My typical working day as software engineer | Hacker News Reader

My typical working day as software engineer

dimle.wordpress.com

40 pointsmyle25 comments

> I would say that mornings contribute to 80-90% of my output, despite being less than 50% of my working time.

> After lunch.. I have the various meetings that help me reorient my work, learn what new is happening..

I think this is important to notice - even if the morning brings most of the output, it probably wouldn't do so without "after-lunch" period. You need a preparation time in the day and the execution time. I guess the problems arise when you mix them too much.

> I have a rule since essentially I started working full-time about 8-9 years ago. At work, I don’t browse non-work websites.

This way of thinking made so much difference when I was younger - focusing on the work most other people constantly interrupt it with dopamine hits. In the long run it really pays of

Interesting this is almost the opposite for me... I do have a two phase work day but I usually respond to emails, notifications, and code reviews in the morning. I mean, I have a cup of coffee and they're just there and it feels productive to get that stuff done. Then I take a break and have lunch, and the afternoon/evening is when the stretch of productive work happens. I can put headphones on and although there are occasional interruptions, I can generally get into a flow state.

Same for me, I'm just more productive in the afternoon/evening, so i start with the low effort stuff like emails in the morning.

From my anecdatal experience in a 42, a tech school ( university/college level), which was open 24/7 for everyone to work whenever they feel like it, the majority of people there ( so mostly but not exclusively young, majority male, interested in tech/development/etc.) prefer afternoons to early evenings. During the late evening/night/early morning the building was mostly empty ( <100 students compared to almost capacity ~700 during the afternoon).

Having a good daily habit is so important for productivity. How do you arrange your meetings to happen within certain times of day? You just prioritise your focus work over this? What if you’re part of a team where you’re the outlier?

My meetings are typically at the start of the morning and start of the afternoon. I should probably take my lunch later to accommodate as my brain feels clearer in the morning. By the afternoon my brains already scattered

It's been quite a while since I used this trick, but at the end of the day I used to put a deliberate compile error in the code where I was last working. So the next morning I'd compile the code and fixing that error was kind of a warm up to get to the right spot and keep going.

It's funny what works.

A blog post is not a valid Show HN. Please read the rules: https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html.

We've taken "Show HN" out of the title now.

Thanks, I didn't know that. I only appended it after another suggestion below.

Ah, I missed that earlier. I've posted https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31146332 there. Thanks!

Damn my typical day (and those of my friends aged 22-24) is slack off, work 2 hours, make your meetings and then play video games! Can you tell none of us want to RTO?

this can’t feel good to you as a person or engineer. if it does, you might want to look for a job that interests you a bit more, or of it’s not affecting your pay and future ride it out

bruh I spent the past two years living throughout the Americas, visiting national parks, living in new cities and countries, all while slacking off and making 200k+ a year. It felt fucking amazing.

I spent the last 2 years still enjoying myself (hobbies, meeting up with friends when I could, traveling occasionally although maybe not as much as you, etc) and now I'm making 400k+ a year with 3 years of experience. You don't have to slack off to enjoy non-work time and it feels like doing that's just going to hurt you in the long run. I also might be speaking out of my ass so maybe someone with more experience can come correct me.

200k+ is an awful lot of money when you're not shackled to the Bay Area (or even America). Why should I bother making more? My implied hourly rate is insane.

Can you share more how you hit 400k with 3 years of experience?

PhD?

Working at a FANG or FANG adjacent company on a good team and getting a few lucky promotions. My stock hasn't appreciated much but another way people get their is by being lucky with stock appreciation even if they don't experience much career growth.

Thanks! I'm at a place i really like working with some great tech, but that kind of comp is so insane

People have different interests. Some slack off only when the job is boring / uninteresting, some might genuinely prefer to spend their time doing other things and working only to have enough money for that. Work to live, not live to work.

What is "RTO"?

Return To Office

There are other potential benefits from working remotely besides slacking off and playing video games.

If you spend most of your days slacking off you will pay for it down the line and no money will help you then - find a job that you would want to do even if no one is looking over your shoulder.

the shutdown at end of day is a good idea - i keep trying to get there but all the other rubbish tends to get in the way

This should probably be tagged as Show HN. Author linked to this blog too many times before to not think it’s his blog

Good point. Fixed.

Ah - I appreciate your intention to help, but that was a misunderstanding. Show HN is not for blogs - see https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html.

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