[stevekemp]

Very much so. I work 9AM-5PM, with an hour for lunch, and sporadic 5minute breaks as I pace, or make coffee.

Some days I'm on fire and I'm working at 95% from start to finish. Other days I'm maybe 60% productive, things just "don't go well". On average I assume I'm a productive and useful employee, as I've never had any performance warnings, or criticisms.

It's just the nature of the industry. You can't perform at your peak 100% of your working life. Some days you need to mull problems over, try different approaches, cancel them debug random failures, and so on.

I love my job, I love my colleagues, but I can't be 100% efficient and if I were I suspect I'd get annoyed about it. I need to wander, to pace, and to scribble on note-pads.