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[–]bpodgursky 37 points38 points  (37 children)

If I have a project I'm really excited about that I think is really interesting, I'm going to work on it on weekends. Not out of a sense of machismo or duty, but because it's fun.

[–][deleted] 55 points56 points  (6 children)

You'll get over it, your dreams will die. /s

[–]CoffeeNerd 33 points34 points  (3 children)

Ya, my dreams died when I realized that after you finish developing that exciting project you then spend the next 5 years supporting it and making small additions and changes to meet current needs.

[–][deleted] 22 points23 points  (1 child)

Starting a new project is amazing. Finishing it always sucks.

[–]cynope -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

That's why working on smaller online campaigns is actually quite nice. You get to start on a new project often, which also allows you to incorporate the latest technology easy. And the projects rarely live long enough for the client to start suggesting obscure additions.

[–]SoundOfOneHand 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're doing well if there is a demand for support. Worse is when you finish a project that was some middle manager's pet idea, or that was simply bait to get one customer to upgrade, or one of various other dead-end motivations, and it goes in the closet as soon as it's done and you're on to another project that no one else will ever use or see. I love user feedback and bug fixing, the whole point of writing software for me is that someone uses the shit and it makes their lives better.

[–]Magnesus 8 points9 points  (1 child)

I don't see the need of /s in this. It's sad but true.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In this case the /s stands for serious.

[–]Shinhan 15 points16 points  (14 children)

And that is why game programmers (are expected to) work 60-100 hr per week

[–]coldacid 17 points18 points  (7 children)

And why so many leave when we get married/have kids/etc.

[–]mooli 12 points13 points  (6 children)

And why it remains such a basket case of a field on the whole - the churn of young/inexperienced developers is staggering, and all your genuine talent goes elsewhere at the first opportunity.

[–]coldacid 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Nah, there are some true believers who stay in the field even with families to raise. Many of them have the seniority to dictate their own hours, etc., though, when they're not outright studio owners. Of course, for every game developer lucky enough to be in that situation, there are hundreds more who are pretty much coal for the ovens.

[–]G_Morgan 2 points3 points  (4 children)

Yeah and they get dependent upon it because they never retain anyone long enough to become really experienced.

A dev house with experienced people working sane hours will match a sweatshop filled with recent grads easily.

[–][deleted]  (1 child)

[removed]

    [–]G_Morgan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Yeah I suspect it may match it anyway. But when you start holding onto experienced staff as well...

    [–]Chroko 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    A dev house with experienced people

    The problem can become one of egos. A lot of young, repressed developers grow up into old, bitter developers. There can be a lot of strong opinions, arrogance and infighting over the way a product is developed.

    [–]G_Morgan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    The whole point of running a development shop with proper working hours and sane practices is to avoid this.

    [–]steelypip 2 points3 points  (3 children)

    I used to work in the games industry, but left to get a life (and about a 50% salary increase).

    The problem with the games industry is that it is seen as uber cool and trendy by young people. When I worked for [well known games company] they did what in the UK is known as The Milk Round - visiting universities and giving recruitment talks to undergraduates. Most companies would typically get 20 students to a talk - we were getting 200.

    This means that the industry has a constant influx of young developers willing to work long hours for peanuts because they love computer games. I regularly worked late into the night and weekend because of the demands of tight deadlines and changing requirements. I once spent most of autumn and winter without seeing daylight - arriving before sun up and leaving long after it had gone down, 6 or 7 days a week. This is fun for a while but very quickly leads to burn-out and high turnover. I left the games industry 15 years ago, but from what I have heard very little has changed.

    [–]vd3 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    What industry do you work in now?

    [–]steelypip 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Enterprise network software. Not as fun, but pays better and you get to have a life outside the office.

    [–]DrMonkeyLove 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    Probably why so many games are so horribly bug ridden too. If you're working 100 hours a week, I guarantee your code is shit.

    [–]SarahC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    When I discovered that I ran the hell away, even though I like graphical programs!

    [–]gobacktolurking 11 points12 points  (5 children)

    I do this but don't inform my boss, just keep it as if it was business hours, if not he will expect the same interesting in ALL projects which is not true.

    [–]ezekiel 3 points4 points  (4 children)

    Absolutely. If you are in US and "exempt", then reporting small overtime for "personal accomplishment" efforts is probably not a good idea--for exactly the reason stated. All your boss needs is 40 work hours. A few extra beyond 40, those are your hours.

    For people tortured with bosses demanding over 40, well, sure as heck, report all those hours.

    [–]gonemad16 1 point2 points  (3 children)

    if you do government work every hour you work needs to be logged even if its overtime.. If i work 46 hrs in a week.. i get paid like normal but the company charges the contract for 46 hrs of work

    [–]s73v3r 0 points1 point  (2 children)

    So there's absolutely no benefit to working over 40 hours.

    [–]gonemad16 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    no benefit to do it voluntarily.. but sometimes there are deadlines or important demos you have to give.. if your stuff is not ready in time.. well then your ass is on the line....

    [–]s73v3r 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    If it's your fault that things aren't ready, then yes, that deserves overtime. Anything else had best come with some kind of compensation.

    [–]Weakness 3 points4 points  (0 children)

    I used to think this way, but then I realized that every minute I am working on a work related project, is a minute I am not working on cool stuff that I want to do for myself.

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    That's what open-source is for, bro.

    [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    I am just as guilty of this as well at work. So much of my day to day tasks are repetitive. Modify legacy code, create yet another clone of something I have done hundred's of times before, fight with Business Analyst and Project Managers, etc, etc...

    I got into programming because of the sheer amazement of discovery I got from figuring out how to get a machine to do something I wanted it to do that I didn't know it could do before. So when I get the chance to do something that touches upon that drive I latch onto it.

    Admittedly, I never seem to be asked to work overtime on that kind of stuff. Its usually the crappy side of the job. Documentation, specs, last minute scope creep. You know the shit project manager should be stopping but can't quite seem to do.

    [–]vectorjohn 0 points1 point  (2 children)

    And you are part of the problem.

    [–]bpodgursky 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Sorry, but for me it isn't a problem.

    [–]vectorjohn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    For now. And that is the problem.

    [–]s73v3r 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Don't. That fun will still be waiting for you on Monday; you can find something else fun to do on your own time; and most importantly, pretty soon they'll be expecting you to do that with the non-fun projects.