We tend to glorify the idea of being a workaholic: we get praised when we brag about our unachievable timelines, we feel proud for how little we sleep and we can’t stop talking about work because we really want to be perceived as 10x engineers. In truth, hard work, discipline and dedication are admirable traits. Feeling irritated by spending the weekend away from work is not.
My last project put me in a position where I had to work an average of 98 hours per week. This article delves into some of the things that will happen when you approach the triple digit ceiling. It should hit home to anyone who writes code for a living.
1. No one cares and life moves on
The sad truth is that no one’s keeping track of what you’re doing. People are indulged in their own matters and nobody has time to follow up on your grind. Your manager has never seen your commit history; your friends are not reading your logs to see if you’re available to go out; and the cashier bagging your groceries doesn’t know you write good Python.
These things are clear to me now. However, I acted as if the people around me were aware of how hard I was working and would therefore excuse my absence from all kinds of social situations.
2. It’s like eating bad chicken in Minecraft
Working long hours comes at a cost. In my case, I developed an ear infection from wearing my over-ear headphones straight out the shower, my middle toe hurts for no apparent reason, and I discovered a new type of headache I’d never felt before.
It’s convenient to believe you’ll be rewarded by the pain you’re feeling, but that’s not always the case. My advice is to ask yourself if the grind is a necessary step towards a goal of yours, or if you’re just decreasing your hourly wage in half to no end.
3. It gets lonely
If you spend the night writing a program, the rest of the team will undoubtedly have difficulties catching up the following morning. Make sure to write the most structured code possible to avoid the need to explain it to others.
This advice is supposed to help yourself too. You see, the workload will take its toll on your memory. Maintaining good structure is important because sometimes it feels like someone else wrote the changes you pushed last night.
Another problem of working the night shift is not being able to ask for help because everyone else is either sleeping or touching grass. You’ll have to solve your own problems and make critical decisions without bouncing them with the people in suits. Doing this will strengthen your hard skills, but it can also make you feel a little hopeless.
4. Sunday funday
Working when everyone else is offline is not all bad though. For instance, I like being able to close all my messaging apps knowing full-well nobody is going to ping me on a Sunday afternoon.
On a similar note, the 15 minutes leading up to a meeting are some of the least productive moments of my day. I find it hard to focus when I keep looking at the clock every two minutes just to make sure I haven’t zoned out and missed the meeting altogether. This is not an issue when you’re up at 3 AM and I love it.
5. It helps to have a role model
Tough projects will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions. In my experience, looking up to someone who has strived under pressure is a good source of motivation to get you through the lows.
For no particular reason, I became obsessed with Pep Guardiola during my last project. Interestingly, out of all the memorable things he’s said and done, the following quote is what stuck with me the most:
Pressure is a privilege.
As it turns out, this phrase was originally said by Billie Jean King, an outstanding tennis player born in the 1940’s. Perhaps I’ll obsess with her next time I have to work 90+ hour weeks.
I guess there’s a sense of comfort in knowing that you’re not the only one drowning in pressure. It’s also nice to know that someone you admire managed to come out the other end. Most importantly though, you’re bound to learn a thing or two from others.
Big brain recap
I realize that working at this rate is not sustainable. Perhaps I’ll switch to management once the last hair clinging on to my scalp finally falls off. For now though, I really like what I do and the sense of accomplishment I get from succeeding feels more-than-proportional to the grind itself.
