Should Software Developers Work Long Hours?
I know the experiment has been done. The results are about overtime and long hours. Yet there frequently seems to be a discussion about this amongst those powerful within the software development community.
Today we are going to explore Uncle Bob’s opinion that you should be working 60-hour weeks. Perhaps unsurprisingly The Secret Developer does not agree with this statement.
“Long hours don’t make great code. Long hours simply mean you work long hours. Yet I’m sure a commentor like Uncle Bob understands this and have a rational opinion without hyperbole.
They’re a software developer. Of course, they are judgmental and dramatic to the extreme.”
The Reasons Long hours are nonsense
Extra hours don’t have a linear relationship with productivity
When you work an extra hour overtime you cannot give one hour’s worth of productivity for that time. Very quickly you have diminishing returns. Missing sleep diminishes your ability to create new memories.
“This is all really important. I want to remember how you solved that bug you introduced into the codebase because you don’t understand the single responsibility principle. True story.”
Swapping sleep for work doesn’t work
You make more mistakes when you are tired. Only 1–3% of people can sleep 5–6 hours a night without impacting performance.
“I used to call one of my colleagues sleepy. They were working long hours on their own business.
Which is not an excuse for the number of mistakes they made at work.
Worse still, people lie to themselves about that fact.
Only 1–3% of the population can sleep five or six hours a night without suffering some performance drop-off. Moreover, only five of every 100 people who think they’re a member of this sleepless elite actually are.
“They lie to themselves and everybody else.
Like those people who think a code review is doing the work of a linter.
Shocking.”
The research on the performance-destroying effects of sleeplessness alone should make everyone see the folly of the all-nighter.
The undermining position of jerks
The Secret Developer believes that sleep is important, as is balancing your work with the rest of your life. They also believe that jerks are important and even to be respected in the software development community.
Yet there are limits. When real jerks say you’re not a professional if you don’t work 60 hours in your job they are not supporting a healthy work-life balance (including sleep).
“I can only perform at work if I’ve had a decent night’s sleep. As explained within this article those who think they can ‘get by’ with less sleep than others are usually delusional.
I guess jerks like Robert C. Martin think putting pressure on people is fine and a good thing to do.
The Secret Developer says no to this.”
Conclusion
The Secret Developer believes that sleep is important for coding and has shown several sources regarding the importance of sleep. Others think the only thing important regarding being a great coder is the amount of time they spend coding.
What do you think?
“I’d love to hear your thoughts. Not.”