
Stop calling night owls lazy, we're not - pieterhg
https://levels.io/night-owls/
======
Ologn
One thing about the middle of the night - you're not liable to be interrupted.
No jackhammers tearing up street gravel, no buzz saws, no lawn blowers, no
phone calls, no interruptions, just uninterrupted time. Where you can
concentrate intently on figuring out a program, if you want. The middle of the
night is the time you can really get work done.

~~~
greenyoda
I agree, but the downside is that all these noises are going to wake you up
the next morning, while you're trying to sleep.

------
SeanDav
Within the business environment there is an unwritten rule that applies
surprisingly often: Coming into work early tends to mean you are enthusiastic
and a go-getter. Staying late means you are inefficient and have poor
planning.

~~~
zzalpha
And not being around between 10 and 3 is just flat out inconsiderate.

I'm a huge fan of flex hours. I think folks need to find a work rhythm that
works for them.

But you also work _with other people_ and working such that your schedule
causes conflicts with others is an enormous, inconsiderate pain in the ass.

There's nothing worse than holding a team meeting only to have Joe Night Owl
never show up because he works from 12 to 9. Or trying to figure out some of
Joes code only to find he's never around when the rest of the team is.

~~~
fian
There is a high likelihood that Joe became a Night Owl because of
inconsiderate colleagues.

Many developers will report higher productivity either early in the morning or
late in the afternoon/early evening if they work in an office environment:

[http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/108133/are-
de...](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/108133/are-developers-
more-productive-at-night)

Why? During these times, they are less interrupted or distracted by other
people in the office.

Ideally, Joe could explain the situation to his manager/colleagues and find a
way to work productively in the office during office hours.

My personal experience, however, despite discussions and requests not to be
disturbed other than at predefined times, I still get interrupted far too
often. Other people will place their "need" to get something from you over
your productivity almost always.

I am currently the only developer at my office. When I work at the office I am
almost always the last out the door as I _start_ getting productive as
everyone else leaves for the day.

To retain some productivity and sanity, I try to work from home 2 days per
week. It is telling that on those days I often feel mentally fatigued before
the end of the day.

~~~
zzalpha
_My personal experience, however, despite discussions and requests not to be
disturbed other than at predefined times, I still get interrupted far too
often. Other people will place their "need" to get something from you over
your productivity almost always._

That's an issue of:

1\. Office environment. 2\. Work culture.

Put folks in an open office space where they're free to "collaborate", and no
great surprise folks get interrupted all the time.

My own work environment gives every engineer two person offices with a door
they can shut, and we've all taken advantage of that on many occasions.

 _To retain some productivity and sanity, I try to work from home 2 days per
week. It is telling that on those days I often feel mentally fatigued before
the end of the day._

And that's a reasonable compromise. You're not totally prioritizing your own
productivity to the exclusion of all else, but you're also arranging some
"flow time".

My problem is with engineers who are chronically out of sync with the rest of
their team all the time. I've personally seen how detrimental that can be to
team gel and productivity.

------
mixmastamyk
I think one reason why 'normals' complain about night-owls is that they are
secretly jealous of those who can choose their time of waking up rather than
have it dictated to them. Therefore an early wake up 'builds character,'
according to them anyway.

------
ajkjk
Who calls night owls lazy?

1) invent a grievance

2) fiercely argue against it

~~~
morgante
I've received plenty of pushback for being a night owl.

Fortunately most of my employers have allowed flexible schedules, but school
was far less accommodating. Plenty of friends have accused me of being a slack
for sleeping in until noon (ignoring the fact that I'm frequently working
until dawn).

When I'm home, my father always berates me for sleeping in. Even though I work
a lot more than he does every day, he just perceives sleeping past 9am to be
lazy.

------
tosseraccount
[https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-
fundamen...](https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-
fundamentalist/201005/why-night-owls-are-more-intelligent-morning-larks)

"... more intelligent children grow up to be more nocturnal as adults than
less intelligent children. "

Night owls are smarter?

------
FatalLogic
I don't think self-described 'Night owls' must be lazy, but they are usually
non-conformist, which might make them very unsuitable for some jobs and some
organizations. If I was hiring for such an organization, that factor would
matter to me, even though it is obviously a poor way of assessing their
potential value.

------
molteanu
_Night is the other half of life, and the better half_ \- Goethe

------
nraynaud
I'm a night owl with a slipping sleeping schedule, but the psychiatrist seems
to have a point about depression: there seems to be a link between perceived
light, circadian clock and depression. Which is not exactly pointing a finger
at all night owls, but at least to people with slipping schedules like me.

------
sintaxi
It is said that a man with a reputation of waking up early can sleep in until
noon.

