Ask HN: programming and children - where do you find the time to code?

[hoodoof]

I now have kids and am finding it very hard to get any time outside of working hours to program. It's actually getting hard to remember when I ever would have had time.

If you are a programmer with kids who writes code at home, can you please say what times of day/week do you write code, and for about how many hours a week.

[petercooper]

For the first 18 months of my daughter's life, I worked on an iMac in the corner of my living room primarily after she'd gone to sleep. The deal was that I'd be the night owl (though I always have been) and would work right through to 6am or so when she woke up. Then I'd get her up and my wife would take over. I'd then sleep till 1pm or so. It worked well and my wife pretty much got 8 hours a night all the way through.

Now, though, I got an office a few miles away from home. It costs more than my mortgage but it has paid dividends. I still work at night but my daughter is now a solid sleeper (tempting fate there..!) and my wife is OK to get up with her in the morning. Having an office without any worries of childcare is working out marvellously and it's more than paying for itself.

[poissonpie]

For the first couple of years with my daughter, I coded on the weekends. I timed it for one of her naps, because she had a pretty solid routine - 2hours sleep 2hours awake during the day time. I timed everything though, and limited myself to 30 minutes at a time to make sure I got to my share of the chores and got enough rest myself.

If you plan carefully, you can be very productive - try something like the pomodoro technique to make sure you aren't just faffing about. Evenings after work I found it better just to enjoy time with my family and get some exercise and rest.

[jarrettcoggin]

I don't have a stay at home job or startup (yet), but I usually use the morning (6am-9am) and after bedtime (after 9pm, usually until midnight) to do any programming. Luckily, my kid does pretty well with bedtime and nap time, so it's rare that I get interrupted by her.

Since I do have a day job, I try to come home and spend solid time with my wife and kid before she goes to bed. After that, I do my best to claim it as alone time. The wife is really understanding, which really helps.

[tirrellp]

When I had a day job, it was after the kid went to sleep (9-midnight(ish)). Now that I work on my startup full time, I usually code in the mornings till noon and also from 9-midnight(ish)