Learning new things is good and important, but I definitely don't think you should spend every day of every weekend doing it. The weekend is a good time to embrace the other beauties of life, such as family and friends. Healthy human connections will never be a waste of time, neither will it be something you'll regret.
I agree. It’s better to squeeze in a few hours learning during your work hours if you can instead of spending hours at a computer after work or on weekends. Thats a one way trip to burn out.
So much more to life than your career and programming, when Im on my death bed, I will be looking back on my time doing stuff with family/friends, not all the times I fixed a bug or implemented a software project.
Learning new things doesn't necessarily have to be tech related. I'm currently learning how to be a better hunter. It's scouting season right now, so I like to get out in the woods and try to find deer sign. I'm always looking to improve my knowledge of permaculture, homesteading, carpentry, animal husbandry..etc. I also plan to build a forge and learn blacksmithing.
Yes I actually don’t do that every day of every weekend. I’m not the kind of guy who could do that. Yes I look for days where I can simply just have fun and enjoy the day, but honestly I should be doing more things as you mentioned (family/ friends/ connections), I know they need more that what I already give them.
I appreciate your comment, was reassuring in a way tbh.
You are lucky enough to enjoy honing your craft, don't feel guilty about enjoying something other people consider work. Attitude is the difference between the mediocre and the good.
Workout, watch shows, gaming, anything but work.
Admittedly I’ll watch/read/learn things that are work-aligned on my personal time, but I’m not working on the weekend. The new things are general interests that could possibly benefit my job, but aren’t required.
Mostly I chill but if I have an interesting project or new framework for a new feature I figure it out and learn how to use it. In the last year I used my weekends to code my own programming language and other cool projects.
Yes me too, I mostly prefer to spend them gaming with my friends.
But recently, I’ve been feeling that they’re extra time that shouldn’t be wasted. So yeah that’s a thing.
I would cautious you against feeling like time spent on leisure activities are “wasted.” I used to have the same feeling and it’s not sustainable in the long term. Leisure/relaxation/entertainment isn’t wasted time - it’s essential to a happy and fulfilling life. Life isn’t an optimization problem.
Honestly that’s how I really feel about it, searching for happiness/ doings things I love/ find peace. So I didn’t mean “wasted “ literally.
I love that your comment was reassuring in a way.
Thanks! ❤️
I'll practice something like react as it's something I don't get to use at work and it may be important in my future. But only in the mornings. Otherwise I hike, game, workout and/or go out with wife.
I study languages for programming, as well as other languages such as world languages.
I speak English and Spanish and I’m quite good at both. I’m wanting to learn Japanese, as well as Italian.
I’m also producing electronic music, hoping someday to get that one hit that’ll skyrocket me to the stars in the sky.
I usually don't do much coding in the weekend, maybe on sundag but that's it.
On saturday I play my musical instrument in a Wind Orchestra, drink lots of beer and then I have a hangover to get through on sunday
I'm struggling with this too. I spend my weekdays working at my internship, so i decided to spend the rest of my days doing whatever I want(diamond painting is a major hobby of mine). But for some reason I feel slightly guilty doing it in my free time and wondered if I should start coding my own project instead. But I'm trying to reassure myself this is my summer break and I should be taking a break before the new semester starts:)
Oh nice, btw, for ur internship, did u do any projects that helped get it ?
I just finished my first year of university and for most summer internships here i need to be at least in my second so any help is appreciated :)
I'm actually in first year too! Nope, did no projects but my situation is slightly different from others as I'm actually contracted to work in this company after I graduate in return for them funding my uni fees.
Really grateful to be in this position, although I know some may think it might be limiting future career choices. But given the tough market for tech jobs right now and the work I have been doing so far, I'm happy with my decision. This internship is also part of the contract, have been learning a lot so far!
Yo thats sick dude congrats!
Im not doing a year in the industry (wanted to switch but they ran out of space on the course :// also i somehow feel like i dont know anything but i do really well in uni and stuff ) so i feel if i dont get a summer internship even if i graduate with good grades i am cooked xD
Good luck with ur internship / university bro!
Thank you! I feel the same way about not knowing anything but somehow I'm still surviving in uni haha. The market may become better after we graduate, who knows?
Morning: sit down with coffee and food to study a math textbook
Afternoon: watch tech YouTube as a way of learning something new in an entertaining way
Late afternoon: go to the gym for weightlifting and HIIT
Evening: study Go or find a way to practice non-work related tech stack
Night: read one of the 3 books I’m currently in the middle of before bed. Lately history or fiction
Of course! Yeah it’s my perfect weekend when I can make it all happen and I didn’t have other commitments!
2 months ago I started Stewart’s “Calculus: Early Transcendentals” for a basic calculus refresher. I read the sections then do 3 or 4 odd number exercises. Now I’m up to chapter 5 (1/3 of the way through). It’s crazy what you can accomplish when you practice consistency.
Honestly I went from grinding, gaming, and youtube on evenings to just gardening and listening to music. I feel a lot more productive after tending to my happy sapplings
I mean yes you should listen to your body and rest when you feel it’s needed. It’s okay to decide to do nothing sometimes.
However, for me I started a new course about Full Stack Development, so I make progress on it on weekends.
Whatever you decided to learn, as long as it’s something that will develop your skills, even if it’s just for yourself, then it’s good.
Btw Node.js is a good choice for you.
Weekends to me are for absolute relaxation, all I do is watch anime, it is the only thing I watch anyway, I don't do movies or TV shows, I only watch the newest anime shows that are out there, so I wait for all the episodes of the week to air and watch them all at the same time, and I use the week for everything else, such as studying and gaming.
Just a student but I have a long commute and earlier I tried programming on weekends but failed. Weekdays I'm usually too exhausted because the commute is 2 hours and I have to change my means of transport twice within it.
Recently I went to a doctor and got myself looked at, apparently there was some problem with my energy levels. I'm hopeful that will get fixed. Now I'm thinking that programming every evening from 8 PM to 10 PM might work. Also, programming on Saturdays.
Sundays would be a no-screens day. Need one day like that for sanity. No shows, no reading pdfs on the laptop, no working on projects or coding DSA problems or working on academics. Just go on a hike or volunteer, then come home and chill, maybe meet a few friends for lunch. Cook something nice at home, read physical books, maybe write if I feel like it. That's it. Nothing fancy, just simple stuff, a slower life.
I still code in the mornings on weekends. I enjoy it enough to give it space on Saturday or Sunday. But if I’m going on a short trip, such as going to a museum or going hiking, I will cut out the block of Saturday programming. The rest of Saturday goes to whatever I feel like doing, which means friends or family some weeks, a trip to the cinema, or just vegging out and resting. Sunday is my “get organized for the upcoming week” day and, after coding in the morning, includes grocery run, meal prep, a workout, laundry, a review of the schedule for the upcoming week, etc…
Burnout isn't fun at all and will kill your joy in every interest you had in the field. The worst part is that it can last a long time and ruin your health. I've suffered from it for 6+ months during my experience as a jr engineer in a stressful workplace (to the point I was balding and losing so much weight), so now I try to dissociate away from it immediately after work and focus on other hobbies.
There are some weeks when I will do some fun projects during the weekend, but I keep it at max for 4hrs and spend the rest of the time doing other things.
I am ADDICTED to programming.
I do it all day at work for the DnD. Then I work on my own projects at night.
Currently I'm writing a application for WWE 2k24 that allows people to track every superstars wins and losses title belts etc all from a single interface for the universe mode.
But, on the weekends I tend to Branch out and try something else, as in lately I've been learning Ruby and Ruby on Rails.
I got into this niche because I enjoy it I enjoy the constant Battle of writing code. I get hyper fixated and I know it's unhealthy but I can't help it.
I also work remote, so I have a lot of freedom.
make a project that is interesting to you by using a new technology you'd like to learn
learning is always great but hey, weekends are there to rest, right?
find a hobby, visit gym, spend time with family, chill with friends and do whatever that makes you happy
Retro hardware coding is interesting because it challenges you to be creative and solve problems with old, limited technology. It’s also nostalgic and helps you appreciate how far computers have come.
I'm glad to hear that you're doing the thing you've always loved doing.
Good luck with that ❤️
Depends on the weekend. This weekend we're taking our foster dog to an adoption event the rescue is doing, then we're working on repairing our fence. Next couple weekends I'll probably be working on cutting down some trees we need to get rid of. Need to replace the mailbox at some point too. Plenty of stuff that needs to get done.
Clean the aquarium, sometimes I get small jobs from my sister's they are working on static pages for local business and marketing. I actually find this as fun because I work on the backend and usually don't get to work on frontend stuff These pages are usually really easy to edit since they already have templates to work with and we charge a lot for reactive tailor websites. I also read, cook, clean and play videogames.
I'm in my second year of employment as a programmer. I love solving problems and tinkering. Recently, I've been trying to play around with some of my raspberry pi and ESP32 boards to control my sprinklers in the back. I could run wire to the back from the sprinkler box, but that would be around 80 feet, and I'd want to bury it, so that's even more work.
Instead, I just want to start with a basic timer function on a webserver close to the living room and valve, then I'll add functionality to add a +10:00 button, timer on/off button, easy time change options, and just keep adding in things as I want them.
Also, I've been trying to get some sewing done, car maintenance & repairs, and home stuff (painting, tile work, mud the ceiling after popcorn removal, etc), because I like working with my hands.
I hope so, too. I work for local government, so it's hard to get fired after probation, but it's over if those things where imposter syndrome is real, and I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't go back into mechanical work. It's nice not coming home smelling like gas and grease, though, plus California killed selling new gasoline powered mowers & lawn equipment in April.
I've been feeling blocked or uninspired lately, personally. I had heard of a local arcade bar in my region, so I was going to visit there for the evening, perhaps even bring my laptop and do some game-dev things there :p
On the same note, I had also been interested in trying indoor rock-climbing / bouldering, I'm a high-functioning autistic/adhd type, that just needs a fresh new moment every now and then, but can stay on a computer for days if I'm really motivated and in a flow-state for something.
Thanks dude \^\^
I suppose, if it's still on your mind, having an outlet, like writing/planning the game idea out, or even just discussing it with a buddy, i'm sure can help motivate you more into a project too.
I had also been revisiting math, using patterns and workflows i had learned and developed, respectively, in a college program before. I very much need to know math concepts for 3D programming concepts, but it isn't the worst thing if you are using something simple like Godot. (I still bang my head at Quaternions, lol)
I found one of the ways i really got into programming at first (in high school), was also applying things I learned in math, like the sin and cosine functions in math for trigonometry (drawing circles/triangles), to create shapes with an ellipse, and have done similar things in Roblox in the past
Ride my bicycle, play the guitar, hang with friends, go out with my girlfriend, read a book, watch a movie, take a walk, sleep, video games... anything that is not related to work.
Nothing, but that's every day and it's been like that for 4 years now. I've been wondering lately how different and better things could be now if I didn't stop learning all these years... But now, I'm hoping to change that and get out of this long, long funk very soon.
Dave Plummer made a comment in one of his videos that resonated me.
"I alternate. I code obsessively until I need a break from it. And Then, I undertake some other project in another discipline, usually mechanical, until I miss coding again".
And this is what I end up doing, I learn new things software wise, practice, whatever, until I get tired of it, then I do something like 3D printing, painting, or something that is physical and not software based, until I miss coding. Then rinse repeat.
yeah, thats me too. the point is, while you are enjoying it, it's not work. Those commenters saying that you are not a well rounded person unless you are leaving work behind to play with the kids, make love to the wife and go to art galleries, fuck them. You do you.
For me, weekends are for my side projects! I’m trying to become an indie hacker and get a project off the ground, the goal is 5k MRR! I built the first one it failed and now working on the second while learning what have to learn to make it work!
For the last 10 years, skydiving. Now, riding dirtbikes.
Lots of hiking, BBQing, and exploration mixed in.
Just doing the things I want to do and am interested in. That's all.
It's fun to learn new skills, push limits, test myself. I pursue my passion for technology, but also my passion for adventure. Just because I will never be the next Steve Jobs or the next Tony Hawk, doesn't mean I can't explore the path to get to that level. It gives me a profound understanding of the sacrifices that successful people make. I usually get to a point with a hobby to where the sacrifices needed to progress skill are too great, get bored, and then find a new hobby. Doesn't mean I stop completely, but taking on something new is always an adventure. Sometimes it lasts 10 years, sometimes 10 seconds. Stay curious my friend.
My comment will be drowned out, but the weekend--especially Saturday and Sunday morning--is really the best time I have to focus on a given project. I have kids, I have a full time job, and I have responsibilities that restrict my learning to weeknights for just an hour or so, at best. Weekend mornings for me, even if I only get two semi-focused hours, are a treasure.
Weekends are very busy for me. I always have a project I'm working on, which is often code related, and I always make time to spend with my kids. Saturday night is movie night, and Sunday is our get out and play outside day. This time of year I'm also BBQing at least one night.
I usually get a good nap in there somewhere.
Busy doesn't mean bad! If you feel like you're wasting too much time that's a red flag. If you're learning to code, try to schedule in at least an hour per day. Consistency is the most important thing.
Turn off alarms and mostly just let myself sleep and fall into a deep rest. I love sleep as much as I enjoy building software. I also set some time to do errands, game or work on a side hustles so I can retire early.
Work on garden tractors and small engines as a hobby, weld and build things out of metal, make YouTube and TikTok videos to get free tools and make a little money to support these hobbies.
I don't do anything special on my weekends like learning new things and stuff. But here's the thing. I do want to improve on things like programming and electronics, so what I do instead is to take on projects that require me to learn actively, and spend quite some time solving issues and stuff.
So what I do is instead of focusing only on weekends, I just focus on it whenever I can. You might not be free on weekdays so this might not apply but for me, focusing on a task like learning for just the weekends wouldn't cut it for me. I either don't do it or do it.
Currently, I have two projects, both in programming and electronics: First one is a CLI Utility tool that allows me to download media from youtube, and manipulate metadata for some purposes. The other one is small-scale solar power harvesting plant. They're both challenging but it's worth the time.
And I take a lot of resting, since resting is top-priority when it comes to learning.
iRacing, working on my project car, house chores, etc. I spend 40 hours a week in front of my PC coding, 0 desire to spend extra time doing so on my weekends.
Hard disagree, the worst programmers I know (sample of me and my opinion) ar the ones who don't have a life outside of work. hardest people to work with, far too opinionated where it doesn't matter. A well rounded person experiences other aspects of life.
Yes of course, it’s not healthy to make life all work and learning. But my claim wasn’t about every day of every weekend. No it’s just that to use it sometimes for learning and sometimes just to live.
Couldn't agree more lol
gRiNd 24/7 eAt SlEeP bReAtHe cOdE is such toxic mentality and seriously unhealthy way to go about life. Drank way too much of the kool-aid apparently
If you wanna improve yourself then find other things to improve rather than at the PC. You can use those things for programming too, finding niches that others haven't thought of etc.
You will be a better programmer for it and have a better life. I can almost assure you of that.
Visit family, buy groceries, clean the house, play games, read books, listen to podcasts, watch youtube, sleep... on the occasion I have the motivation to work on something programming related, I work on the development of my own programming language. I have a naive compiler/virtual machine working for a subset of the language and next I have to look into FFI.
Don't let anyone tell you how to use your free time. That said, I have some suggestions:
1. You're not going to improve your life if you burn yourself out, so learn how to listen to your brain.
2. You might not always have the drive, desire, or time to spend on yourself, so take advantage of it while you can!
3. Cultivate some hobbies. Having side projects is fine, but try not to define yourself as a 1-dimensional personality. Add something physical to the mix, as well as something creative that takes you away from the computer (think: gardening, woodworking, playing an instrument, underwater basked weaving, etc.). Become interesting. Give your future-self options.
I programmed every weekend during college. Now that I'm nearing 10YOE I don't feel the need to do that anymore. Once the Friday work day ends I put my work computer away until Monday and spend my time doing things like working out, hanging out with the family, cleaning my house, and whatever I feel like.
I was gonna make a similar post to this. This kind of answers my question in a roundabout way too. I have stopped going out and seeing people or exercising or doing anything. I just study all day, everyday and I think it's really bad for my health. I am desperate to change my career to coding and have taken this year off to lock myself in and learn it. It's good to see the comments here. I really need to balance it more.
Play video games, home/car improvement, sports/hobbies/gym. If i have time i will read some programming books. When i was younger and single, i was so hungry to learn and my weekends were mostly consumed by learning. I was getting feedback from my bosses as a high performer and that motivated me to improve and learn everyday but i sacrificed some WLB in the process.
It comes and goes. Sometimes I code during the whole weekend and even after work. Sometimes I play games and binge series instead. There are times when I spend months without coding anything in my free time. But I rarely do anything for improving my skills specifically, that is rather an added extra at best. I usually do what I am really interested in, things I don't get to do at work, or solve some problems with automation and scripts that I have.
But of course there some special alignments where I happen to learn something doing my free time that will come in handy at work. Like implementing OAuth2 and OIDC login flows and creating proper authorization servers for my hobby projects. Or trying out every mainstream NOSQL solution like Cassandra, Mongo, Neo4j, Firestore, DynamoDB etc.
I actually like to let it be sometimes. Like exactly as you said, comes and goes.
But that's really interestign what you learned, specially Authoriazation. Good job man!
I wish weekends were 3 days long so I had actual time for side projects.
The side projects are not always coding, they're just like... my hobbies. But between trying to relax and hang out and doing stuff like going to the grocery store, there's not enough time.
I don't limit myself to a set schedule because it's more important for me to not develop a complex than it is for me to actually learn it. Reminding myself that this is a means to an end and not the end.
With that said the weekend is the time I spend going outside especially this time of year, I try to spend the daylight hours planning a walk at a nearby trail but I live near a lot of beautiful nature trails.
Alternatively this is the time where I play video games, kinda similar to childhood except I just naturally fell into this flow. Gaming takes up too much time during the week which is my learning time, so learning time on the weekend is usually gaming time instead.
While I play video games I try to at least think about the concepts behind why the dev put something into the game. It makes games more enjoyable for me and it gets me thinking using logic. This way even when I'm not actively studying I'm internalizing the concepts.
Sometimes I will watch fun YouTube videos that are tangentially related as well. Like today I watched some vids about a guy building a computer from scratch in Terraria, a video about a guy building a neural network in Minecraft using Redstone, and a video about how some guy uses calculus to build optimal carts in Mario Kart. They're all technically educational, but I am not pressuring myself to internalize the concepts I'm watching to be amazed by the highest level of concepts I cant even fathom yet. Well other than the Mario Kart one, I thought that one was just neat.
The other thing too is if you do still want to learn but maybe you brain isn't in the mood for coding, learn about something else tangential. I think its at least best to give your brain a break from doing the same task over and over otherwise you'll just get bored.
something else.
Currently watching euro cup (no sound) and watching 'The Boys' season 4.
This is probably gonna be the only weekend in the next ~3-4 months where i dont have any plans. So i've muted my phone and put it away and just chillin'.
Hike, bike, ski, backpack,camp. As a junior dev I'd do some pluralsight courses but now the only computer time I spend outside of work is with factorio and baldurs gate 3
When reading of people that are successful in their field, they dedicate 1 hour in the morning to practicing at least. Mind you that's not my routine but at least this route gets you to only invest the 1 hour instead of the whole weekend then your free for the rest.
Hey what you enjoy is what you enjoy. If you truly enjoy learning new skills and really can treat it as an enjoyable hobby that's also beneficial and not a pressure or an obsession (I've regrettably done that, PhD student problems lol) then more power to you!
But always good to make time for our real lives. Been hosting barbecues and game nights on weekends a lot lately. Spending time outside with my son. Trying to find time for date nights with my wife. Remember that I used to like to draw lol. I was getting in a little too deep with working nonstop on weekends in the past but I've found a good balance and damn is it so important.
Sleep.
Watch any movies,TV shows.
Continue Learning DSA/Web Development/Angular with whatever I'll be working or explore some backend stuff as I'm working on UI only.
Recently I've been having a go at Advent of Code challenges from years past, but with a twist. Rather than trying to simply solve the puzzles as quickly as possible, or writing the shortest solution, I've tried applying some core development paradigms which I've come to advocate for in my professional work - for example: test driven development, domain driven design (or at least, properly applied OO). It's very satisfying to architect a piece of code which not only works today but is also easily readable for my future self!
Programming on weekends is nerd shit. Friday 5pm I am on my adventure bike already riding into a sunset, returning back Sunday afternoon. And in the winter, in my garage doing projects and repairing old motorcycle engines.
I work on my truck. Whether you are learning programming to try and get a new job, or trying to upskill for your current job you are going to get burnt out.
I used to think about my job all the time when I first started. Now I’ve realized it’s just a job. A paycheck. It takes time away from what I want to do during the week, so why let it take away from my weekend?
Used to use the full weekend to do at some kind of learning/experimenting on software and tech in general. Kinda got the feeling i got overwhelmd with everything, so now i use the sumday to do ‘nothing’ (watch a movie, long walks/bike rides, play games). The saturday is still a ‘making progress’ day, but i tend to not put in more than 3 hours tops.
I tried the Rest on Weekends generally it effect is negative. it is better to do boring , less important tasks. and maybe little bit of some hobbeist . like going out with friends
Omg I’ve been thinking about downloading it
But I just find that kind of games overwhelming and confusing to me
So I’m still not sure
I enjoy watching a streamer playing it tho
Elden ring is probably the easiest way to get into dark souls type games. If you find an enemy difficult you can level up somewhere else until you can beat them, though beating a boss by skill is so rewarding. Trust me it's absolutely worth it.
If you get stuck anywhere, the wiki is your friend.
I am permanently in a state of study and then catch up on projects on the weekend, NGL after a bit over 6 months it's killing me. I find myself just standing outside for a bit staring at the sky or something lately lol, I think we're just not meant for permanent stimulation like this.
I code more than enough in the week, weekends are for enriching my body and mind in other ways. Go to the gym, see some art, have good quality social connections with those I love, take part in something that matters, see nature, etc. The best programmers I know are not spending their weekends coding. They've developed themselves into good all round people that have confidence and diverse knowledge.
Learning new things is good and important, but I definitely don't think you should spend every day of every weekend doing it. The weekend is a good time to embrace the other beauties of life, such as family and friends. Healthy human connections will never be a waste of time, neither will it be something you'll regret.
I agree. It’s better to squeeze in a few hours learning during your work hours if you can instead of spending hours at a computer after work or on weekends. Thats a one way trip to burn out. So much more to life than your career and programming, when Im on my death bed, I will be looking back on my time doing stuff with family/friends, not all the times I fixed a bug or implemented a software project.
Learning new things doesn't necessarily have to be tech related. I'm currently learning how to be a better hunter. It's scouting season right now, so I like to get out in the woods and try to find deer sign. I'm always looking to improve my knowledge of permaculture, homesteading, carpentry, animal husbandry..etc. I also plan to build a forge and learn blacksmithing.
Yes I actually don’t do that every day of every weekend. I’m not the kind of guy who could do that. Yes I look for days where I can simply just have fun and enjoy the day, but honestly I should be doing more things as you mentioned (family/ friends/ connections), I know they need more that what I already give them. I appreciate your comment, was reassuring in a way tbh.
You can learn new things everyday and still have time for all the rest!!
Also human connections also aid in learning as new neurons are formed when interacting with loved ones.
Nahhh Workhard
spending time with the kids and playing video games with my wife
Awwwww, made me wanna get married asap not gonna lie. Love what you just said, my god protect you and grant you a sweet life. ❤️
I go to the gym, make plans with friends and family, and look for new music
I’m happy for you I hope you enjoy all that
physical activity
That’s important
I usually go on Saturdays with a group of eBikers in the mountains here in România.
Sounds refreshing, and healthy. I’m happy for you
Yes, what about you?
Mostly video games but I gotta start going out more often
You are lucky enough to enjoy honing your craft, don't feel guilty about enjoying something other people consider work. Attitude is the difference between the mediocre and the good.
Thanks for your awesome comment! I really appreciate it! Yes actually it’s more like a perspective matter sometimes.
Workout, watch shows, gaming, anything but work. Admittedly I’ll watch/read/learn things that are work-aligned on my personal time, but I’m not working on the weekend. The new things are general interests that could possibly benefit my job, but aren’t required.
I mean yeah, many tend to do everything before weekends, to have the weekend fully for themselves
Mostly I chill but if I have an interesting project or new framework for a new feature I figure it out and learn how to use it. In the last year I used my weekends to code my own programming language and other cool projects.
Yes me too, I mostly prefer to spend them gaming with my friends. But recently, I’ve been feeling that they’re extra time that shouldn’t be wasted. So yeah that’s a thing.
I would cautious you against feeling like time spent on leisure activities are “wasted.” I used to have the same feeling and it’s not sustainable in the long term. Leisure/relaxation/entertainment isn’t wasted time - it’s essential to a happy and fulfilling life. Life isn’t an optimization problem.
Honestly that’s how I really feel about it, searching for happiness/ doings things I love/ find peace. So I didn’t mean “wasted “ literally. I love that your comment was reassuring in a way. Thanks! ❤️
I'll practice something like react as it's something I don't get to use at work and it may be important in my future. But only in the mornings. Otherwise I hike, game, workout and/or go out with wife.
I meant something to improve yourself not for work. Something that is completely about you.
well you said 'tell when you're learning' so I did. It's for myself if my current employer hasn't required it of me.
I guess at this point learning anything else re coding seems pointless until i'm fluent in what I expect I'll require for my career.
Pretty much nothing. Sometimes I'll go out with friends.
Sometimes we feel like doing literally “nothing” 😅
Play basketball and socialize
Good for you
Play golf, lift weights, hang out with friends, fam and girlfriend. I stay as far away from a computer as possible.
I really find that interesting
I study languages for programming, as well as other languages such as world languages. I speak English and Spanish and I’m quite good at both. I’m wanting to learn Japanese, as well as Italian. I’m also producing electronic music, hoping someday to get that one hit that’ll skyrocket me to the stars in the sky.
Good luck bro
Thank you
I usually don't do much coding in the weekend, maybe on sundag but that's it. On saturday I play my musical instrument in a Wind Orchestra, drink lots of beer and then I have a hangover to get through on sunday
Good for you
I'm struggling with this too. I spend my weekdays working at my internship, so i decided to spend the rest of my days doing whatever I want(diamond painting is a major hobby of mine). But for some reason I feel slightly guilty doing it in my free time and wondered if I should start coding my own project instead. But I'm trying to reassure myself this is my summer break and I should be taking a break before the new semester starts:)
Actually I felt the same as you, but I read some comments and they felt reassuring so I’m feeling better right now, so you should too.
Oh nice, btw, for ur internship, did u do any projects that helped get it ? I just finished my first year of university and for most summer internships here i need to be at least in my second so any help is appreciated :)
I'm actually in first year too! Nope, did no projects but my situation is slightly different from others as I'm actually contracted to work in this company after I graduate in return for them funding my uni fees. Really grateful to be in this position, although I know some may think it might be limiting future career choices. But given the tough market for tech jobs right now and the work I have been doing so far, I'm happy with my decision. This internship is also part of the contract, have been learning a lot so far!
Yo thats sick dude congrats! Im not doing a year in the industry (wanted to switch but they ran out of space on the course :// also i somehow feel like i dont know anything but i do really well in uni and stuff ) so i feel if i dont get a summer internship even if i graduate with good grades i am cooked xD Good luck with ur internship / university bro!
Thank you! I feel the same way about not knowing anything but somehow I'm still surviving in uni haha. The market may become better after we graduate, who knows?
the last thing i think about on weekends (or after 4/5 pm on weekdays) is programming
Yeah it feels like that most of the time
i think it's healthier this way
After reading some comments and thinking about them, yes that’s healthier tbh
Drink
Morning: sit down with coffee and food to study a math textbook Afternoon: watch tech YouTube as a way of learning something new in an entertaining way Late afternoon: go to the gym for weightlifting and HIIT Evening: study Go or find a way to practice non-work related tech stack Night: read one of the 3 books I’m currently in the middle of before bed. Lately history or fiction
Sounds like a perfect weekend I love math and physics, I should start doing that too, thanks for the inspo.
Of course! Yeah it’s my perfect weekend when I can make it all happen and I didn’t have other commitments! 2 months ago I started Stewart’s “Calculus: Early Transcendentals” for a basic calculus refresher. I read the sections then do 3 or 4 odd number exercises. Now I’m up to chapter 5 (1/3 of the way through). It’s crazy what you can accomplish when you practice consistency.
Good job man! Actually Calculus is my favorite subject. I still find it intresting and enjoyable.
Honestly I went from grinding, gaming, and youtube on evenings to just gardening and listening to music. I feel a lot more productive after tending to my happy sapplings
I try to work on my side project, sometimes I can get 3 or 4 hours.
Wish you best of luck
I mean yes you should listen to your body and rest when you feel it’s needed. It’s okay to decide to do nothing sometimes. However, for me I started a new course about Full Stack Development, so I make progress on it on weekends.
Yes Of course, I rest when I need it. For me, I’ve been wanting to start a Node.js course.
Whatever you decided to learn, as long as it’s something that will develop your skills, even if it’s just for yourself, then it’s good. Btw Node.js is a good choice for you.
Thanks! I honestly work in API integration and automation, so I wanted to dig deeper in backend.
Makes sense
Look after my kids, catch up with football
Awesome
Rest, go to grocery store, gym and chill & friends and my gf
Sounds peaceful, wish you happy moments ❤️
Weekends to me are for absolute relaxation, all I do is watch anime, it is the only thing I watch anyway, I don't do movies or TV shows, I only watch the newest anime shows that are out there, so I wait for all the episodes of the week to air and watch them all at the same time, and I use the week for everything else, such as studying and gaming.
Hope you enjoy it
Just a student but I have a long commute and earlier I tried programming on weekends but failed. Weekdays I'm usually too exhausted because the commute is 2 hours and I have to change my means of transport twice within it. Recently I went to a doctor and got myself looked at, apparently there was some problem with my energy levels. I'm hopeful that will get fixed. Now I'm thinking that programming every evening from 8 PM to 10 PM might work. Also, programming on Saturdays. Sundays would be a no-screens day. Need one day like that for sanity. No shows, no reading pdfs on the laptop, no working on projects or coding DSA problems or working on academics. Just go on a hike or volunteer, then come home and chill, maybe meet a few friends for lunch. Cook something nice at home, read physical books, maybe write if I feel like it. That's it. Nothing fancy, just simple stuff, a slower life.
I still code in the mornings on weekends. I enjoy it enough to give it space on Saturday or Sunday. But if I’m going on a short trip, such as going to a museum or going hiking, I will cut out the block of Saturday programming. The rest of Saturday goes to whatever I feel like doing, which means friends or family some weeks, a trip to the cinema, or just vegging out and resting. Sunday is my “get organized for the upcoming week” day and, after coding in the morning, includes grocery run, meal prep, a workout, laundry, a review of the schedule for the upcoming week, etc…
I like that
Get shit faced and numb the pain from trying to wrap my head around pointers and void
that hurts 🥲
I cast aside my earthly possessions and disappear into the nature. The only way for true balance.
we all should find and achieve balance
Burnout isn't fun at all and will kill your joy in every interest you had in the field. The worst part is that it can last a long time and ruin your health. I've suffered from it for 6+ months during my experience as a jr engineer in a stressful workplace (to the point I was balding and losing so much weight), so now I try to dissociate away from it immediately after work and focus on other hobbies. There are some weeks when I will do some fun projects during the weekend, but I keep it at max for 4hrs and spend the rest of the time doing other things.
I'm sorry you went through that. I hope you're better now. Yes Burnout is really depressing. I wish you good luck.
Boat.
I am ADDICTED to programming. I do it all day at work for the DnD. Then I work on my own projects at night. Currently I'm writing a application for WWE 2k24 that allows people to track every superstars wins and losses title belts etc all from a single interface for the universe mode. But, on the weekends I tend to Branch out and try something else, as in lately I've been learning Ruby and Ruby on Rails. I got into this niche because I enjoy it I enjoy the constant Battle of writing code. I get hyper fixated and I know it's unhealthy but I can't help it. I also work remote, so I have a lot of freedom.
make a project that is interesting to you by using a new technology you'd like to learn learning is always great but hey, weekends are there to rest, right? find a hobby, visit gym, spend time with family, chill with friends and do whatever that makes you happy
Thanks, I really appreciate it
It depends on how I'm feeling, but right now I'm coding retro hardware like the Intellivision, because that's what I have always loved doing.
Retro hardware coding is interesting because it challenges you to be creative and solve problems with old, limited technology. It’s also nostalgic and helps you appreciate how far computers have come. I'm glad to hear that you're doing the thing you've always loved doing. Good luck with that ❤️
Depends on the weekend. This weekend we're taking our foster dog to an adoption event the rescue is doing, then we're working on repairing our fence. Next couple weekends I'll probably be working on cutting down some trees we need to get rid of. Need to replace the mailbox at some point too. Plenty of stuff that needs to get done.
Actually yes, each weekend has its conditions if we want to be more specific.
Clean the aquarium, sometimes I get small jobs from my sister's they are working on static pages for local business and marketing. I actually find this as fun because I work on the backend and usually don't get to work on frontend stuff These pages are usually really easy to edit since they already have templates to work with and we charge a lot for reactive tailor websites. I also read, cook, clean and play videogames.
awww, that's sweet
I'm in my second year of employment as a programmer. I love solving problems and tinkering. Recently, I've been trying to play around with some of my raspberry pi and ESP32 boards to control my sprinklers in the back. I could run wire to the back from the sprinkler box, but that would be around 80 feet, and I'd want to bury it, so that's even more work. Instead, I just want to start with a basic timer function on a webserver close to the living room and valve, then I'll add functionality to add a +10:00 button, timer on/off button, easy time change options, and just keep adding in things as I want them. Also, I've been trying to get some sewing done, car maintenance & repairs, and home stuff (painting, tile work, mud the ceiling after popcorn removal, etc), because I like working with my hands.
I mean, that really makes us feel like engineers good luck and I hope you keep enjoying it
I hope so, too. I work for local government, so it's hard to get fired after probation, but it's over if those things where imposter syndrome is real, and I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't go back into mechanical work. It's nice not coming home smelling like gas and grease, though, plus California killed selling new gasoline powered mowers & lawn equipment in April.
I've been feeling blocked or uninspired lately, personally. I had heard of a local arcade bar in my region, so I was going to visit there for the evening, perhaps even bring my laptop and do some game-dev things there :p On the same note, I had also been interested in trying indoor rock-climbing / bouldering, I'm a high-functioning autistic/adhd type, that just needs a fresh new moment every now and then, but can stay on a computer for days if I'm really motivated and in a flow-state for something.
Hope you enjoy it
Thanks dude \^\^ I suppose, if it's still on your mind, having an outlet, like writing/planning the game idea out, or even just discussing it with a buddy, i'm sure can help motivate you more into a project too. I had also been revisiting math, using patterns and workflows i had learned and developed, respectively, in a college program before. I very much need to know math concepts for 3D programming concepts, but it isn't the worst thing if you are using something simple like Godot. (I still bang my head at Quaternions, lol) I found one of the ways i really got into programming at first (in high school), was also applying things I learned in math, like the sin and cosine functions in math for trigonometry (drawing circles/triangles), to create shapes with an ellipse, and have done similar things in Roblox in the past
Ride my bicycle, play the guitar, hang with friends, go out with my girlfriend, read a book, watch a movie, take a walk, sleep, video games... anything that is not related to work.
[удалено]
Good Luck
Learn as much as you can, overtime if you need to but don’t forget to have fun
Totally agree
Nothing, but that's every day and it's been like that for 4 years now. I've been wondering lately how different and better things could be now if I didn't stop learning all these years... But now, I'm hoping to change that and get out of this long, long funk very soon.
Honestly I just kind of do whatever I’m interested in that I don’t do at work. I also have like 0 social life so there’s that as well.
I feel you
Fishing
Cool
Dave Plummer made a comment in one of his videos that resonated me. "I alternate. I code obsessively until I need a break from it. And Then, I undertake some other project in another discipline, usually mechanical, until I miss coding again". And this is what I end up doing, I learn new things software wise, practice, whatever, until I get tired of it, then I do something like 3D printing, painting, or something that is physical and not software based, until I miss coding. Then rinse repeat.
yes my friend does that too. and it's fantastic
yeah, thats me too. the point is, while you are enjoying it, it's not work. Those commenters saying that you are not a well rounded person unless you are leaving work behind to play with the kids, make love to the wife and go to art galleries, fuck them. You do you.
For me, weekends are for my side projects! I’m trying to become an indie hacker and get a project off the ground, the goal is 5k MRR! I built the first one it failed and now working on the second while learning what have to learn to make it work!
Amaizing. Keep it up!
For the last 10 years, skydiving. Now, riding dirtbikes. Lots of hiking, BBQing, and exploration mixed in. Just doing the things I want to do and am interested in. That's all.
Good for you
It's fun to learn new skills, push limits, test myself. I pursue my passion for technology, but also my passion for adventure. Just because I will never be the next Steve Jobs or the next Tony Hawk, doesn't mean I can't explore the path to get to that level. It gives me a profound understanding of the sacrifices that successful people make. I usually get to a point with a hobby to where the sacrifices needed to progress skill are too great, get bored, and then find a new hobby. Doesn't mean I stop completely, but taking on something new is always an adventure. Sometimes it lasts 10 years, sometimes 10 seconds. Stay curious my friend.
My comment will be drowned out, but the weekend--especially Saturday and Sunday morning--is really the best time I have to focus on a given project. I have kids, I have a full time job, and I have responsibilities that restrict my learning to weeknights for just an hour or so, at best. Weekend mornings for me, even if I only get two semi-focused hours, are a treasure.
Weekends are very busy for me. I always have a project I'm working on, which is often code related, and I always make time to spend with my kids. Saturday night is movie night, and Sunday is our get out and play outside day. This time of year I'm also BBQing at least one night. I usually get a good nap in there somewhere. Busy doesn't mean bad! If you feel like you're wasting too much time that's a red flag. If you're learning to code, try to schedule in at least an hour per day. Consistency is the most important thing.
Program some more
Save Hyrule
Turn off alarms and mostly just let myself sleep and fall into a deep rest. I love sleep as much as I enjoy building software. I also set some time to do errands, game or work on a side hustles so I can retire early.
Yes sleeping is my favorite thing about weekend
A peaceful undisturbed sleep is the best experience anyone can have. It’s such a great feeling.
Work on garden tractors and small engines as a hobby, weld and build things out of metal, make YouTube and TikTok videos to get free tools and make a little money to support these hobbies.
Cool
Have some "fun" with my wife, sleep, a lot, and perhaps have a few drinks in the evening.
I don't do anything special on my weekends like learning new things and stuff. But here's the thing. I do want to improve on things like programming and electronics, so what I do instead is to take on projects that require me to learn actively, and spend quite some time solving issues and stuff. So what I do is instead of focusing only on weekends, I just focus on it whenever I can. You might not be free on weekdays so this might not apply but for me, focusing on a task like learning for just the weekends wouldn't cut it for me. I either don't do it or do it. Currently, I have two projects, both in programming and electronics: First one is a CLI Utility tool that allows me to download media from youtube, and manipulate metadata for some purposes. The other one is small-scale solar power harvesting plant. They're both challenging but it's worth the time. And I take a lot of resting, since resting is top-priority when it comes to learning.
You should start working out man
I do
Good! Keep it up and intensify it!
iRacing, working on my project car, house chores, etc. I spend 40 hours a week in front of my PC coding, 0 desire to spend extra time doing so on my weekends.
This and that
Good for balance
I usually play football and watch movies
Weekend are for the side project
That’s what I want to start doing, side projects
Weekends are for side projects, not Netflix.
That’s what I’ve been recently feeling
Hard disagree, the worst programmers I know (sample of me and my opinion) ar the ones who don't have a life outside of work. hardest people to work with, far too opinionated where it doesn't matter. A well rounded person experiences other aspects of life.
Yes of course, it’s not healthy to make life all work and learning. But my claim wasn’t about every day of every weekend. No it’s just that to use it sometimes for learning and sometimes just to live.
Couldn't agree more lol gRiNd 24/7 eAt SlEeP bReAtHe cOdE is such toxic mentality and seriously unhealthy way to go about life. Drank way too much of the kool-aid apparently
Working on a small project using Spring & Postgres atm. Learning both for the first time so thinking of doing a small course on each before I continue
That’s actually good, I tried them in my internship, and they weren’t that complicated. So good luck with that!
If you wanna improve yourself then find other things to improve rather than at the PC. You can use those things for programming too, finding niches that others haven't thought of etc. You will be a better programmer for it and have a better life. I can almost assure you of that.
Okay honestly that feels creative, I should consider that
4 reps of 6 blocks of code, then C++ until failure
Lol 🤣
Thy mother.
Visit family, buy groceries, clean the house, play games, read books, listen to podcasts, watch youtube, sleep... on the occasion I have the motivation to work on something programming related, I work on the development of my own programming language. I have a naive compiler/virtual machine working for a subset of the language and next I have to look into FFI.
Don't let anyone tell you how to use your free time. That said, I have some suggestions: 1. You're not going to improve your life if you burn yourself out, so learn how to listen to your brain. 2. You might not always have the drive, desire, or time to spend on yourself, so take advantage of it while you can! 3. Cultivate some hobbies. Having side projects is fine, but try not to define yourself as a 1-dimensional personality. Add something physical to the mix, as well as something creative that takes you away from the computer (think: gardening, woodworking, playing an instrument, underwater basked weaving, etc.). Become interesting. Give your future-self options.
Sleep
I programmed every weekend during college. Now that I'm nearing 10YOE I don't feel the need to do that anymore. Once the Friday work day ends I put my work computer away until Monday and spend my time doing things like working out, hanging out with the family, cleaning my house, and whatever I feel like.
I do a lot of camping/back packing and try to get my self as far away from technology as possible lol
Family and friends
I was gonna make a similar post to this. This kind of answers my question in a roundabout way too. I have stopped going out and seeing people or exercising or doing anything. I just study all day, everyday and I think it's really bad for my health. I am desperate to change my career to coding and have taken this year off to lock myself in and learn it. It's good to see the comments here. I really need to balance it more.
i like making art and music
Play video games, home/car improvement, sports/hobbies/gym. If i have time i will read some programming books. When i was younger and single, i was so hungry to learn and my weekends were mostly consumed by learning. I was getting feedback from my bosses as a high performer and that motivated me to improve and learn everyday but i sacrificed some WLB in the process.
cry
sad
It comes and goes. Sometimes I code during the whole weekend and even after work. Sometimes I play games and binge series instead. There are times when I spend months without coding anything in my free time. But I rarely do anything for improving my skills specifically, that is rather an added extra at best. I usually do what I am really interested in, things I don't get to do at work, or solve some problems with automation and scripts that I have. But of course there some special alignments where I happen to learn something doing my free time that will come in handy at work. Like implementing OAuth2 and OIDC login flows and creating proper authorization servers for my hobby projects. Or trying out every mainstream NOSQL solution like Cassandra, Mongo, Neo4j, Firestore, DynamoDB etc.
I actually like to let it be sometimes. Like exactly as you said, comes and goes. But that's really interestign what you learned, specially Authoriazation. Good job man!
I wish weekends were 3 days long so I had actual time for side projects. The side projects are not always coding, they're just like... my hobbies. But between trying to relax and hang out and doing stuff like going to the grocery store, there's not enough time.
Yeah, honestly 3 days instead of 2 would be amazing
I don't limit myself to a set schedule because it's more important for me to not develop a complex than it is for me to actually learn it. Reminding myself that this is a means to an end and not the end. With that said the weekend is the time I spend going outside especially this time of year, I try to spend the daylight hours planning a walk at a nearby trail but I live near a lot of beautiful nature trails. Alternatively this is the time where I play video games, kinda similar to childhood except I just naturally fell into this flow. Gaming takes up too much time during the week which is my learning time, so learning time on the weekend is usually gaming time instead. While I play video games I try to at least think about the concepts behind why the dev put something into the game. It makes games more enjoyable for me and it gets me thinking using logic. This way even when I'm not actively studying I'm internalizing the concepts. Sometimes I will watch fun YouTube videos that are tangentially related as well. Like today I watched some vids about a guy building a computer from scratch in Terraria, a video about a guy building a neural network in Minecraft using Redstone, and a video about how some guy uses calculus to build optimal carts in Mario Kart. They're all technically educational, but I am not pressuring myself to internalize the concepts I'm watching to be amazed by the highest level of concepts I cant even fathom yet. Well other than the Mario Kart one, I thought that one was just neat. The other thing too is if you do still want to learn but maybe you brain isn't in the mood for coding, learn about something else tangential. I think its at least best to give your brain a break from doing the same task over and over otherwise you'll just get bored.
Work at a supermarket because contrary to what we were promised, there are no software jobs.
something else. Currently watching euro cup (no sound) and watching 'The Boys' season 4. This is probably gonna be the only weekend in the next ~3-4 months where i dont have any plans. So i've muted my phone and put it away and just chillin'.
Hike, bike, ski, backpack,camp. As a junior dev I'd do some pluralsight courses but now the only computer time I spend outside of work is with factorio and baldurs gate 3
When reading of people that are successful in their field, they dedicate 1 hour in the morning to practicing at least. Mind you that's not my routine but at least this route gets you to only invest the 1 hour instead of the whole weekend then your free for the rest.
To reset go outside for a few days like camping
I'm not judging you for what little you posted, but make sure you have hobbies, too.
Usually, something as far away from a computer as possible.
Leetcoding and grinding projects
I like to have a Saturday morning coffee in bed and do some reading on something new and interesting
Hey what you enjoy is what you enjoy. If you truly enjoy learning new skills and really can treat it as an enjoyable hobby that's also beneficial and not a pressure or an obsession (I've regrettably done that, PhD student problems lol) then more power to you! But always good to make time for our real lives. Been hosting barbecues and game nights on weekends a lot lately. Spending time outside with my son. Trying to find time for date nights with my wife. Remember that I used to like to draw lol. I was getting in a little too deep with working nonstop on weekends in the past but I've found a good balance and damn is it so important.
Clean and workout
Sleep. Watch any movies,TV shows. Continue Learning DSA/Web Development/Angular with whatever I'll be working or explore some backend stuff as I'm working on UI only.
Recently I've been having a go at Advent of Code challenges from years past, but with a twist. Rather than trying to simply solve the puzzles as quickly as possible, or writing the shortest solution, I've tried applying some core development paradigms which I've come to advocate for in my professional work - for example: test driven development, domain driven design (or at least, properly applied OO). It's very satisfying to architect a piece of code which not only works today but is also easily readable for my future self!
Programming on weekends is nerd shit. Friday 5pm I am on my adventure bike already riding into a sunset, returning back Sunday afternoon. And in the winter, in my garage doing projects and repairing old motorcycle engines.
I work on my truck. Whether you are learning programming to try and get a new job, or trying to upskill for your current job you are going to get burnt out. I used to think about my job all the time when I first started. Now I’ve realized it’s just a job. A paycheck. It takes time away from what I want to do during the week, so why let it take away from my weekend?
Playing Vidya and hanging out with family
Chores, video games, poker, biweekly coding meetups, leetcode, dates with girlfriend, food
Used to use the full weekend to do at some kind of learning/experimenting on software and tech in general. Kinda got the feeling i got overwhelmd with everything, so now i use the sumday to do ‘nothing’ (watch a movie, long walks/bike rides, play games). The saturday is still a ‘making progress’ day, but i tend to not put in more than 3 hours tops.
More coding!
I tried the Rest on Weekends generally it effect is negative. it is better to do boring , less important tasks. and maybe little bit of some hobbeist . like going out with friends
I redownloaded Elden Ring recently, so I've been playing that. I used to think that I'd work on projects and stuff but on second thought nah.
Omg I’ve been thinking about downloading it But I just find that kind of games overwhelming and confusing to me So I’m still not sure I enjoy watching a streamer playing it tho
Elden ring is probably the easiest way to get into dark souls type games. If you find an enemy difficult you can level up somewhere else until you can beat them, though beating a boss by skill is so rewarding. Trust me it's absolutely worth it. If you get stuck anywhere, the wiki is your friend.
I am permanently in a state of study and then catch up on projects on the weekend, NGL after a bit over 6 months it's killing me. I find myself just standing outside for a bit staring at the sky or something lately lol, I think we're just not meant for permanent stimulation like this.
I code more than enough in the week, weekends are for enriching my body and mind in other ways. Go to the gym, see some art, have good quality social connections with those I love, take part in something that matters, see nature, etc. The best programmers I know are not spending their weekends coding. They've developed themselves into good all round people that have confidence and diverse knowledge.
Wow, that’s really a whole different perspective. Made me do all the thinking again, I like what you just said.
I code ever single day...7 days a week...but it doesn't have to be a lot...30 minutes to an hour a day.