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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday May 04 2019, @10:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the coding-for-a-living dept.

There is often pressure inside Software development for Software developers to code outside of work hours. Coding is considered a passion for some, but others don’t think this way. They are more than happy to not code in their spare time. This is OK.

Meetup groups, side-projects, coding quizzes, side-hustles, developing websites for friends and family. Improving your coding skills takes time, effort, discipline and sacrifice. But is it really necessary? That is for you to decide.

There is no doubt that there is importance to setting goals. It helps to see where you are going and to have something you are working towards. Being the best coder isn’t everyone’s goal.

People often feel peer pressure to code outside of hours, to stay competitive and to be the best. If someone is making you feel this way, you can remind yourself that it is perfectly OK to only code at work. Some people might even argue that doing too much can have diminishing returns…

[...] In short, it is perfectly OK to have a life outside of work. Many people hack their schedules according to their own goals and interests, which may or may not include coding. If you think this post could help someone out there, please share it around!


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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @12:19AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @12:19AM (#839030)

    You haven't met many tradesmen, have you? The plumber's house is the one house that has the leaky faucet in the same way that the mechanic's car is virtually always a beater. Just because they can fix these things doesn't necessarily mean that they care to do so for free on their own time.

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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @02:24AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @02:24AM (#839059)

    I worked for a well-known robotics company just a bit ago. The shop master told me a story about how he built his kids a Zamboni one snowy winter. I'm sitting there going, wtf? you built your kids a driving vehicle that they ride atop... to smooth the ice? What even is a Zamboni, anyway? I don't even know how one works (I plumb, I do electrical, I've rebuilt a hot tub, small engine repair, motorcycle repair, rebuilt car engines with my dad growing up, I have a hobby of electronics) -- how does a zamboni even work?

    He was really, really good at what he did. He obviously did more outside of work. The new job, it's the same thing. The mechanical engineers make things to mod their cars. The skilled software devs (<-all of them) tell me about hobby projects. (There are the some that go home and work on work. I discourage that.) The shop master has gobs of experience, and when I lost a part to my bike he asked, "You have any pictures? We could 3d print a new one." These are really skilled people, software, hardware, engineers, across the board. They don't limit them to what their day job requires of them -- they do what they do because they love doing it, and they are very, very skilled because they do it a _lot_, in many forms.

    What I'm saying is that when you get past corporate cogs and get into the startups that start small and grow up, founded and gotten off the ground by people who are really passionate about this stuff, you don't see the attitudes of "This is my job and this is what I do -- only at work." Interviewing people, there's a stark contrast between those who do it for work and those who do it all the time because they love doing it. The skill level is worlds apart. Additionally, it's obvious the ones who do it because "it's good money."

    What I'm suggesting is that doing it outside of work, in its many different forms, provides a wealth of experience that you wouldn't have gotten doing it on the job with a limited, temporary focus. That experience shows when someone is asking you during an interview, "How many TCP ports are there?" or "What tools might you use to integrate a Linux machine with a domain?" (and expect more than "Samba!" and yes I ran a domain for fun back in high school) or, "How might you find a process on a system? good `ps`. What if it doesn't show up in the `ps` list? (Continue for depth.)"

    It's fine to not work in your field outside of work. It's just limiting.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @04:05AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @04:05AM (#839081)

      It can be. But the best insights don't come when you're working your craft, they come when you're doing other things.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @09:49AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @09:49AM (#839159)

      Yeah, this nails it. Extremely well put.

  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @02:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @02:29PM (#839226)

    With some of my own relatives being blue-collar workers, I had plenty. For every one of them, applying their skills to improve their own home is a point of pride. No exceptions.
    Don't know from who you got your "informed opinion" but they lied. Or you did.