Workplace Monotony?

bcorrigan78 asks: "I love programming, however I work in a network operations center with very few co-workers where the air conditioners can just about put you to sleep. Besides music, what do all of you programmers do to avoid workplace monotony?"

Comments

Books On CD

[wbav]

I get more reading done during work than any other time of the day.

And you can get them from your local public library.

I recomend this cd player

My "ToDo" list

[(trb001)]

1) Listen to DVDs...I find it's more interesting than music and not more intrusive. I minimize them and just listen to the sound, flipping over for the good parts.

2) Write code. Ever wanted to learn a graphics library? New language? Check out SDL, neat little cross platform graphics library. Write a PacMan clone to learn it.

3) Read news. I read a lot of news during the slow times.

4) Gameboy. The SP is pretty small, would probably go unnoticed or be mistaken for a PDA.

--trb

Solutions

[DiscoOnTheSide]

I currently have the same problem as you. I VNC into my box at home and do stuff. Browse torrent sites, etc... I also run a radio station for everyone in the department (Computing Services for my university) and people making requests and such make things interesting (don't have that one... hmmm, lemme find it and throw it on the playlist) AIM keeps things interesting, as does sites like MySpace, Orkut, and even LiveJournal. Slashdot, fark, and others keep me sane. an occasional game of solitaire, stepping outside for a cigerette (a vanilla clove is excellent for killing stress, I have to say), Other projects you have more interest in: I'm currently in the process of learning PHP so I may make my own dynamic site for my photography... that and working on a short story that gets less and less "short" by the week... Online photoshop contests are fun too :)

A Wide Variety

[Jinsaku]

1) I know you mentioned "besides music", but that really is one of the best ways. One thing I've noticed is that, being a programmer, *really* hard industrial really helps me get into "the zone" while coding, and trance just makes the hours fly by. Apoptygma Berserk, VNV Nation, Oakenfold, etc.

2) Get a laptop, watch DVDs or music videos on it while working. I did this for years in my younger years. Helps boredom, but not the greatest for productivity.

3) Someone brought this up before, and it's an awesome time-suck. Learn a new language/technology.. expand your knowledgebase. Employers generally encourage this (in my experience).

4) If all else fails, and the job is just insanely boring, the company won't let you listen to music, watch DVDs, research new fields, read news, whatnot.. find yourself another job. I had this happen once a few years back with a job they sold me as a dev position, and turned out to be configuration management. After 3 months of total boredom, I moved to another job.

Hope that helps!

-- Jinsaku

Juggle

[oojah]

I work on my juggling for a few minutes here and there. It means I have to stand up and move around which has to be a good thing.

My five ball cascade is improving too :)

Cheers,

Roger

Lockpicking

[skreuzer]

I always carry around my pick set and a masterlock. When things get slow at the office, and when I am sitting on the train to and from work I practice the fine art of bypassing locks.