Poll: How much of your work time is typing code?

Isn't this like trying to measure a coastline (approximates a fractal at larger scales).

The finer interval that you measure the smaller the percentage will be:

Level1: I spend 4 days out of five coding (80%) Level2: I spend 4 hours out of 8 on those days (40%) Level3: I spend 2 hours out of those 4, bathroom breaks, code sketching, extended thinking time (20%) Level4: I spend 1 hour out of those 2, reading notes as you type, interruptions, "fatigue" pauses (10%) Level5: I spend 20 mins of that hour, pauses between keypresses, etc.. (3%)

So it's either 80% or 3% depending on your zoom level.

This is poignant as I just left a 3 hour scrum "sprint planning" meeting. I'm reminded of what Hal Abelson wrote in his recent Code Quarterly interview with Peter Seibel:

"I’ve decided that from now on, I should be measuring the quality of my life by the ratio of the amount of time spent programming to the amount of time sitting in meetings."

http://www.codequarterly.com/2011/hal-abelson/

Typically only a very small fraction of the time is spent typing (<10%). Often I have been described as looking as if I'm praying, but actually I'm just thinking.

Last week I spent 17.5 hours in MacVim, 7 hours in a shell, and 2 hours on Github. That's out of 42 total recorded hours. On a related note, I love RescueTime.

I try not to start writing code until I am at the point where it's pretty much just typing. It doesn't always work out this way, and it isn't necessarily always the right move, but it forces me to have a really clear mental model of the problem in question before I start committing things to paper (so to speak), which typically saves a refactoring or two down the road.

I imagine this depends a lot on the sort of problems you're trying to solve.

Also, a lot of my code is experimental, or adding more logging to diagnose the problem - does it count if I erase half of the code I write at the end of the day?

25% and this seems to be the average for everyone so far.

I'm not happy about it. Meetings and decision making takes most of the time.

In theory that is ok, but in reality those meetings and decisions are actually very slow. I'm expert in my field and I know most of my decisions are the correct and best ones, however I have to explain it to others, and usually they come to the same conclusion as me - but it takes a week for that process.

I would like if at least 50% of the time was actual coding or setup or w/e kind of "actual work", because discussions don't make me feel like I'm progressing.

Easily less than 1%. The code is just the manifestation of the solution that I spent most my time coming up with.

I am actually annoyed when I need to use Java because it triples my typing time compared to Python.

Working on an implementation > working on a code by thinking of it > typing code.

Still, all activities above are strictly technical.

So, is your question really about whether we have as much time for technical activities (as opposed to bureaucracy, marketing, managing, selling...) as we'd like to? Or is your question about how our time devoted to strictly technical things is organized?

FWIW, I recommend RHickey's "Hammock-driven development" to think of it more..

I once had a 9 month stretch with a huge, but fairly well-defined project. Typed so much I gave myself cubital tunnel syndrome. For the rest of the decade+, I've typed maybe a dozen lines a day as a high average estimate.

I suspect a lot of the numbers in the poll are inflated. Even a data entry specialist would have a hard time spending 7:30 out of 8:00 hours a day typing.

I have been programming since I was 13. But now that I'm in my late 20's, like a lot of developers, I've moved into the management side. It feels weird sometimes to ship a project that I have been working on for weeks but not actually contributed any code to, but at the end of the day there is a shortage of good project managers so somebody has to do it.

For me it's 1%.

I think it really depends on what's filling the remainder of your time. If I'm working on something difficult, and I spend that time talking my thoughts over with someone else, that's going to feel great. If I have only trivial work to do, but meetings and other bureaucratic nonsense get in the way, I'm going to feel like shit.

I'd prefer if this question was "How much of your work time is spent developing?"

I spend very little of my day writing code. Yet it's the sole reason I'm employable. I do spend a majority of my workday working on design, development and implementation (code)... this does include meetings, emails and written documentation.

It will differ according to the problem I am solving. But in general, I need to see the code in my head before I type it.

Management may like to call you a coder(or worse, a resource) but don't be fooled, you solve problems first and foremost. Sometimes solving the problem doesn't require any code at all.

Where's the "don't know, haven't measured it" option?

Without measurements this data does not mean anything.

less than 10%. I'm a CS student.

This question has actually been on my mind for a while now. I'm usually sitting at work trying to figure something out or scrolling through my code looking for where something went wrong. I definitely don't have as much experience as a lot of the coders here, but I'm rarely ever typing.

I need to think about the flow of the program/function, and what the essential pieces are. When I know what I want, I start typing it out, and it usually only takes me 2-3 minutes to type out what I'd been thinking about. Usually, I'll have spent far longer than 30 minutes thinking about how I want to structure and attack the problem at hand.

this is such a great question.

It really depends on if you are coming up w/ something new, or working on trying to get something up, you have already done ( think web app w/ 50 reports all w/ json datasets visualized by javascript ).

Do you mean "typing" code only, or does that include thinking about code too?

I'll say about 25% and I am NOT happy. I would much prefer it to be 80-95% range. The customer support, administrivia etc drains the very life out of me!

If you're spending more than 5-10% of your time typing, you might want to consider spending more time thinking, googling, or running tests.

I feel like the question "How much of your work time is spent not doing work" would give better information

What's the value of this question? I voted (w/ a wild guess), but I'd like to understand the motivation.

5%, but if you take out the time I am writing console.log, 1% or less.

I'd like to code more, and work less hours in total. (25-50%)

1% or even less!

Its more of cut & paste now-a-days

Not enough :(

3.1416

75 percent maybe

Type? I do like Zed Shaw does, it gets melded from my thoughts via z-shank implants..