Slashdot Mirror
Ted Dziuba Says, "I Don't Code In My Free Time"
theodp writes "When he gets some free time away from his gigs at startup Milo and The Register, you won't catch Ted Dziuba doing any recreational programming. And he wouldn't want to work for a company that doesn't hire those who don't code in their spare time. 'You know what's more awesome than spending my Saturday afternoon learning Haskell by hacking away at a few Project Euler problems?' asks Dziuba. 'F***, ANYTHING.'"
http://www.linkedin.com/in/teddziuba
As far as I can tell, he's a 26 year old programmer/blogger who doesn't much like to program in his free time.
I'm not sure why I'm supposed to care, but whatever.
Who?
Apparently, he's a big shot from YetAnotherDotCom. Why, I'll bet he's almost half as famous as the next random poseur.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
A big shot YetAnotherDotCom who has a very confusing self identity.
It looks like he graduated in 2006... which is when I graduated and I'm 23. But then he posts this:
"I love it when twenty-something engineers take such a hard-line position on something they have so little experience with, like hiring. Saying that you wouldn't hire somebody for a programming job because they don't program in their spare time is blissfully naive. Yeah, I remember the days when my greatest responsibility to another human being was making rent on the first of the month."
Wait what? "Remember the days?" Wasn't that like... last year?
Seriously? How do you have a coding experience as a 3 year old?
He was hit with a radioactive basic manual, and developed super powers.
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.
It's not a grammatically incorrect sentence. It's just a bit confusing, albeit technically precise. Better would probably have been something like "and he wouldn't want to work for a company that only hires those who like to code in their spare time."
For the benefit of the childless people:
After I put in my time at work, which is never just 40 hours a week, I come home and have about 2 hours to spend with my young daughter before she goes to bed. Those two hours includes dinner and bath time. If I don't spend that time with her, then her mother comes after me. After she's in bed, I'm at the very end of my day. My brain is mush. I have another 2 hours before I need to sleep. Even if I were capable of programming more, I have zero interest in actually doing so. That is my time to watch tv, veg out, recharge, and catch up with my wife.
Weekends are family time. Either there's a family birthday, or one of my daughter's friends birthdays, or we're going out of town, or there's something else my wife scheduled, or whatever. Programming for fun is about the last thing on my mind. Why? I've already gotten my programming fix from working during the week. Further, my family takes up what little free time I possess. Finally, even if I were able to find the time to sit and code, there is no quiet space in my house where I would be uninterrupted for any length of time by either my daughter or my wife.
If you think I should be spending all my free time coding after putting in more than 40 hours of coding at work, then you have no understanding of work-life balance. People can not live a life of constant work or attention to a single task. You do that and you're all but asking to burn out. Me? I'd like to still be in this industry in 20 years, thank you very much. I don't want to be diabetic at 35 from a complete lack of physical inactivity. I don't want to be single at 40 from ignoring my wife. I don't want a heart attack at 45 from all the stress of work and no free time. I'm in this for a long-haul.
And if you want to be in this industry 20 years from now, I suggest you chill out, even if just a little.