Search Unity

  1. Megacity Metro Demo now available. Download now.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Unity support for visionOS is now available. Learn more in our blog post.
    Dismiss Notice

Ideal length of day for a dev or artist?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by yoonitee, Apr 24, 2014.

  1. yoonitee

    yoonitee

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2013
    Posts:
    2,363
    If you could choose how many hours a day you could work to work at your optimum level what would it be?

    I find that after about 6 hours my brain kind of melts and the last 2 hours of an 8 hour work day are pretty much useless.

    So I would say that a good schedule would be about 6 hours a day, 6 days a week. With Friday off. That is 36 hours a week compared with 37.5 hours for a 9-5.30 job. 3 hours then a 3 hour lunch break then another 3 hours.
    Work: 11am-2pm. 2pm-5pm lunch Work 5pm-8pm. Dinner 8-9pm. Down the pub 9pm-12pm. Sleep.

    I don't understand how so many varied jobs all demand that people work 9-5. No matter how physical or mental challenges of the job.

    How can any human being concentrate for 8 hours at a time? We haven't evolved to do that. We evolved to hunt animals which requires a lot of walking and then short bursts of concentration as we kill the mammoths or real in a fish.

    I think that some developers say they are fuelled by coffee. So what we're saying is that we need drugs (e.g. caffeine) in order for a human being to cope with working hours.

    I think this quite an AngloSaxo problem since France and Spain have a different work life balance and often have 2 hour lunch breaks although this practice is dying out.
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2014
  2. goat

    goat

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2009
    Posts:
    5,182
    I like 3 hours in morning, 2 hour lunch (really doing any kind of sports for lunch requires 2 hours), 3 hours in the evening and when I work in such a place that allows me to do this or in the eyes of some co-workers, 'get away with it', then I am much more productive.

    The American way of 8 hours at your desk, and long commutes to work, from work, and to and from lunch are recipes for a long-tail decline in health and productivity. That said I have worked for American and Swiss companies that allowed 3, 2, 3 and I was very happy working at those places compared to higher paying places.
     
  3. hippocoder

    hippocoder

    Digital Ape

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2010
    Posts:
    29,723
    I just develop. The hours merge into some kind of binary stream of madness.
     
  4. Thomas-Pasieka

    Thomas-Pasieka

    Joined:
    Sep 19, 2005
    Posts:
    2,174
    I work anywhere from 8 to 12 hours usually. Taking breaks (go for a walk etc) does help. Also, it's important to have "Earl Grey" ... lots of it.
     
  5. yoonitee

    yoonitee

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2013
    Posts:
    2,363
    Wow. I want to move to Switzerland! What kind of jobs were these? Freelancing? Did you work 5 days a week? Did they care how many hours you worked as long as you got the job done?
     
  6. angrypenguin

    angrypenguin

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2011
    Posts:
    15,614
    This is my ideal, though it's not what I get to do so often these days.

    Ideally: Work when you're inspired, pick projects that constantly inspire you.
     
  7. goat

    goat

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2009
    Posts:
    5,182
    No, in Switzerland the actually hours are 8.4 a day or 42 a week so 3.2, 2, 3.2. Worse than the US. And you must be there for the entire 42 hours. It's not like the US were I can pick any hour between 8 - 6 and know that much of the traffic are folk playing hooky from work or school. Although people play hooky at work in Switzerland too. You have to, to take care of personal business at times although some are just shopping.

    I kept the same hours 3, 2, 3 at one US job too in the DFW area...it has to do with productivity. It you are productive for those 6 hours they don't care about the other 2, especially if they know you're running or swimming or what not. And one place I worked well, some places expect you to arrive like a train schedule, but not necessarily leave work like a train schedule (but of course that's more common, lol).
     
  8. dogzerx2

    dogzerx2

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2009
    Posts:
    3,964
    Ideally I'd like to work non stop and no breaks, until things start to go terribly wrong.
    Those times things go smoothly are my precious, and I don't want to cut my inspiration. But other times I'm just burned and uninspired and I gotta rest.
    You can't really put a schedule to that.
     
  9. SmellyDogs

    SmellyDogs

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2013
    Posts:
    387
    My typical day is something like:

    -09.00: Arrive at work
    09.00-09.30: Coffee and a biscuit, check work schedule, emails
    09.30-10.00: Surf internet
    10.00-10.30: Chit-Chat to team members about nothing in particular
    10.30-11.30: Surf internet
    11.30-12.30: Blitz through as much work as possible
    12.30-13.30: Lunch, go for a walk
    13.30-14.00: Check emails
    14.00-15.00: Sit through boring and ultimately pointless teleconference meeting
    15.00-16.00: Realise how behind we are in the project and work like a maniac
    16.00-17.00: Feeling the eye fatigue after that effort, so go for a short walk, have a friendly chat or two, start to unwind for the day
    17.00-17.30: If everyone looks busy send some emails for 15 minutes but if its a quiet day prepare to slink out
    17.30- : Out the door like a bat out of hell to catch the next train home

    So, even though I'm at work 7 hours a day I don't work non stop either.
     
  10. yoonitee

    yoonitee

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2013
    Posts:
    2,363
    Are you a manager? I wondered what they get up to all day! :D
     
  11. goat

    goat

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2009
    Posts:
    5,182
    It sounds like SmellyDogs works for the government or a contractor for the government. I once was flown out to an interview and to my embarrassment as I was taken for a round to meet various employees we invariably caught them surfing the internet and not at a tech site for mathematics or telecom either.
     
  12. dterbeest

    dterbeest

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2012
    Posts:
    389
    I am totally stealing this quote :p
     
  13. gallenwolf

    gallenwolf

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2012
    Posts:
    118
    Ideal work day? 4hr, 1hr lunch, 4hr, done.
    Ideal week would be 4 days work, 3 days off.
    Real life tends to be.... more challenging ;-)
     
  14. QuinnWinters

    QuinnWinters

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2013
    Posts:
    494
    If it's a job I don't really care anything about other than to make money, about 6 hours is all I can take in a day and 2 days off a week. Even then I tend to want to shoot myself after doing it for about 4-6 months. If it's something I love, a hobby such as game design, I don't even notice the hours going by. All my waking hours are dedicated to it and 35 hours can fly by and seem like 6. Like hippocoder said, the hours merge into some kind of binary stream of madness. I don't fuel myself with caffeine or any other drugs - fun and the determination to complete the next task are my fuel.
     
  15. sootie8

    sootie8

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2014
    Posts:
    233
    I've found to be most productive I code for between 60-90 minutes at a time, while taking a break of at least 10-15 mins. There is some research into this I think, something to do with attention spans focusing on one thing being similar to sleep patterns. Stops me from getting distracted from cyber loafing as much anyway :D
     
  16. SmellyDogs

    SmellyDogs

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2013
    Posts:
    387
    You're like the flipping terminator compared to me. I'd be lucky to manage 10-15 minutes of productivity to every 60-90 minutes.
     
  17. sootie8

    sootie8

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2014
    Posts:
    233
    hehe try it, you must stick to it though. Start at like 30 mins on 10 mins off then work yourself up from there.
     
  18. Ricks

    Ricks

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2010
    Posts:
    650
    I'm with you on that. Found out the same, which is that after 6 hours the oven is out. I guess since most people don't work productively 6 hours in a row the companies forced 8 working hours in hope the employees will eventually reach the 6 productive hours within this time frame. Though with 8 hours you are mostly forced to stay at lunch as well, which makes 9 hours in total. Day over.
     
  19. eskimojoe

    eskimojoe

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2012
    Posts:
    1,440
    I use the Promodoro technique.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique


    There are five basic steps to implementing the technique:


    Decide on the task to be done
    Set the pomodoro timer to n minutes (traditionally 25)
    Work on the task until the timer rings; record with an x
    Take a short break (3-5 minutes)
    Every four pomodori take a longer break (15–30 minutes)



    Steven Covey's time management matrix.

    $MerrillCoveyMatrix.png

     
  20. giyomu

    giyomu

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2008
    Posts:
    1,094
    No real rule here , but i usually ( when possible ) start around 6am after a good breakfast, a little break around 10am then keep on till 14pm.
    Then take time for whatever I want to do ..I even can get back evening on working a bit ( not so late ).

    I feel my brain work better early morning than late evening ^^
     
  21. CarterG81

    CarterG81

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2013
    Posts:
    1,773
    I suck.

    I have an incredibly hard time starting on my project with serious commitment.

    But once I do, I get in 'the zone' and don't stop until I dominate what I was doing.

    $i-don-t-always-meme-generator-i-don-t-always-program-but-when-i-do-the-game-is-released-the-next.jp
     
  22. angrypenguin

    angrypenguin

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2011
    Posts:
    15,614
    Haha... at least you're honest?