Hacker News Reader

The fact that he had to work at night in order to get any concentration time would be a company culture fail in most situations. But, the devil's in the details.

> David Kushner reflected on the unconventional working style of the company's ace coder, John Carmack.

"Ace coder" isn't quite accurate job title. He was a co-founder. People act differently when they have legal ownership over their work.

View on HN

I work very late into nights on the project I created. I hate myself sometimes for doing this because this now the company's cash cow and I get nothing more than any other engineer. I've contemplated quitting but I see no benefit to this, it's still one of the coolest projects I've worked on. It's not just legal ownership that can drive people.

Why not just put your resume out there and see what happens?

When you talk to effective people, you quickly learn they get most of their work-work done before 10am or after 5pm.

I wonder, sincerely, if this is to do with the sun / the idea that other people are awake and there is opportunity for disruption...

Sometimes you get the most brilliant of ideas in the shower after your work day, and you just can't wait till you get back to work next day (also because you know you'll have a ton of meetings anyways).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com