

Ask HN: Balance between discovering and producing - lowglow

I'm having problems finding a reasonable balance between discovering and learning new things in the areas of programming, and just producing code now on my projects. I feel this is a problem with a lot of people that I meet as they tend to fall into either category but not both.<p>What are some techniques you use to fit both of these things into your life?<p>Background: I have a full-time job as a developer as well, but my background is in science and engineering so I'm constantly starving to learn and play around with new things.<p>TL;DR: Stuck between wanting to learn and wanting to produce. Halp!
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noblethrasher
It _might_ mean you're not working at a high enough level of abstraction. If a
task takes, say, 5 minutes, then it's pretty easy to get it done without
distraction. If it takes considerably longer (and it's not very novel) then
you're more likely to succumb. So, one thing you can do is try to develop
better abstractions (either by learning to use or build better tools).

In short, you want to put an upper bound on the amount of time you spend
discovering and a lower bound on the amount of time you spend producing. So I
suggest using your science dalliance to learn how to make your engineering
efforts take less time. When the engineering time is suitably bounded, then
you can use you broaden the scientific exploration a bit.

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michael_dorfman
Decide what seems like a reasonable ratio for your given situation, and budget
time for each appropriately. Use the Pomodoro as a unit, if that helps.

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lowglow
I guess I feel guilty when I'm not producing code and simply learning for the
sake of it. There is no good ratio if I'm not sure what I'm studying can be
applied to what I'm producing.

Also looking into Pomodoro (<http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/>)

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michael_dorfman
I'm a firm believer in the value of learning for learning's sake, so I don't
worry if the things I am learning can be directly applied to what I am
producing at the moment-- as long as I am producing at the moment.

What's your general situation? Self-employed? In control of your schedule? If
so, why not start with 7.5 hours a day on production, and half an hour a day
of research/playing. Give that a couple weeks, and adjust if necessary.

~~~
lowglow
I work at beyond full time at a start-up cranking out code and putting out
fires (~10am-7pm+). Then I come home and crank out more code on a project I'm
working on (~7pm-1am+).

There are just a ton of things to research/play nowadays. I feel like I'm
constantly playing catch-up with things I need and want to know.

Do people get to play with new tech at work? Should I be pushing for more
hours to try something new at work?

