I’ve been coding since I was 8 years old. I often code on nights and weekends and I just… love it. I also have had a hard time feeling wrong for doing so because I keep hearing about work/life balance from folks and how I shouldn’t. I wrote a blog post about this tension. tej.as/blog/coding-... - ThreadSky

tej.as • 183 days ago

I’ve been coding since I was 8 years old. I often code on nights and weekends and I just… love it.

I also have had a hard time feeling wrong for doing so because I keep hearing about work/life balance from folks and how I shouldn’t.

I wrote a blog post about this tension.

https://tej.as/blog/coding-nights-weekends-good-work-life-balance

Comments

krisztinazavecz.com•179 days ago

I've been wanting to react to this for a few days now: wow, how is this so universal! I absolutely love the fact that you phrased this phenomenon. ❤️
I don't really do gaming or Netflix, still, if I code outside work hours, I'm considered weird. 🫣

rogerioromao.dev•183 days ago

Great post.
This part really hit home with me:

"I’ve been in situations where when you repeatedly exceed expectations, then the expectations rise to where what was once considered exceeding them is now just meeting them."

ciaromano.bsky.social•183 days ago

THIS. In 25 years of consulting, I’ve seen it over and over.

tej.as•183 days ago

Thanks Rogerio! Have you had similar experiences?

rogerioromao.dev•183 days ago

Yes. And the result was heavy burnout.

tej.as•183 days ago

So sorry about that!

rogerioromao.dev•183 days ago

It happened. I learned from it. It's all good.

gabe.lil.id•182 days ago

no different than someone wood working all night in their garage. multiple hobbies tickle your brain different ways! I also can't get into logic puzzles or games like factorio. like why am i still "coding" when i could actually be building something dope to show

sarahedo.bsky.social•182 days ago

It’s not “work” just because it’s coding. It’s “honing your craft” :)

dchristopher.me•182 days ago

Interesting, “honing your craft” is how I would describe work 🤔

tej.as•182 days ago

Exactly! Whenever I’ve told this to folks who advise against it in the past, they roll their eyes and say “that just sounds like an unhealthy amount of copium, you should get checked out”.

Eventually I realize these aren’t friends unfortunately because friends understand.

sarahedo.bsky.social•182 days ago

I’m with you. I actually had to unpack this with my therapist eventually because people will really shame and guilt you for enjoying to code.

She said the phrase that I just replied with.

tej.as•182 days ago

Sounds like a great therapist.

sarahedo.bsky.social•182 days ago

She’s the smartest person I’ve ever met

adalundhe.dev•182 days ago

I genuinely love building stuff in code. Sometimes it’s silly, dorky things. Sometimes it’s a ridiculously over-the-top project…okay, a lot of times it’s that.

My brain doesn’t do well when “checking out” like most folks expect. It’s a bit of a struggle to get folks to realize that. 😅🥰

bhuynh.dev•182 days ago

Exactly. It is voluntary coding outside of any work obligation for the purpose of improving yourself and your lives and making fun things and consequently makes you happy. It's a hobby by definition. Not all weekends I will code, but that shouldn't be an "abnormal" activity.

foysal.it•183 days ago

love it! thank you for writing it out in such transparent manner. as someone who had difficulties communicating with friends and family that this is just what i enjoy doing, i will be sharing this post with some of them.

tej.as•183 days ago

Appreciate it, Foysal!

cristierra.bsky.social•182 days ago

Completely aligned with how I view programming as a discipline that doesn't stop itself as a vocation - it is an integral part of my life.

varenya.bsky.social•182 days ago

for me its my artistic / creative outlet. Its very satisfying. I wish i had talent for music or other arts, i don't. So this is mine.

lucasdoell.me•183 days ago

love the sentiment but that’s not how a bell curve works 😭 the “coding a lot” should be on the right

devcomp.xyz•181 days ago

GET ON MY LEVEL I'VE BEEN NEAR COMPUTERS SINCE 4!!

devcomp.xyz•181 days ago

90% of skills I developed is probably due to my obsession with computers that started around 6-7 when I first got introduced to scratch, and then C basics around 7-8

psyche.social•181 days ago

The modern obsession with "happiness" is definitely something that needs more scrutiny in every single one of our heads.
I recently read a pretty good article on it: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210105-why-our-pursuit-of-happiness-may-be-flawed

nedt.at•182 days ago

My hobbies include making music, photographing and other things that people might get paid for. At the same time I was coding before I earned money for it, so why should I stop now for my own fun projects. I actually find it strange that other can code 9-5 and not do it outside of work.

danvk.com•182 days ago

🎯 I feel very seen.

acjay.com•182 days ago

Makes sense to me. I think the critiques of grindset culture are legit, but people take it too far in search of purity. Social media loves few things more than puritans!

alenanik.github.io•182 days ago

I use flowcharts and Figma for personal art projects, to organise my thoughts, or design a few things on a weekend just for me. A bit embarrassed about it as “we need to rest from work” 🙈

alenanik.github.io•182 days ago

Design thinking has so many applications in real life. I guess, at one point everything you know about the craft becomes a tool to solve problems, outside of work as well.

tej.as•182 days ago

Exactly. And there’s a beauty to that that I think we miss if we don’t appropriately separate our craft/hobby from our work.

For me, Slack, emails, all the logistical nonsense around work is work. Code is and always will be the fun part. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

adamrackis.bsky.social•182 days ago

Gotta just ignore those people bro 👊

tej.as•182 days ago

I find it more valuable to think about it and explore the nuance around it a little more to learn myself and others a bit deeper and adapt where necessary. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

bandarra.me•181 days ago

IMO coding for fun and coding for work are different things - had this conversation with my wife dozens of times: "didn't you code the whole day at work?". Yes, but now I'm optimizing for fun. It doesn't mean you can't enjoy coding for work, but I'm certainly not optimising for fun when doing it.

crespo.at•182 days ago

In my case, frequently I spend too many hours with meetings, documentation, excel, slack, Jira... during the week I have very few slots of two or more hours for coding, so I end up enjoying coding in the weekend because I know I am not going to be interrupted.

parth.dev•183 days ago

This a weird straw man. The work life balance discourse is in opposition the to *expectation* that you need to be coding on nights and weekends.

If you want to code your own nights and weekends away, literally no one is stopping you.

karltaylor.dev•178 days ago

Fantastic read.

tej.as•178 days ago

Thanks Karl!

dchristopher.me•182 days ago

I really appreciate you acknowledging the realities of parenthood and other life circumstances that make coding after hours impractical. I think the more toxic thing in our industry is the implication that you’re falling behind or not contributing meaningfully if you don’t code 24 hours a day

tinafromtv.bsky.social•182 days ago

My problem is that if I spend all weekend coding, my brain refuses to work on Monday

tej.as•182 days ago

This is addressed in the article in the section about it becoming a god.

canastro.dev•182 days ago

I code as d full time job and as a hobby. I’ve been working on a side project for a few months with no deadline and no plans of finishing it. And I always feel more relaxed after working on it 😁

lordtoots.bsky.social•182 days ago

So many wise words

metaflame.dev•182 days ago

Great read, the key points are put into words very well.

Setting clear expectations is something everyone needs to do a lot more in general, both for work and for personal boundaries. Same with proposing solutions rather than prescribing them.

tej.as•182 days ago

Thank you! I’m glad this was expressed clearly.

metaflame.dev•182 days ago

I'd say that even from the most value-creation-driven point of view, giving creative people this kind of free time is a net benefit.
I'll follow my whims and immediate interests with a lot more motivation, and maybe I'll happen to explore, discover, or learn something new and useful!

antony.is•162 days ago

I miss coding on nights and weekends because children! But nights and weekends are where my startup was built so not only is it what you should do, it can also make you.

Also apologies for somehow only just following you now!

erikras.com•182 days ago

Way less likely to lose a finger than people into woodworking.

.

Even if it is "digital". (sorry)

erikras.com•182 days ago

Jarringly interesting to use "god" and "worship" as an evil concept.

Good post.

sandrinap.dev•180 days ago

Yes, so much this. Coding was by hobby before being my job.
Also, coding pet projects is not the same as being a professional engineer. So, let me keep my hobby. ⚡️
(me writing this on Xmas day at 9PM 🙈)

flo-bit.dev•182 days ago

Same here, I definitely spend what others would perceive as an absurd amount of time coding, but I just really like it
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Some feedback for your blog: It feels a bit hard to read for me, because the text container is so wide, might be worth making it a bit smaller (or maybe it's just me)

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