It could be that he isn't productive. I have this problem, where if I sit and code for too long I end up just wasting time debugging or writing useless code.
Maybe I'm just another uneducated recent college grad, but I really don't see how you can work 7+ hours a day and actually be productive. Doing different kinds of work or taking frequent breaks, possibly. But not just sitting and staring at your computer for 7 hours.
> but I really don't see how you can work 7+ hours a day and actually be productive. Doing different kinds of work or taking frequent breaks, possibly. But not just sitting and staring at your computer for 7 hours
Ironically the only way I can be productive for that long is to do the opposite of what you're describing. Focus on a single problem or piece of work, take minimal breaks and sit at my computer for most of the day.
I've only ever done this for bursts of time before though (And never for a company, too many distractions), because how can you be spending so much time building without thinking? It has to be a large, well defined problem. But that doesn't really exist unless you're just copying something or you've already put in the work to define it.
In saying that, I don't think 2 hours is really long enough to make much progress on something. That would only leave me with about an hour of productive time.
Btw, if you're a recent college grad I'm probably around the same age as you.
Disclaimer: I'm not an IT guy nor I work for an IT company.
There is a third option. You are working and staring at the screen for the whole day, even without breaks, but you can't actually focus on a single problem or piece of work, because the manager keeps distracting you.
I work for a small company, and as a consequence, I have a quite wide area of responsibilities.
I can't really focus on the bigger tasks (like creating user's manual for the new company product) when I'm supposed to drop everything if there are any unanswered emails from the client.
And learning midday that "Hey, man, the newsletters have to be ready today! And the website content needs to be updated before you send the newsletters!" is a very likely possibility, too.
If I am working in an open plan office, on a multi-person codebase, with a half built back-end, 7 hours of coding is gonna be hard work.
Conversely, if I have full ownership over the codebase, built from scratch, 7+ hours will fly by. However, there generally always comes a point where it becomes hard work again.
It might be sustainable for some people, but not for me... the only time I put in those kind of hours of focused effort is in a FAANG interview loop, and that takes so much out of me that I lie down and stare at the ceiling until bedtime :)
