General > General Technical Chat
Design engineers: Can you shut off your brain during non-work hours?
RJSV:
When I was 27 I started the lap swimming thing, largely possible due to somewhat unique flex schedules, that employer established. That was the start, of manipulating my day and long commutes in often horrific traffic, both sluggish traffic and dangerous fast chaos traffic. (That's where you could witness someone risking life and limb to gain a lane change or other trivial advantage, when traffic flow gets fast. Rain? They (drivers generally) didn't care about rain or safety.
So, that heavy regular exercise helped a lot with being able to get to sleep.
Worse, though, than electronics development stresses, are the various office interpersonal interactions and the need to have a career interaction, with large corporate entities, and electronics has a newness compared with more 'mature' markets, but the corporate novelty is lessened these past years...not so much like 1978 I guess.
Insomnia in itself, without work stresses can be a challenge, but medical folks have various advice like reducing the room light, keeping temperatures down, etc.
Office politics is a bigger and less tolerable stress source, than basic product development.
Microdoser:
Personally, I think people become engineers precisely because they can't stop their brain from solving problems, even during 'down' time.
Nominal Animal:
--- Quote from: Microdoser on June 22, 2023, 07:09:47 pm ---Personally, I think people become engineers precisely because they can't stop their brain from solving problems, even during 'down' time.
--- End quote ---
Or scientists.
Although I'm not sure "they cannot stop" is the best description; more like "they don't want to try to stop", i.e. they find it a comfortable, natural way of approaching the world. I know I do.
Of course, when you decide you want to try something different, it can be hard, but that tends to be true for any new behavioural pattern.
TimFox:
--- Quote from: karpouzi9 on June 23, 2023, 04:26:57 pm ---My usual approach with 3am emails, even if I see them arrive live, is to disregard and only respond during working hours. The goal is to incentivize healthy and socially stable working hours.
--- End quote ---
Unless there is a serious emergency (fire, explosion, etc.), I agree about 3 am e-mails.
Some people are awake at 3 am, especially in different countries and time zones, and send the e-mail while they are awake.
When working with a Japanese company in the fax days, we exploited the time difference:
I would send a question there at the end of business in Chicago, the recipient would have a full working day to write an answer, and I would receive my answer by the beginning of business on the next day.
Microdoser:
--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on June 23, 2023, 09:17:08 am ---
--- Quote from: Microdoser on June 22, 2023, 07:09:47 pm ---Personally, I think people become engineers precisely because they can't stop their brain from solving problems, even during 'down' time.
--- End quote ---
Or scientists.
Although I'm not sure "they cannot stop" is the best description; more like "they don't want to try to stop", i.e. they find it a comfortable, natural way of approaching the world. I know I do.
Of course, when you decide you want to try something different, it can be hard, but that tends to be true for any new behavioural pattern.
--- End quote ---
I'm not addicted, I can stop any time I like ;)
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