Like a lot of people in financial technology and HFT, I dont work outside projevrs very much. I get a lot of my experience with newer tech inside my job and as well have to deal with some fairlt heavy secrecy issues.
But aren't you just trading the location of work for the most part? I get that experience from within my firm on projects I'm working on while others still work on their skills just outside their employment? It is still "work" in a sense. I realize many don't get the same intellectual benefit from employment that i enjoy but trashing people who do and take advantage of it doesn't seem appropriate.
I've also learned that just knowing how to code better doesn't help you deliver a better product always. For example in my case, even though I mostly work front office I need to know how the back office works as well as how our fiber and colo facilities run. I've done everything from trade strategies to program them to installing rack system to work on fiber negotiations to deal with trade breaks to etc... It has helped me tremendously add value to the firms I work in. There is a lot to be said about knowing your business as well as knowing how to code.
>> But aren't you just trading the location of work for the most part? I get that experience from within my firm on projects I'm working on while others still work on their skills just outside their employment? It is still "work" in a sense.
Not really because it doesn't feel like work. You don't have to code in your free time, you can go out with family / gf / friends and do some fun social activity, you can do sports to maintain healthy and fit body, you can travel, read a good book etc... so you get the choice how to spend your free time.
For example with sports, if you are working 80 hours per week it is not possible to do any sport seriously. You need at least 5-6 hours per week if you want to really get good at any sport. It is also incredibly unhealthy to work 16 hours per day. You are literally destroying your body.
And if you decide to write code or do something technical in your free time you are in charge of defining the project you will work on, interesting in AI/machine learning, big data, distributed systems, specific algorithms or problems? You can work on the exact problem that intrigues you. Can't do that for a company as your work is not decided by you.
>> I realize many don't get the same intellectual benefit from employment that i enjoy but trashing people who do and take advantage of it doesn't seem appropriate.
I am not trashing anybody. Just saying that you don't need to work 80 hours per week to get promoted and progress in your career. Quality and productivity matters, not hours you spend sitting in the office.
The article is about people giving their time away of they are working more than 40 hours. Right now I place a higher emphasis on job advancement. While it might be possible to do it in fewer hours, more hours as long as you can hang definitely help me be better. We have different priorities (I just got out of a relationship and am looking more towards my career at this time).
I am not giving away my time. I am making a calculated decision to put more effort at work.
Maybe it is also that I love what I do for work and work in a highly competitive field So there aren't exactly OSS projects that fulfill that scratch the same itch in me).
(I also run almost 40 miles a week so please dont bother with that old trope and am hoping to increase my mileage this month.)
Fair enough but... If you work 80 hours per week. That leaves 8 hours per day of free time. So you need to commute to and form office, sleep, eat, run/exercise, shop and do all the other things you do outside work in 8 hours per day. Doesn't add up to me.
"But aren't you just trading the location of work for the most part?"
No, because I have complete control over what I do, what tech I choose, and how long to put in. If, for example, I decide one day I don't feel like doing it, I can blow it off and go fishing. If instead, those hours were dedicated to the company, I wouldn't be able to do that.
But aren't you just trading the location of work for the most part? I get that experience from within my firm on projects I'm working on while others still work on their skills just outside their employment? It is still "work" in a sense. I realize many don't get the same intellectual benefit from employment that i enjoy but trashing people who do and take advantage of it doesn't seem appropriate.
I've also learned that just knowing how to code better doesn't help you deliver a better product always. For example in my case, even though I mostly work front office I need to know how the back office works as well as how our fiber and colo facilities run. I've done everything from trade strategies to program them to installing rack system to work on fiber negotiations to deal with trade breaks to etc... It has helped me tremendously add value to the firms I work in. There is a lot to be said about knowing your business as well as knowing how to code.