This seems to be a question I always ask myself. After five years of cross-dimensional(now, what is that??) work I believe I can call myself a software professional. Always caught up in endless amount of work, things seem odd when I find time for hobby or can get out of work before dark.
Currently I am enjoying the pleasure of not having to put in any extra effort outside of my normal work hours. I find time for an hour of “Seinfield” after work, and a further hour of lawn tennis before I can catch up with “Friends” and cook my dinner. Wow, that's awesome, isn't it?
But things seem odd. I almost find no company to partner my tennis recreation. All my buddies are working hard at fixing another bug and making money for my organization. Wait. Now, that makes me feel guilty. Am I working enough? Is eight hours a day not enough? Everything seems out of place. I, seem out of place. All this lead me to write this piece. I just got curious about what you guys think on this.
Should our work get so important that it occupies everything in our lives? Maybe it shouldn't. But, how about a counter point. We spend almost a third of our day at work and another third sleeping. Then shouldn't work be damn important?. Because it earns you your livelihood should we be always(albeit grudgingly) thinking about it?
I believe it all depends on where you draw a line. If we can strike a good balance with our other activities and not overwork I think we would do just fine. But knowing when to and how to is probably tougher than the number of software enhancements I have to work on. Maybe I can never figure that out. But before I get busy again I will surely enjoy all my evening sojourns, my tennis practice, all the ogling at girls in my apartment complex, Seinfield, Friends and a lot lot more!!.
