Pulling a 16-hour workday, strategically
My first gig out of college was coding for an online game company. After a couple months of easing into the job, it became classic Death March: I was working 16-18 hour days, sleeping under my desk, the works (after a while the top engineer on the team was informed by his wife that he “had to make a choice” - I was 22 and unattached, so it was no big deal for me).
As my career went on, I pulled crazy hours less and less. Same since founding blip.tv, but now and then I feel like “flying to australia” and getting some serious coding done.
Maybe it’s the result of getting older, but I realized that I can’t just work all night, go home and go right to sleep - I need time to unwind. I tossed and turned for about 3 hours before drifting off.
Back at the game company, I could fall asleep instantly, but at the cost of having crazy work-related nightmares and waking up with deep scratches on my fingers.
So I think I’m going to revise my strategy. After leaving the office, go and have a beer or two. Bars are open until 4 AM here in NYC, after all.
