[ranran876]

I think it's a bit apples to oranges. Programming is for the most part sitting quietly in front of a computer screen for hours each day. At face value it looks easier, but it's actually a lot more brain-numbing. If I'm honest with myself, I think I can do it for 4 hours a day before my brain starts to slowly shutdown. I've been working for only a couple years and I'm seriously concerned about my future in the industry.

[rwallace]

I'll let you into a secret: four hours of concentrated, high-quality thinking a day is about the limit of what the rest of us can do as well. I don't know whether that's a human universal, but if there are exceptions, they are exceptional indeed. A programmer working eight hours a day is at best doing four hours of high-quality concentrated work and four hours of random crap like attending meetings, checking e-mail and reading HN.

In other words, don't worry about your future in the industry. You're doing fine.

[abduhl]

I've been noticing this type of thinking a lot on HN. It simply isn't true. I am not in the tech industry (if you search my comment history you'll find I do underground tunneling) but everybody I have interacted with at my firm that is above the junior level (and the majority of those at the junior level) puts in far more than 4 hours of concentrated, high-quality thinking a day.

Out of the normal 45 to 60 hours I work a week when I am doing design work, at least 75% of that time is spent doing high level thinking. I am not an anomaly in my firm.

I don't accept nor do I respect the idea that a person is only good for a couple of hours of high quality work to their employer per day.

[kybernetikos]

My understanding is that most studies suggest that working around the 60 hours per week mark results in diminished productivity compared to 40 hours per week after only about 3 weeks.

On the other hand, I think people who say that they are only able to get through 4 hours of work in a day, really specifically mean programming. And it's probably true in that limited sense, but all the other stuff - communicating with others so you know what program to write, helping others so they can work more effectively, is actually very valuable. It's just a common programmer failing to not really see that stuff as 'real work'. It's even worse as programmers get promotions and are expected to spend a significant amount of their time on management type activities.

[Smudge]

The trick is to make those 4 hours as productive as possible, so the rest of your day can be spent on more menial tasks. Finding the right balance comes with time and experience, so I wouldn't stress about it too much.

Sometimes people claim they can be productive for 8 or more hours per day, for weeks on end. But likely what's happening is they are tricking themselves into feeling (and looking) productive, while their actual productivity finds an equilibrium far below what it could be if they paced themselves.

[ranran876]

I guess it's nice to hear I'm not alone. Well unfortunately you need to fill in the other 4 hours in a way that doesn't leave you feeling inadequate - but you're right, it's something to work on.

If I had it my way, I'd work half time programming and half time working a public facing job.