Coding outside of work. - Revisited
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So I started working on a project, one that future Mrs. Wiz is doing the frontend/visuals on. It is neither of the 2 previously mentioned projects. How do you pace yourself? I'm having trouble with going home and just coding for like 4 hours straight. It's fun, it's rewarding, but I'm afraid of burnout. 12-14 hours of coding a day seems like it could lean to burnout (I only sleep 5-6 hours). What do you guys do: 1) Schedule set blocks of time. 2) Set upper limits per day. 3) Only code on weekends.
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I refuse to code when I'm tired, simply because the code I generate when I'm tired isn't fit to wrap dead fish in. Like you, I sleep around 6 hrs a day (which is unhealthy) Mon-Thu. However, if I'm not tired on a weeknight, I work on my home projects about 2-4 hours after work, but if I'm tired, I leave it for the weekend. On weekends, I get up around 6:00am (refreshed) and am able to put in 12-14 hours coding. My best work (on my home projects) is done on weekends. One thing I've learned is to not rush to put something in the hands of users. I want to make sure my app (or feature) is plenty tested before it gets in the hands of the end user. OT: I also try hard to make it brain-dead easy for users to report bugs and upgrade to a new release. My releases are (almost always) backward compatible with older data stores and upgrade in-place by simply clicking OK in a dialog. Nothing to download and no installers to run. I have immense respect for my users and am humbled by the fact they find my apps useful, and consequently want to do everything I can to make it easy for them to use my apps. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
Ravi Bhavnani wrote:
Nothing to download and no installers to run.
Where does the update come from then...? :doh:
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
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So I started working on a project, one that future Mrs. Wiz is doing the frontend/visuals on. It is neither of the 2 previously mentioned projects. How do you pace yourself? I'm having trouble with going home and just coding for like 4 hours straight. It's fun, it's rewarding, but I'm afraid of burnout. 12-14 hours of coding a day seems like it could lean to burnout (I only sleep 5-6 hours). What do you guys do: 1) Schedule set blocks of time. 2) Set upper limits per day. 3) Only code on weekends.
I can't code after work. After sitting at a computer all day, I have to do other things when I get home. So that just leaves the weekend. With winter coming, I anticipate (and look forward to) rainy Saturday and Sunday afternoons finishing two projects that I have going.
What me worry?
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Ravi Bhavnani wrote:
Nothing to download and no installers to run.
Where does the update come from then...? :doh:
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
Sorry, I meant the user doesn't have to download anything manually. It's a one-click "download + install + upgrade data + restart" operation. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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Sorry, I meant the user doesn't have to download anything manually. It's a one-click "download + install + upgrade data + restart" operation. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
That's what I assumed you meant. Just making sure you hadn't come up with some sort of magic without telling all of us. ;P
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
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So I started working on a project, one that future Mrs. Wiz is doing the frontend/visuals on. It is neither of the 2 previously mentioned projects. How do you pace yourself? I'm having trouble with going home and just coding for like 4 hours straight. It's fun, it's rewarding, but I'm afraid of burnout. 12-14 hours of coding a day seems like it could lean to burnout (I only sleep 5-6 hours). What do you guys do: 1) Schedule set blocks of time. 2) Set upper limits per day. 3) Only code on weekends.
I try to do an hour or so in the evening (but only if I balance it by going to the gym for an hour first - no, it doesn't always work that way :-)) and whatever I need at the weekend.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
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So I started working on a project, one that future Mrs. Wiz is doing the frontend/visuals on. It is neither of the 2 previously mentioned projects. How do you pace yourself? I'm having trouble with going home and just coding for like 4 hours straight. It's fun, it's rewarding, but I'm afraid of burnout. 12-14 hours of coding a day seems like it could lean to burnout (I only sleep 5-6 hours). What do you guys do: 1) Schedule set blocks of time. 2) Set upper limits per day. 3) Only code on weekends.
wizardzz wrote:
- Schedule set blocks of time.
I skip scheduled blocks now and again. I have a pretty busy schedule and sometimes I don't feel like it. That said, aside from my learning goals (for work) I don't code in my time away from work. The learning goals are for work, but we can't use work hours for them. It's to ensure that we are progressing I suppose. In order for me to do them, I must schedule x amount of time x days a week and try to keep that schedule.
If it moves, compile it
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Andrew Rissing wrote:
I'm a bit of a spelling Nazi, all the fault of my second grade teacher who gave out Reese's Cups as prizes for her weekly spelling bees. I love Reese's Cups.
Andrew Rissing wrote:
Btw, it is sad to see what has happened to Eastman Kodak. (Photographer here)
Indeed it is. I'm still hoping we survive (obviously), but the consumer film business is long gone.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
So I started working on a project, one that future Mrs. Wiz is doing the frontend/visuals on. It is neither of the 2 previously mentioned projects. How do you pace yourself? I'm having trouble with going home and just coding for like 4 hours straight. It's fun, it's rewarding, but I'm afraid of burnout. 12-14 hours of coding a day seems like it could lean to burnout (I only sleep 5-6 hours). What do you guys do: 1) Schedule set blocks of time. 2) Set upper limits per day. 3) Only code on weekends.
do it when it's fun. don't give yourself another job.
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Andrew Rissing wrote:
I'm a bit of a spelling Nazi, all the fault of my second grade teacher who gave out Reese's Cups as prizes for her weekly spelling bees. I love Reese's Cups.
Andrew Rissing wrote:
Btw, it is sad to see what has happened to Eastman Kodak. (Photographer here)
Indeed it is. I'm still hoping we survive (obviously), but the consumer film business is long gone.
Software Zen:
delete this;Np. I don't mind the correction. :) One of those situations where the brain queued up the wrong keystrokes... ;)
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So I started working on a project, one that future Mrs. Wiz is doing the frontend/visuals on. It is neither of the 2 previously mentioned projects. How do you pace yourself? I'm having trouble with going home and just coding for like 4 hours straight. It's fun, it's rewarding, but I'm afraid of burnout. 12-14 hours of coding a day seems like it could lean to burnout (I only sleep 5-6 hours). What do you guys do: 1) Schedule set blocks of time. 2) Set upper limits per day. 3) Only code on weekends.
If I'm coding for profit, I code when I need the profit. If I'm coding for fun, I only do it when it's fun.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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So I started working on a project, one that future Mrs. Wiz is doing the frontend/visuals on. It is neither of the 2 previously mentioned projects. How do you pace yourself? I'm having trouble with going home and just coding for like 4 hours straight. It's fun, it's rewarding, but I'm afraid of burnout. 12-14 hours of coding a day seems like it could lean to burnout (I only sleep 5-6 hours). What do you guys do: 1) Schedule set blocks of time. 2) Set upper limits per day. 3) Only code on weekends.
I generally have several projects on the go outside work - some technically work, some purely for pleasure. I use a self-reward system; If I spend 2 hours on this work-related task, I will reward myself with, say, 2 hours gaming, or working on pleasure-related coding. I try to split home dev tasks into very small blocks - so I can complete something in a couple of hours - that way, when that block is complete, I am happy to walk away without worrying about picking up on it next time. For example, at work a task might be to create an export option for a data file - maybe a couple of days work. At home I would split it up into several chunks - design the file, design the gui, write the sql etc. etc.
MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
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So I started working on a project, one that future Mrs. Wiz is doing the frontend/visuals on. It is neither of the 2 previously mentioned projects. How do you pace yourself? I'm having trouble with going home and just coding for like 4 hours straight. It's fun, it's rewarding, but I'm afraid of burnout. 12-14 hours of coding a day seems like it could lean to burnout (I only sleep 5-6 hours). What do you guys do: 1) Schedule set blocks of time. 2) Set upper limits per day. 3) Only code on weekends.
I try to keep my weekday home-coding to a minimum, but I often get a "Eureka" moment and have to give it a go immediately. So I heve fixed myself a rule which I find quite easy to follow: If I stay up until silly-o-clock coding on one evening, then no more coding for the next two days - even if it is just before the weekend.
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So I started working on a project, one that future Mrs. Wiz is doing the frontend/visuals on. It is neither of the 2 previously mentioned projects. How do you pace yourself? I'm having trouble with going home and just coding for like 4 hours straight. It's fun, it's rewarding, but I'm afraid of burnout. 12-14 hours of coding a day seems like it could lean to burnout (I only sleep 5-6 hours). What do you guys do: 1) Schedule set blocks of time. 2) Set upper limits per day. 3) Only code on weekends.
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So I started working on a project, one that future Mrs. Wiz is doing the frontend/visuals on. It is neither of the 2 previously mentioned projects. How do you pace yourself? I'm having trouble with going home and just coding for like 4 hours straight. It's fun, it's rewarding, but I'm afraid of burnout. 12-14 hours of coding a day seems like it could lean to burnout (I only sleep 5-6 hours). What do you guys do: 1) Schedule set blocks of time. 2) Set upper limits per day. 3) Only code on weekends.
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So I started working on a project, one that future Mrs. Wiz is doing the frontend/visuals on. It is neither of the 2 previously mentioned projects. How do you pace yourself? I'm having trouble with going home and just coding for like 4 hours straight. It's fun, it's rewarding, but I'm afraid of burnout. 12-14 hours of coding a day seems like it could lean to burnout (I only sleep 5-6 hours). What do you guys do: 1) Schedule set blocks of time. 2) Set upper limits per day. 3) Only code on weekends.
I don't. A big caveat, however. I've been doing this for 25+ years. by now, having a life outside of work is much more important than geeking it up. I still very much enjoy the analytical, problem-solving aspect of development. I laid in bed for 3-4 hours last night thinking about something I'd developed and realized a couple of changes I needed to make for corner cases. But, the actual implementation is pretty boring. Whether I'm using .NET or MVC, C# code-behind or jquery on the client, it doesn't matter. The new technologies are fun to learn, but the actual coding part is meh. So, I guess my advice to you is to not take this second thing on as another job. As long as it's a hobby, you'll probably enjoy fooling around with it. Once you start setting deadlines, and feeling as if, "I have to get this feature done tonight", you'll start burning out.
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I slice any projects I have into small bits (Agile basics) and do bits as time allows. I try to keep it down to less than an hour at a time, which gives me time to incubate
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I try to keep my weekday home-coding to a minimum, but I often get a "Eureka" moment and have to give it a go immediately. So I heve fixed myself a rule which I find quite easy to follow: If I stay up until silly-o-clock coding on one evening, then no more coding for the next two days - even if it is just before the weekend.
That's not a bad idea. I did two nights in a row of late coding, and last night had to force myself away from the project (okay, I still discussed it and peaked at it, but no coding!) to enjoy the last warm night of the season and have some beers, got to bed early-ish.
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I don't. A big caveat, however. I've been doing this for 25+ years. by now, having a life outside of work is much more important than geeking it up. I still very much enjoy the analytical, problem-solving aspect of development. I laid in bed for 3-4 hours last night thinking about something I'd developed and realized a couple of changes I needed to make for corner cases. But, the actual implementation is pretty boring. Whether I'm using .NET or MVC, C# code-behind or jquery on the client, it doesn't matter. The new technologies are fun to learn, but the actual coding part is meh. So, I guess my advice to you is to not take this second thing on as another job. As long as it's a hobby, you'll probably enjoy fooling around with it. Once you start setting deadlines, and feeling as if, "I have to get this feature done tonight", you'll start burning out.
agolddog wrote:
Once you start setting deadlines, and feeling as if, "I have to get this feature done tonight", you'll start burning out.
I hadn't considered that, but I will. I made a deadline to finish up the first main feature this weekend, in hindsight, it's not time sensitive, it'll probably be another couple of weeks if I pace myself nicely (and enjoy the weather and Halloween).