Comments on: Response to ‘Two Flaws With “Time Off From Programming”‘

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:22:13 +0000

I left programming for about 6 months to travel Asia with my wife on our honeymoon. It was HARD to get back into things when we came back. I didn’t think about coding during that time at all. When I got back and picked up my first contract, it took me 3-4 weeks to finally get my mind back into focus and even interested in the details. I came up with the rule of thumb that it takes 1-2 days to get back into things with evey week off you take. Take a fun weekend off – that sometimes takes 1/2 day to get back into the swing. A month off – you’re looking at about a week. After doing it for 6 months, I could imagine how difficult it would be after leaving it for years!

I advise

By: Skats McDoogle

Skats McDoogle — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:19:43 +0000

Any one that takes a hiatus from development to pursue the arts will absolutely benefit from the experience. Programming can be rewarding, but it is not art. Folks that tell you good code is like poetry do not read poetry. The computer is cold, it does not give back. Art is serendipitous. While performing any activity talented people learn from their mistakes. But an artist takes those mistakes and makes ART. If you try doing that as a developer you’ll probably just lose your job. Entrepreneurs don’t appreciate art. They may dig Norman Rockwell, but they don’t appreciate art. You need to step back once and a while. Get off the bus and see things from a different perspective. Life is all about discovery. Development can be rewarding but is not art.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 27 May 2008 01:16:42 +0000

There is absolutely NO question that a hiatus in dev time is exponentially proportional to the difficulty of climbing back on the horse. I can only speak for the MSFT stack but i’ve been there done that and I know from experience Rob is dead-on on this one. Luckily for me, I was able to do this between my transition from C++/ATL/COM to the .NET world. So it didnt take me over 3 months to be productive again in .NET /C# but that was just a lucky timing break

By: Rob

Rob — Sun, 25 May 2008 00:13:43 +0000

@xxx – I don’t think anyone would disagree that the best developers can learn new languages easily. But that isn’t the point of my post, nor of Giles’.

The point I brought up is whether learning a new language is easier or faster than returning to a language you are already an expert in. Truthfully, I don’t see how someone could argue for the former. As I said…it’s fun, but not easier. Even for someone to whom new languages “come naturally.”

BTW, were you named after a Vin Diesel movie?

By: xxx

xxx — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:15:31 +0000

> Learning a new language is fun? Definitely. Easier to
> transition into? No chance.

Changing languages and environments comes natural to people who are really good at programming. It’s called using the right tool for the job and it’s what distinguishes top-notch programmers from exchangeable code monkeys.