Comment by palish | Hacker News Reader

Comment by palish | Hacker News Reader

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Interesting!

May I throw in my two cents?

For me personally, and because I am 22, and because I truly enjoy my job (game engine programmer), I tend to put in way more hours than I need to.

Way more hours.

On the order of 80-100hrs/wk. Of coding. (Which is to say, 80-100hrs/wk of actual thinking + typing. Not "time spent getting ready to program" or "time spent psyching myself up to begin working on the problem" etc.)

(Also, I love Vim. I'd likely be massively frustrated with all the programming I was trying to do, if not for ViEmu + Visual Assist.)

And damn, it's fun! The only strain I feel is from lack of sleep.

Also, I think the 'quality' argument is subjective. It's true that if you're physically exhausted, you can't work. But if I'm merely pushing myself, the output of my work is of a similar quality as when I'm living a "balanced" week.

But the insidious thing is, I have a personality where if I try to "balance" myself, I wind up mentally not "getting in the zone" for any of my projects. And for me, it's a little depressing to be in that state, because I am only capable of bug fixes / minor tasks. Nothing architectural.

So, in conclusion, I am certainly not planning on keeping up this lifestyle forever --- I'm just enjoying the 80-100hr weeks while they last. It's a similar feeling to being a kid staying up all night at a friend's house. It's fun!

I think it is much easier to do one job single-minded 80 hours a week than it is to do a 40hr and a 20hr job. When you have one job, you don't have to shift focus.

It's great to hear that you are loving your job. When I have a decent programming problem to sink my teeth into, I am just the same way.

out of curiosity, how do you count 80-100 hours a week? Do you keep timesheets?

100 hours is 14 hours a day, every day.

Nah, no tracking. But maybe I should, that would be interesting.

The reason I make those claims is because I don't do much else at the moment except "work" (which for me equals fun). I don't play any video games anymore except the one I work on, and even then it's usually only once a week. I don't use facebook. Etc. Hacker News is my outlet, typically before bed (like now).

Think of it this way... there are 168 hours in a week. A "proper" amount of sleep is 8 hours a day, which is 1/3 of a day. So 168 * (2/3) = 112 waking hours. Throw in the fact that I often have trouble sleeping, or go without sleep, and... well, you get the idea.

I'm not claiming that I typically work 100 hours. This week in particular has been unique. I'm just saying, for me personally, when I'm passionate about a thing, I wind up way, way more productive by obsessing over it and pushing myself than if I try to "balance" myself.

Also, when I'm in "hardcore work" mode, I can only focus on exactly one project. There is little or no room for any other projects, such as side projects. Even doing an unrelated small bugfix has the potential to completely destroy my enthusiasm / flow.

There are downsides, of course... one example that springs to mind is: my right wrist has been hurting me. Badly, actually. I've been ignoring it, but that's stupid obviously. I think it's possibly because of the shape of my mouse. (I've heard that I should get a "splint" to prevent horizontal / vertical wrist movement.)

Also I need to take care to ensure good nutrition, which I've been slacking on. Also, Vitamin D pills + B12 pills.

I got a sore right wrist during a Diablo 2 weekend, and it persisted for about 4 years.

In the end I had to get a chair of the right height, a desk of the right height and a wrist rest.

Take it seriously, the most important thing is an ergonomic work setup and some breaks.

I don't pull 100 these days, but I have a chronometer and I time my work sessions, usually aiming for 12 hour days at super busy times, which is about max sustainable for me

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