Smart Guy Productivity Pitfalls (2013)

I could not disagree more with this article's tactical advice (though the intention is great). If I could go back in time and tell myself anything when I first got into engineering it would be "Be sure to take at least 20% of your day to not code, but rather to think about / engage with / socialize with others. Do not optimize for personal output, you will help the system most by improving the system rather than executing 25%…

Last summer, I finished a 3-month internship in Japan, and it was the most productive 3 months of my life. I'm currently a college student, so my work ethic is a little poor. Procrastination and "seeming busy" is standard fare for my day. It's far too easy for me to get distracted by checking Facebook, Twitter, or even tangential data sheets. Yet, despite my bad habits, the environment at my job forced me to get down and churn through code…