For me (as a programmer) it really varies a ton. I used to put in insane stretches, due to the medication I needed to take in the past and that is how I got used to things in college.
Now I work more regularly, but still can put in a solid 6+ hr day most of the time, and yet some days… yeesh I’m lucky if I can get a third of that. So I work more on other days to compensate.
Nice try, HR lady.
HR Lady?
We all know HR is actually just an AI bot now.
Their pronouns are: (Kill/All/Humans)
I program too; some days 11 hours, some days 2 or less. I have never been able up to do a steady schedule.
And if I code too much over a few days, I take time off to heal my brain
9-10 as a Video Editor
You mention hours as a programmer?
Is that active coding? Because as you gain experience you may spend less time writing code that will ultimately be replaced by more efficient processes.
E.g. quality over quantity. Are you being more thoughtful during the design process?
This is an “Ask” style community, so the answer is however you feel like it is for your situation - I only got us started to give us a beginning for the conversation:-).
But to answer your question specifically about my own POV: some meetings are very productive, so not “only” the coding, no. Also, the 6 hours is quite the lower bound - it could be twice that if I am on a roll, with programming, with design matters, documentation, or whatever.
You don’t have to overthink it:-). Although you can if you like? :-P
Productive work with measurable results? Two hours. Four hours meetings. Two hours getting interrupted, forced socializing, and then trying to remember what it was I was about to do.
Sometimes I only have 2 hours of meetings but they are all 30 minute meetings with an hour or two between. So I am barely back in my flow by the time he next meeting rolls around.
The “flow” thing is what most non-IT folks don’t understand. It’s tough to jump back in and just start solving the same puzzle I was working on hours ago with no backtracking to figure out which micro piece of the 20 regular-sized pieces I was working on.
That’s probably why I would procrastinate on technical work with project management work back when I was in IT.
Sometimes when I really get into something, I just stay late and work on it while the office is empty.
Thankfully I’ve been in positions where if I work the rare 10-12 hour day, I can take the time off later in that timesheet cycle. It helps that I always have a bunch of results to show after those nights.
