Ask HN: Time to kill at work; what to do?

[Pooge]

I have a lot of time to kill at work and I'm currently reading technical articles/blogs.

I'm also reading a book about a specific language but I'm wondering if there's something you would recommend that I haven't thought about. Maybe this gives ideas to people who stumble upon this thread.

Note that I can't install everything on my (work) computer as I don't have admin rights to it.

[al_borland]

When I had a lot of downtime I built tools to make the job easier when it did get busy. Eventually those tools were shared with the rest of the team. Doing that is what allowed me to pivot from a sys admin to a software engineer over the course of several years.

[3dsnano]

https://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/

[alecsm → 3dsnano]

I don't understand why my brain is so amazed by these incremental games.

[laxk → 3dsnano]

5 hours later:

$700M paperclips... :-|

Any docs about Yomi models? What is it about at all?

[cpach → laxk]

I don’t remember now, but there’s lots of info about this game out there. So the risk of being blocked for a longer time is quite low.

Wiki: https://universalpaperclips.fandom.com/wiki/Universal_Paperc...

Not one but two subreddits: https://www.reddit.com/r/pAIperclip/ – https://www.reddit.com/r/universalpaperclips/

[egesabanci → 3dsnano]

haha, holy shit this is great!

[datascienced]

1. Ass cover to make sure you are not fired for performance. Redundancy might be unavoidable!

2. Other than that, what to do is a very open question. What are your goals? Are you needing this rest after a big crunch? If so maybe take the rest. Slowly learn new skills. It could also be a chance to figure out how the company works politically (it is always political), to get promoted or moved into your dream role. It could also be a chance to grind leetcode for another job, or learn skills for things you love (not need).

[jjice]

When I was in college, I had an internship at a large US retailer. Since their main goal was to sell clothes, the tech side of things was pretty slow - especially for interns. I ended up having a lot of time to sit on my hands (my manager would even tell me to kill time until other stuff would come up).

I got to learn Rust via the Rust Programming Language book since it was entirely online, and they have their web playground for writing code. Online books like that are a great option, and if it's language specific, you can probably find a web playground to use instead of installing a tool chain on your work machine.

[literallyroy]

Improving developer experience for your team is a good way to kill time between tasks at work

[thala → literallyroy]

I wish more people took this seriously and wrote better docs. Sometimes even internally feature understanding across teams is sparse.

[sircastor]

We get 10% time every 6 months to work on some personal growth goal. I’ve learned Swift & SwiftUI, Electronic circuit Design, computer vision. I’ve thought of trying to dive into VR a bit, or Raspi CM Carrier module for the upcoming year.

I try to just find stuff that interests me.

[acquiremoney]

If possible play factorio. You will improve your architecture skills and automation skills.

[tomcam]

First of all I never had that privilege; I did the other things after work or middle of the night.

Second of all, please recognize that you're in an amazing position. You're getting paid to plan your next move! Take advantage of it because you may not always have this luxury. If you get laid off or take on a much less pleasant job, try to imagine how you'd feel if you didn't use this time well.

Anyway I always recommend studying for your next job or position. When I was a tech writer I studied programming. When I was a programmer I studied business. When I started my own business I studied the parts of it I didn't understand well.

[ipaddr → tomcam]

Curious what roles you've had. Are more of a frontend developer with ever changing requirements?

[tomcam → ipaddr]

Roles ranged from compiler writing to embedded to full stack web dev. I stick to my own web framework now

[austin-cheney]

Set up a home media server (if you work from home). I just recently wrote a script for mine to play media with a playlist on the iphone and desktop that bypasses all restrictions and stupidity imposed by the iphone. I no longer need to stream media from the internet while at the house. The last thing left to figure out is to play avi video files in the browser without third party software.

[piezoelectric]

Maybe start coding a website where you host your own media and such, or try helping open source projects on github

[HenryBemis]

If you got any certifications that require CPEs (or PDUs or whatever they may be called) put priority to them. I know from experience that it's painful to wake up on Dec 1st and realize you need to do 150 hours of training.

[andersource]

Make shaders https://www.shadertoy.com/

[ddgflorida]

Definitely go into learning mode and try to learn skills that will help you at your current company and whatever follows.

[Pooge → ddgflorida]

I'm a backend engineer. What would be something you recommend on learning? Was thinking about learning GraphQL

[ecesena]

I’d look for another job. So, to respond to the question: prepare resume and for interviews.

[mikewarot]

Have you discussed this with management? Going above and beyond is a good way to stay employed though this market trough.

[Pooge → mikewarot]

fuck management

[mikewarot → Pooge]

So, you wish to sabotage the very people who get you a paycheck? This is not a wise long term survival strategy.

[Pooge → mikewarot]

Nope. This is a fixed-term contract that ends in a few months. There is still opportunity to learn here but a non-negligible percentage of that duration is spent doing nothing productive. Going to management will absolutely not solve the situation as they are in fact part of the problem.

I'm trying to make the most of my free time and bounce back when I'm free from my contract.