I write code 100 hours/week, here's why I probably won't stop
devlog.hexops.com
devlog.hexops.com
I had various friends who were a little older who told me to cool my jets. I didn’t listen, because YOU DON’T KNOW ME!
I did burn out and became extremely depressed.
My priorities have now shifted so that I care more about spending time with my friends and family. I realized I’m probably just as productive, if not more than I used to be. Maybe it’s because I was spending more cycles percolating on the problem instead of trying to bludgeon my way through.
I don’t know if OP will heed this advice. I know if I went back in time a decade and told my younger self to slow down, my younger self wouldn’t listen. It might just be something you have to experience and learn the hard way :(
Turned out that I only enjoyed writing so much code because I hadn't discovered things that would ultimately be more fulfilling to me, like developing a real social life and meeting better women. And once I developed a better balance because of that, I also discovered I liked to write, go on runs, listen to audiobooks, cooking, live on a beach, surfing, idk—all sorts of things.
It's just the ebb and flow of life and self discovery. They're at the age where these things started to change for me. But it's a good sign that they are trying to convince themself with this sort of post—the crack is forming. ;)
Anywho-it's closer to 3.5 years now that I've done this, maybe I'll do an update at 4 years.
The 2.5 year initial duration (when I posted that article) was like working two full-time jobs, 100h/week, almost solely writing code.
Past year has been more like 85h/week, my dayjob has required more time (48h -> ~60h week), with much less of that time at work being /writing code/; and ~25h/week going to my gamedev passion projects, of which a good chunk has also gone to helping others with their code/issues.
The -15h/week 'loss' has gone to caring for pets, and a gentle touch more travel/sleep/gardening. Doing well and enjoying my life, still.
computering a lot is an odd physiological setup.
the need to exercise all the unused muscles, rest all the overused muscles, get enough sleep, and adapt quickly feedback.
i hangout in the bevy and wickedengine discords. just joined machengine. very cool stuff!
Now, some 20 years later, I get physically exhausted around 6 months after the last extended vacation. Of course I don't mean to a point where I couldn't function properly any more, but I do feel way tired and low on energy.
Age really makes a difference, believe me.
To me that's what it is really all about, if this person is happy who am I to judge? It's obsession in a search for greatness, not for me but I can definitely see how it could be fulfilling in itself.
People are free to do whatever they want, but doesn't mean people can't express their opinion on that.
> I run 6 miles many days of the week to keep healthy. I do it while writing code, using a standing desk treadmill.
Realistically just with that sentence he likely more active than the average person. On top of that:
> I get groceries delivered, I’d rather spend the time coding. I make sure I have deep technical problems I need to think through and solve, and solve it while I am making meals, eating, or doing chores.
Seems to imply that he is cooking his meals and not ordering junk food instead of cooking.
I'm not saying working 100hrs/week is a good idea, but aside from the lack of romantic relationship, his life seems overall balanced.
I'm genuinely curious. Many highly-driven people seem to be insecure and egocentric and in the moment, even long periods, fuelling their ego makes them think they're happy. But if you feel happy for many years (assuming eventually this feeling fades), who's to judge that you weren't happy before?
Maybe it all depends on the person, and people can have their pathologies and subconscious desires to better their social status by justifying hustle as working to build interesting products. But maybe that's not it, and the inner motivation is something else?
The author is satisfied by his life and does not yearn for something else. Maybe that's as close as you can get?
For everyone else: don’t beat yourself up. Most people can crank through a max of 20-30 hours of deep intellectual work a week. You are still a wonderful and successful person, even if this other person can sustain 100 deep work hours.
I also know people who can happily be constantly coding for 8 hours a day like it's a stream of consciousness, but I don't think that's everyone.
Don't take those for granted. As you get older they require more investment in order to sustain you. I'm only 41 and it already feels like properly taking care of myself is at least 10h/week (workouts + cooking healthy food) atop of 8h/day of sleep.
I think the thing I'd be most concerned about is the large amount of time spent on-keyboard and RSI.
I'm very happy that people like them exist though, I have friends who are similar but their chosen pursuits are mathematics or physics and it seems to bring them a similar amount of fulfillment.
I have work and personal coding. And even in those, I have several projects under each category. In C#, python, Javascript, Swift, old-school C/C++, etc. Games, websites, CRUD apps, various "toys", etc. Stuff that is in maintenance, being designed, building infrastructure, implementing, etc.
If one thing bothers me, I move to something else. If I'm grooving on something, I keep at it.
Now, I don't have the time to dedicate to it like this guy does. Having other people put demands on your time does that. Last night, I had to finish playing Mario+Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, because our son thinks I'm his personal on-demand Twitch stream.
But when I was kicking it by myself, yeah, that's how I'd do. I think the key is removing the obligation for a large part of it. At any point while I was "casually" programming outside of school/work, I could stop. I could go and play video games, or watch a movie, or hang out with friends. I had the choice. The only pressure to finish any piece of code was the pressure of being close to being done with it.
Like a constant runner's high, almost an addiction
I have experienced burnout and I have experienced working a lot more than when I burned out without any problems.
I'm am fairly convinced that in the majority of the cases it isn't the work load that burns someone out, it is when one put in lots of efforts and realizes it it doesn't matter at all.
Or more succinctly, as mentioned in a story that was posted a few days ago:
> [...] when we become locked in a cycle of caring about the results of our actions but having no meaningful control over those outcomes. [1]
Absolutely. And that's why having a balance in life is important: it spreads your involvement more uniformly around your activities and lessens their impact on your overall life/health. Having it concentrated on one point can feel great when things go your way, but it will come crashing down once they don't.
Treadmill 6miles while coding? I run a 20 min 5k (3.01 mi) which is a fast pace for most. 40 mins would be excellent for 6 miles, but alas I can't keep the pace and would probably land around 50 mins. Arguable how much coding is getting done in that 1h and makes me feel like this time slot is just for show. That's without stretching for warmup or cooldown.
30m for caring for 9 cats while only spending 30m for showering and eating in the morning? That's a strange set of priorities, but then again so is the whole post. No comment on nine felines.
30m for food, not accounting for prep+cleaning afterwards? What are they eating? Doubtful it's something actually nutritious and if so, it was prepped by someone else and cleaned by someone else.
Don’t want a partner? Sure.. we’ll hear from you in a few years. Probably complaining how they are hard to find.
I say go for it. You are young, this means nothing. If you were 40 I would be impressed.
Not only will age slow you down, but you will also care a lot less. Why work yourself to death? Oh, you’ll have some snappy answer now, but again, let’s talk in 5-10 years.
Edit: I came off way too negative. Sorry. I feel like talking you out of this because this lifestyle has consequences. But it is your life, go for it! Sorry about the neg.
I feel like coding is the perfect thing to get addicted to because there’s a material result at the end. Unlike reading books or dining out with coding there’s a public record of all that you’ve done, plus it’s useful to the world, plus it’s a self promotion tool to show that you’re a capable programmer.
And yes there is a part where you feel different etc. And burn out is tough, it takes a lot of time to recover, it is kind like constantly pushing heavy and the gym and then get a severe injury. But burnout is more like mental and emotional exhaustion.
It is extremely hard to get out of that state, so I would rather have a alow gradual progress with some frustrations and delays than the risk of a total burnout.
Unlike the author, I think I waste far too much time preparing to program. I'll spend days planning, procrastinating, & agonizing over the "perfect" approach to whatever problem/project I'm working on. It's only recently that I've noticed how much it affects me, even after years of experience. If you're reading this & have overcome a similar issue, how'd you do it?
New daughter. Love her immensely. So happy. Burnt out? YES.
You can do this at 27, but you won't be able to do it at 35. Time and age have a tendency to beat people like this into submission the hard way at some point.
When you're young, the amount of sheer shit you can push through using force of will is enormous. It starts going down as you age.
But hey, at least he's not pretentious. Many people spend the same amount of time watching mindless TV or doing far less productive things.
The thing I'll caution is that the market rewards outcomes, not effort. On a daily basis I write less code now than I did when I was younger, but when I do write code it's with more urgency and intensity -- it's usually when I deeply understand the reward function for solving a specific business or customer problem.
whoa
I don't think I can type or use a mouse while I run, that is not walk – and 10km/h is definitely not a walk. And the sweat!!!
This will catch up to this person in some way or another. Maybe not today, but it will not be in the too distant future.
I never understood this. I own a 1700 sq ft. home and I would reduce it down to 800 sq ft, if I didn't have a roommate.
Burnout is a real thing, and nobody is invincible.
With that said, your Zig game engine looks very interesting.
Someone that obsessed and unreasonable doesn't care about developer efficiency or the time of others.
you run... while coding?