Comment by TuringNYC
7 years ago
I feel both sorry for the parent and also relate to it. I have several sprints a year that get me so excited about work, that I will head to work after kids’ bedtimes to code — all night — because I can’t stop thinking about some solution. Sometimes I’m so excited I wouldn’t be able to sleep so might as well work.
Why do you do that for a company that would be throw you away if it made economic sense to do so?
Why don't you find personal avenues in which to exert that creative energy for you, your family, or society?
In many ways, it is actually a very selfish decision on my part as an Engineer -- I'm doing it because i'm thrilled with my job, the product I work on (and launched) and cant stop thinking about some of the Engineering problems I encounter -- because they are so fascinating.
My current employer is shrewd in that they have aligned their interests to mine -- they have moved away most of the BS typical of engineering jobs. They have other people do the parts I don't enjoy doing, and they have given me wide latitude in Product and Product Engineering decisions. They have also given me wide latitude on task selection -- which tasks I take and which get assigned to others on my team (or others on other teams.) This isn't a constant state, it happens on several sprints a year.
On a side note, yes, I exert lots of creative energy in other domains. I'm on the board of a non-profit mentoring org, I'm an advisor to a nature conservancy organization, and I spend a huge amount of time with my family and children.
When I was single, I was part of a community food cooperative and several educational mentoring orgs. Now, the lions share of free time goes to children.
Side note -- if/when my employer turns into Initech and I'm filling out TPS Reports, you can be sure I'll be clocking out at 5pm.
You are making a lot of assumptions here. Not all companies are bad or will throw you away. Maybe they are friends or family with the owner? In that case, helping the company bleeds outside of just an economic decision.
I didn't use the term "bad". I said it was based in economics.
It's called a work/life balance. Work, and the related money are a means to being able to live in this society. And how we choose to use the money and power, is how we affect society. But running to work after everyone else "goes to sleep" doesn't appear as a healthy relationship.
And I know of nobody who said when they got old, "I wish I spent more time at work".
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Answering as you are referring to my post. The kind of sprints I'm advocating for are few and far in between and shouldn't be taken lightly.