours once home at our set stop time to "shut off" our brains from thinking about what we were working on - and switch over to "being home" mode and interacting with spouses etc. without being irritable. We also all had d…
I have "programming dreams" every night. Probably isn't healthy, but I program all day at work. Go home and spend a few hours with family, then program an additional few hours every night. Sometimes I fall into the rabbit hole and emerge at 2-3 am after finally finishing what I started. Go to bed, and rinse and repeat the next day. My brain just won't shut off at this point, but I enjoy absolutely everything about wh…
Everybody is different so I’m not saying this will happen to you, but I recognize this mode from personal experience and what happened to me was something went sour. Management took a different direction and the thing I poured my heart in got critiqued and risked being shot down. At that point, I missed all the distance to be able to nuance it or say: it’s just work. Since it consumed much free time, dreams, etc. I found myself in a breakdown, and couldn’t touch code anymore. This luckily only lasted three weeks, but/and it made me change many of my ways to avoid something like that happen again and take three years. Which I’ve heard is not uncommon. Again, YMMV, but thought to share that even tough you have the best of times, mixing up work with non-work/dev can provide the necessary barrier/distance/perspective to deal with setbacks more gracefully.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
All true, but neither should we deny ourselves a long session of "flow" if it makes us happy.
That's why it would be good to get paid by hour. When I was freelancer when things flowed I sometimes worked 24+ hours straight through or had several 16 hours days. But then I had other days when I got nothing done and took off. In a salaried position the company takes the long "flow" session for free but still expects you to be there the next day.