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I don't quite buy your argument - yes these professions may work long days, but generally the upkeep of skills falls into those allotted working hours. Programm
by TimSAstro 13y ago
I don't quite buy your argument - yes these professions may work long days, but generally the upkeep of skills falls into those allotted working hours. Programmers should do this too, when it is helpful to their work. But suggesting that someone should add a whole new project to their resume on the weekend is akin to saying a lawyer should take on a pro-bono case just to buff their CV. If they want to do that, more power to them, but it shouldn't be expected of everyone.
As to academia... don't get me started. That is a strange and unusual profession which lies somewhere between 'hobby as job' and 'slave until you're tenured'.
- jiggy2011 13y agoI don't know, most professionals I know spend at least some of their "free" time (or at least the time they spend at home) reading journals or publications. The idea of a profession is that one is not generally paid by the hour for "work" even if one bills a client by the hour so time spent on professional development whenever it takes place is part of work and covered by a salary rather than a wage. Of course it might be true that other professions do less non-billable practical work though this is probably more due to the fact that programming doesn't require a significant budget. The issue I think is one that many companies want programmers to work more like wage laborers and take care of the professional side for themselves. For example a law firm is probably more likely to allocate budget for associates to use for professional development than an IT contracting company.