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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!
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday May 05 2019, @03:39AM (2 children)
I did a fair amount of research work for a while, and it was remarkable how much of my "hobby time" activities found serious practical application in the research. If you don't have any of those outside experiences, you can't bring them into the office for practical use.
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(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday May 06 2019, @09:43PM (1 child)
Can you describe a few of these? I've found a couple hobby-time activities that extended/integrated two technologies/tools/techniques to produce something very specific and impractical, the skills from which helped in other areas. Just the exercise of integrating tools pays off when you're on the spot at work to pull something together that solves a product development problem, regardless of how purposeless the result of your original integration project was.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 06 2019, @09:56PM
The big one that sticks in my mind was this, Problem statement: secure a supine adult to a platform comfortably such that the platform may accelerate their skeletal frame head-to-foot at up to +/- 0.6g at a rate of approximately 2Hz, whilst leaving the soft tissues free to move.
Solution: secure the feet to a solid footboard using snowboard boots and bindings.
That one got refined away from the snowboard boots later when the accelerations required moved down from 0.6 to about 0.2, but snowboard boots, and bindings, were readily available off the shelf at a cost less than the engineering hours required to even begin to talk about how to accomplish the goal from scratch.
Minor plumbing stuff from automotive hot-rod hobby work came in handy periodically, of course Ham radio is a virtual requirement in some RF work, I believe SCUBA came into play more than once - including neoprene material from wetsuits.
Then we can get into woodworking / cabinetry making... and later days 3D printing, with obvious implications for prototype fabrication of all kinds.
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