Keep Saturdays Sacred | Hacker News Reader

Keep Saturdays Sacred

words.steveklabnik.com

52 pointssteveklabnik18 comments

This was not at all what I was expecting from the title. I thought I was going to read an article about the importance of taking one day a week to not write any code. I'm sure that between startups, work, side projects, etc. some of us are coding every day on something or other.

As someone who often works alone, one of the best things I've done is to find someone else to share code, problems, and ideas with on a regular basis, even though we're not working on the same projects. It's helped me grow as a developer, has improved my mood, and has also just been an enjoyable.

But I still really do think it is important to make sure there's one day a week where you don't touch anything related to work or code.

I've been developing a concept called "irresponsible coding," which is basically the idea that you need 'good engineering' time as well as some form of 'irresponsible, exploratory coding.' I've given a few talks on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlyQOLRiEPs

I think that we've often lost a lot of the wonder and whimsy in software. Code is like magic! But you don't get that when BDDing a new feature so you can check it off in Pivotal.

I agree that not coding every single day is a really fantastic idea as well.

I personally think that's the best part about 20% time. You can do things where it's OK for them to not work. This means you can try things you don't know how to do, and bring them in to your main projects once you are already comfortable with them.

I like the idea of a "day off" being either a real day off, or just a day where you code irresponsibly, whichever will be more rejuvenating. Thanks for the terminology!

I think you're 100% right. It's impossible (for me anyways) to be productive 7 days a week for a lot of weeks in a row. I started recently taking Sundays off from working altogether and spent the day only doing stuff like going to church, relaxing with friends, reading, exercising, and maybe a couple other things. I think it has helped me in lots of ways, from being more efficient and effective at work the other days to also enjoying the work more.

Agreed 100%. We have a similar group in Indianapolis (http://indystartuplab.org) that meets every Monday night for dinner, talking and hacking with like-minded developers or other tech-related folks.

The accountability is great - the group will not let you get away with blowing off your projects. If you tell everyone about a grand plan one week, someone will make sure you followed through the next week (or you can expect a playful ribbing). We have people working on startups, open source, blogging/writing, prepping conference talk, people writing games, learning iOS, trying to figure out how to start a freelance business, you name it.

People come and go, but even going for just a month will be more valuable than going to a year's worth of the typical Meetup.com groups. It only takes 2-3 people to start one of these and the benefits are immense.

Thanks so much for codifying this Steve!

This is awesome. Anything similar in the Bay Area ? I recently quit my job and am working on a project but facing issues keeping myself accountable. Would love to attend weekly sync up like you mentioned.

yes, yes and yes.

Just a group, to share with, to grow with and to argue with - when there are no artificial deadlines, no customers and the only marker is writing the best code possible. you won't make perfection, but at least you know you cannot blame the outside world.

some fortunate souls have that group and environment Monday to Friday. if you are not one, to paraphrase Hannibal, find one or start one.

I like to sometimes stay up really late to work on something that's for fun. Something about being the only one awake, sipping coffee in the glow of my laptop screen.

Same. I have a few 'pet' projects of sorts that aren't really going anywhere, or worth anything, but I do my best to still work on them in the evenings or over the weekends. People think it's weird that I relax from my full time job as a programmer by writing more code.

I was just thinking today that I love working on Saturdays, especially when I'm coding. I think it's because the rest of the world is off and there's no pressure so you can just try new things and have fun. I also think some of my best work has gotten done on the weekends.

My best work is 5am before anyone gets up - for similar reasons. Of course I could never convince an accountability group to get up so early!

I'm just starting to appreciate getting up really early. I think it's wonderful, but I don't think my programming ability is really maximized at that time, that always seems to happen at night.

It takes a while to develop the habit. The biggest part is forcing yourself to go to bed early. :-) I used to be a "Do things until they're done" in the evening person, but switched to a morning routine when I got into management. Part was that my days had too many interruptions (which was the job) and I was frequently waiting for that 1 person who owed me something in the evening. It was better to start fresh in the morning quiet.

This isn't for everyone or every task. For very monotonous work that only I can do (reviewing 200 resumes because I don't trust the automated screener) I will do it at night with a beer in hand. The beer doesn't work so well before breakfast.

I need a group like this. Even if it were just over Skype or something.

Or maybe I'll just start dedicating one day a week spent at wix lounge or something when I'm back in NY.

hackerschool.com may interest you.

Oh, I'm way familiar, but my job isn't willing to make a schedule for me to accommodate...plus I'd really prefer to dedicate the time to it. I don't have any savings to fall back on for three months in NYC anymore, unfortunately.

This is exactly what Hacker School is about.

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