[tlhIn`toq]

Saturday and Sunday are always slow for computer help questions.

Why do you think that is? Students don't do homework on their own time; only on school days? Rookies at work don't try to solve issues from home; they only do it on company time? Outsourcers in Mumbai only have internet from the office so they can only ask us to do their work for them using the company internet?

Just seems odd to me. Do I have an odd (old fashioned) outlook that people should learn on their own time, and that company time is for doing productive work for the people that write your paycheck? That one's skillset is how you put food on the table, so I use my own time to learn new things? The weekends are when I try to pick up new techniques or new technologies (like learning WPF at the moment) so that is when I would have the MOST questions, not the LEAST.

[muhkayla]

tlhIn`toq, on 07 January 2012 - 11:12 AM, said:

Do I have an odd (old fashioned) outlook that people should learn on their own time, and that company time is for doing productive work for the people that write your paycheck?

I think that's the ethical outlook, and I agree with it. I tend to do my learning when I get home from work. I'll mess off for a couple hours, then round 8 I'll work on my own projects for a couple hours before bed. I might do stuff on the weekend, but I like to take that time to recharge and hang out with people.

[Choscura]

From personal experience, I don't ever ask for help unless I'm pressed for time and actually have enough time to get answers- and since that usually implies a formal obligation, either to school or work or whatever else, and the times when I can be assigned problems to solve from either institution is usually within working hours, that's when I ask those questions- if I ask them at all, because I never seem to know how to describe what's going on and ask what needs to happen in an intelligible way, and so the most useful thing I've found is this neat little idea called "documentation with examples" and this neat method called 'debugging' to walk through the program and see what's going on everywhere.

[DimitriV]

tlhIn`toq, on 08 January 2012 - 02:12 AM, said:

Saturday and Sunday are always slow for computer help questions.

Why do you think that is? Students don't do homework on their own time; only on school days? Rookies at work don't try to solve issues from home; they only do it on company time? Outsourcers in Mumbai only have internet from the office so they can only ask us to do their work for them using the company internet?

Just seems odd to me. Do I have an odd (old fashioned) outlook that people should learn on their own time, and that company time is for doing productive work for the people that write your paycheck? That one's skillset is how you put food on the table, so I use my own time to learn new things? The weekends are when I try to pick up new techniques or new technologies (like learning WPF at the moment) so that is when I would have the MOST questions, not the LEAST.

I'm like you in that sense. I always learn. I always have questions (I never ask them though) and I always wander the VB.Net forum daily to see if there's a new thread. Weekends and holidays are slow - and that's when I've got time to be online.

[cfoley]

Not everyone lives 24/7 in front of a computer screen, certainly not at the weekend.

[negligible]

Well I fall into your rookie category, when I had just started off it was much more mentally tiring so I didn't want to look at code after working with it 9-5 all week.
Not the type to spend all weekend in front of the computer either, when I'm not with friends I spend a lot of time practising on my various bicycles, unless it's freezing outside or raining.

I've been spending more of my own time working on my coding lately because I like to feel like I am making a worthy contribution to the company. I'd also like to receive a raise on my review in a few months.
I get much more into some tasks or problems than other to, if I'm enjoying myself and making progress it's just becomes active entertainment like a video game.

[Dogstopper]

Usually on the weekdays, I'm on a time constraint on when to get things done. Also, it's when I focus the most on my problem. On the weekends, I like to spend time with friends, catch up on my movies, and sleep. In the odd event that I program on weekends, I like solving the problem myself, as there is no time constraint.

[Invisibledeath]

On weekends I usually get stuck on watching anime. Then I lose my will to do anything programming related.

[creativecoding]

I go outside. It's nice to be in the sun every once in awhile.

[DimitriV]

cfoley, on 08 January 2012 - 12:56 PM, said:

Not everyone lives 24/7 in front of a computer screen, certainly not at the weekend.

I don't.

[jon.kiparsky]

creativecoding, on 08 January 2012 - 10:18 PM, said:

I go outside. It's nice to be in the sun every once in awhile.

I actually reached for the downrep button when I read this. Caught myself in time, though.

[Craig328]

It depends on a lot more than whether people believe learning on their own time is the rule to follow. Ostensibly, an employer wants a skilled employee to acquire more (or perhaps more effective) skills, right? If they do then it follows they should be prepared to pay for those newly acquired skills. Unfortunately, the long standing employer/employee compact was broken long ago. In fact, give the outsourcing habits of many firms with their IT resources, I should think it wouldn't be at all surprising to discover that tech folk don't do things off the clock to benefit their employer.

I don't agree that this is the way it ought to be but truly, for quite some time now, employers have held most of the power in the relationship. If they're ready to ship your job to India so they can save money not paying you, why would you do something on your free time that benefits them? I am completely on board with "it makes you a more marketable asset" and that's true...but that's also something you concern yourself with when they either lay you off or when the workplace becomes someplace you'd rather not tolerate anymore.

I completely get why people do this on company time...and I believe it's more of a comment on the state of work relations these days.

[gabehabe]

cfoley, on 08 January 2012 - 02:56 AM, said:

Not everyone lives 24/7 in front of a computer screen, certainly not at the weekend.

I published an Android app over the weekend...

I got a life last year, I appear to have lost it.

[Craig328]

gabehabe, on 09 January 2012 - 04:01 AM, said:

cfoley, on 08 January 2012 - 02:56 AM, said:

Not everyone lives 24/7 in front of a computer screen, certainly not at the weekend.

I published an Android app over the weekend...

I got a life last year, I appear to have lost it.

I saw you mention that elsewhere this morning. What's yer app do?

[gabehabe]

https://market.andro...behabe.tvstream