News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ask HN: How do you know if you're burnt out or just being... by madaxe on Monday November 21, 2011 @08:15AM (#3260976)
Lots of caffeine, and flogging myself as hard as I can to keep going.
Re:Ask HN: How do you know if you're burnt out or just being... by qdog on Monday November 21, 2011 @02:11PM (#3262350)
Seems like you are joking.

My observation has been that people working more than 8 hours a day for more than a week only overproduce for a very short time. 16 hour work days general degenerate into spending most of the early day fixing bugs from the day before, tiring you out so when you get those 'fixed' you spend the rest of the day introducing 'new' bugs, then repeat the next day.

There are certainly some companies with a culture of overwork, but the people that actually produce the most are not always the ones who work 16 hour days. I have worked with a lot of people who believe working hard is 'good enough', but I'd never hire them. You have to be able to actually produce something, or you're wasting your time.

It's a tough balance to find sometimes.