6 ms·

I am not exceptionally smart, but I am a "hard worker." I often work nights and weekends, and I don't hate it. As a result of my efforts, I am more skilled, a

by j10t 12y ago

I am not exceptionally smart, but I am a "hard worker." I often work nights and weekends, and I don't hate it. As a result of my efforts, I am more skilled, and consequently enjoy a more lucrative position than I otherwise would. If I were a mediocre developer I could earn half as much as I do, or less. My nights & weekends developing software for my employer are investments in myself.

syntern 12y ago
Family? Kids? Working at night and weekends quickly disappear once you have life in your work-life balance...
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- cstejerean 12y ago
  That works great when you need inspiration or a fresh perspective to get you unstuck. Those opportunities certainly arise in programming too, but additional time spent doing actual development are going to help too, both from a learning and practice point of view. If you want to become a better guitar player you need to spend a lot of time playing the guitar. Putting half of what could be your playing time into taking long walks in the woods or taking long showers will probably not be as helpful as actually playing the guitar. Programming is in many ways very similar, depending on exactly what it is you are doing when coding on nights and weekends.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- wuliwong 12y ago
  It's funny how you think you know what this person needs or "owes" himself.
  - normloman 12y ago
    I know, I'm such a jerk for assuming the average person gets bored of doing the same thing over and over again.
opendais 12y ago
> My nights & weekends developing software for my employer are investments in myself. No offense, but if they were investments in yourself I think you'd be either: A) Moonlight for $$ B) Working on a startup idea you were thinking about [you are on HN after all] The skill gain from doing stuff for your employer for $0, at least to me, doesn't seem equal to the return from things that my benefit me financially one day.
- danudey 12y ago
  I'm not the parent, but here's my input: As a sysadmin/devops type who mostly enjoys building infrastructure, none of the stuff I've learned at work could really be done on my own time, and none of it is stuff I would be likely to find via contract work (or at least, nothing that I could schedule around a 9-5 job). Also, not everyone has, or wants to execute on, startup ideas. Some people don't want to be founders. Some people don't want the stress, the responsibility, etc. I sure don't. I have a nice job where I can do experimental things with small/medium-sized infrastructure, I have a much higher budget than I would in a startup, I get a steady paycheque and vacation time, and a lot of awesome coworkers. So all the stuff I've done at my job, like the parent post, is investment in my skills. The things I've built here, the technologies I've learned, the failed experiments, all of it contributes towards my professional skills much more effectively and more efficiently than doing it in my spare time, for a contract, or for a startup idea.
  - opendais 12y ago
    That is valid, I guess this is a case of my point of view clouding my judgement about what other people's options are. :)

by j10t 12y ago

syntern 12y ago

Family? Kids? Working at night and weekends quickly disappear once you have life in your work-life balance...

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

cstejerean 12y ago
That works great when you need inspiration or a fresh perspective to get you unstuck. Those opportunities certainly arise in programming too, but additional time spent doing actual development are going to help too, both from a learning and practice point of view. If you want to become a better guitar player you need to spend a lot of time playing the guitar. Putting half of what could be your playing time into taking long walks in the woods or taking long showers will probably not be as helpful as actually playing the guitar. Programming is in many ways very similar, depending on exactly what it is you are doing when coding on nights and weekends.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
wuliwong 12y ago
It's funny how you think you know what this person needs or "owes" himself.
- normloman 12y ago
  I know, I'm such a jerk for assuming the average person gets bored of doing the same thing over and over again.

opendais 12y ago

> My nights & weekends developing software for my employer are investments in myself. No offense, but if they were investments in yourself I think you'd be either: A) Moonlight for $$ B) Working on a startup idea you were thinking about [you are on HN after all] The skill gain from doing stuff for your employer for $0, at least to me, doesn't seem equal to the return from things that my benefit me financially one day.

danudey 12y ago
I'm not the parent, but here's my input: As a sysadmin/devops type who mostly enjoys building infrastructure, none of the stuff I've learned at work could really be done on my own time, and none of it is stuff I would be likely to find via contract work (or at least, nothing that I could schedule around a 9-5 job). Also, not everyone has, or wants to execute on, startup ideas. Some people don't want to be founders. Some people don't want the stress, the responsibility, etc. I sure don't. I have a nice job where I can do experimental things with small/medium-sized infrastructure, I have a much higher budget than I would in a startup, I get a steady paycheque and vacation time, and a lot of awesome coworkers. So all the stuff I've done at my job, like the parent post, is investment in my skills. The things I've built here, the technologies I've learned, the failed experiments, all of it contributes towards my professional skills much more effectively and more efficiently than doing it in my spare time, for a contract, or for a startup idea.
- opendais 12y ago
  That is valid, I guess this is a case of my point of view clouding my judgement about what other people's options are. :)