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Comment by ineedasername | Hacker News Reader

I don't think I've ever heard this type of complaint before. In my case, and I'd wager a significant chunk of this community, doesn't have too much of a problem putting in an 8 hour day. Sure, distractions arise sometimes, sometimes it's harder to focus, but overall it seems like you are describing your own limitations, not those of a majority.

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> In my case, and I'd wager a significant chunk of this community, doesn't have too much of a problem putting in an 8 hour day.

I don't think I ever encountered programmers working 8 hours per day 5 days a week. Even 6 hours per day is too draining, only young people can do it. Sustainable productive programming work is like 15-20 hours per week tops without strict bounds on how much you can do in a day.

Maybe it's just a difference of culture. I work in more of an Enterprise atmosphere, and the idea that we wouldn't put in 8 hours seems ridiculous. Sure, it's no all tech work, there's meetings and such, but it's generally a productive 8 hours.

Distractions are not really my problem, it's mental exhaustion. If anything I think I should probably have more breaks, when I'm at work I just work. I see majority of people procrastinating, reading news, social media or socializing with coworkers to take their mind off work from time to time.

If you can work 8 hours straight with only a lunch break, I don't think you are doing very mentally intensive work.

I have studied and kept detailed logs of my work for years. When I reach 4-5 hours of "real" work (i.e. deep work) I am mentally exhausted and I consider it a good day.

No one expects you to be 8 hours straight in the zone, no one does. And if you can do so, the more power to you, but be careful not to burn yourself out.

3-5 hours of deep work - that's it

> No one expects you to be 8 hours straight in the zone, no one does.

I see we haven't worked somewhere with billable hours.

Meetings, working on docs etc can still be billable. 8 hours straight in the zone every day? Nobody does that.

I've worked in a previous position that expected 8 hours of billable work for many of the junior devs, who didn't have meetings or documentation. It was crazy.

Sure, with meetings etc not all 8 hours is going to be deep work, but there's usually more in a workday than that. Meetings, mentoring, etc... But my impression of what the OP is saying isn't really looking at it that way, and is saying 8 hours is too large of a block for work in general, not just deep work.

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