Over the years, I have asked many colleagues how/if they manage to set time aside in order to learn more programming skills. It something that I have struggled with, but often find myself going through phases of coding a few hours each weekend for a month or so… before going back to my normal routine.

Recently, Google recommended me a blog by Carlos Orelhas https://dev.to/aorelhas/how-i-deal-with-my-9-5-when-i-still-learning-programming-3ifb where he seems to suggest it is very easy to study every day.

I can pick many flaws in his statements, so here goes.

He says his typical day was this

9:00-1:00 work

1:00-2:30 lunch break

2:30-6:30 work

6:30-8:00 exercise

8:00-? shower, eat, watch Netflix

So when he looks at his schedule, he can plan his studying. He decides to get up earlier to study, replace part of his lunch break with study, then cuts his Netflix time to study.

7:00-8:00 learning

8:00 – ? shower, eat, prepare for work

9:00 – 1:00 work

1:00-1:30 lunch break

1:30-2:15 learning (not sure why he stops at 2:15 rather than 2:30)

2:30-6:30 work

6:30-8:00 exercise

8:00-? shower, eat, watch Netflix,

8:00-11:00 learning

11:15 reading before sleep

So he reckons he spends 1 hour reading a book and 4 hours (presumably) programming. 5 hours is a lot of free time, so he thinks it is really easy to learn new things. So let’s compare that to me. My schedule probably looks more like this:

7:30-8:15 shower, eat, prepare for work

8:15-9:00 travel to work

9:00-12 work

12:00-12:30 lunch break

12:30-5:00 work

5:00-6:00 travel home

6:00-7:00 catch up on the latest news, maybe watch a few YouTube videos

7-00-7:30 food time, watch more YouTube whilst eating.

7:30-12:00 free time.

So there’s some differences here.

1. Carlos doesn’t mention actually travelling to work, presumably he works from home. This is a big difference because travel can be quite tiring and mood changing depending on what happens. Maybe you get stuck in traffic, maybe the bus was late, maybe the bus was filled with loud people.
2. Carlos has 1.5 hours of lunch which is bizarre. 1 hour can be standard at some places but I find most people have a social group during lunch break. Walking off into a corner and reading isn’t really great for fitting in and getting on with your colleagues.
3. I have no idea what happened to Carlos’ “shower, eat, watch Netflix” slot. It started at 8, but then he starts studying at 8. I often oven cook, so you can multitask and watch something whilst its cooking. Other meals require more attention to keep stirring. What is Carlos doing? Ordering takeaway 5 days a week?

When it comes down to it, we both have a similar amount of “free time”. So what’s my response?

1. If I have been staring at code all day, I don’t feel that inclined to stare at more code.
2. If you are stuck on something in your work, often it is best taking your mind off it. Do you want to keep reading about the problem, or just come at it with a fresh mind the next day?
3. Carlos acts as if his specified schedule is a proper routine that can be maintained throughout the 5 week days. When does he do his food shopping? Who does the housework? Does he do any outside work activity? I’d say every odd day I end up picking up some extra food on the way back home, and I’ll end up doing a bit of housework. One day a week, I play a sport which ends up taking the afternoon (travel there, the activity itself, travel back, shower).
4. Does he live with anyone? Some people live with their parents, some have a partner. You might get away with ignoring them for a few days a week, but you will need to dedicate sometime to your relationships. Other people have kids and will have to dedicate a few hours with them until their bedtime. Then the rest of time won’t be free time, it will be time with their partners.
5. After I have come home, I need to relax and eat food. After that, I might be in the correct frame of mind to start studying. There’s an optimal point though, and after that I’ll probably feel too tired for something complex. So maybe 7:30-9:00 is quite optimal. After that, I’d find it hard to read a non-fiction book, but could be fine with fiction, or play games, watch TV/film etc. Carlos’ 3 hours of 8-11 seems inhuman to me, especially when it is all non-fiction based and requires more brain power.
6. People may say “why can’t you study in your travel time?”. If I am at the bus stop, it’s not exactly comfortable reading stood up. Also, I can’t look down for more than several seconds without wanting to keep an eye out for the bus. When on the bus, there is 20 mins or so where I could do something, but as I reach the destination, then I will be paranoid I will miss my stop if I’m not looking. I think my comfort of reading on a bus depends on how full the bus is. If people are peeking at what you are doing, then again; it’s uncomfortable.

I ended up writing all this response and then realised I never did a thorough investigation into Carlos. After doing a bit more digging, I see him in the comment section of another blog on the 6^th August “I started learning web developer a few weeks ago.” Brilliant. So his routine is only a few months old and he thinks his methods are so good, that he needs to blog about it. I think it links to this tweet by @iamdevloper

in my 20s: why does everyone in their 30s spend their weekend doing anything _but_ look at a computer?

in my 30s: ohhhhh

— I Am Devloper (@iamdevloper) September 17, 2019

I think Carlos has the youthful energy which will soon wane.

If Carlos sticks to this routine for a long period of time and proves he has learnt a lot in that time; then I will take him seriously. His GitHub page currently has 12 repos with very simple examples in which no one is going to be impressed by. One called MyPortfolio has nothing in it.