Taking Breaks While Coding
What does a healthy/productive day look like for developers? Sometimes I get in the coding groove and can sit for 3 hours, while other times I'm antsy and want to get up every 20 minutes and go for a walk. I've read that it's best to take a break every 2 hours. What do people do? Is it best to have a daily schedule and stick to it or be more flexible? Should I sit for 8 hours a day coding and eat at my desk (if I eat at all)?
Would love to hear some perspective.
Thank!
Discussion
(1 comment)- 1a year agoSenior Software Engineer [L5] at Google
If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that there's no one "best" schedule or one "best way to work", but there are "best practices" that help you achieve more.
I think the key is at least trying out some of these best practices in productivity and see what you like the best and which ones you can stick with long term!
For example, I know some folks really like the pomodoro method and take breaks every 25 minutes. I've tried it, and it doesn't work for me - I just want to keep working and I hate context switching.
Some folks love early morning productive hours but your personal life may not be able to accommodate that, on a daily basis. I've tried it, and while it does work for me, I can't do it consistently.
I've also had several days recently where I worked semi-continuously late into the night for 5+ hours, and it felt really good!
There are no expectations at most workplaces on how you ought work, as long as you are upfront about how you plan to get your work done. If one day you just can't seem to focus and want to go for a walk, then by all means, do it!
So having all that, here's some of resources I can find on Taro about personal productivity:
