Comment circadian rhythm (Score 1) 709
There's also a little something to do with Circadian rhythms. Many programmers are night owls. Corporate policies are based on on what's defined as a "Normal" work day schedule. For type A executives, HR reps and others, this means 8 AM to 5 PM. So naturally, that's when you're expected to be there. In my company, we had a "flexible" arrangement where you could start your day anywhere between 7 and 9 AM. It didn't seem to matter to HR whether you were at your most productive at that hour, they just wanted an arse warming the chair at that time.
That's still too early for me. So I'd drag myself in usually closer to 9:30, sit in my chair and drink coffee and surf the web to try and stay awake until my brain came online. The earliest that would happen was around 10:30 where I could start to manage some feeble output. I didn't really kick into gear until 2 or so, and maximum productivity was from 4-7 PM. It actually went from 4-11, but staying that late wasn't approved by the other policy maker, my wife. Fortunately, my productivity late in the day more than made up for the farting around in the morning and I generally had far better and higher quality output than my morning people peers. I'd also often log in from home later and put in a few tweaks thanks to creative thinking during the drive home. These days I telecommute 100% and set my own schedule and generally disregard the concept of "office hours" but it takes demonstrated performance to your employer to get to that point.
That's still too early for me. So I'd drag myself in usually closer to 9:30, sit in my chair and drink coffee and surf the web to try and stay awake until my brain came online. The earliest that would happen was around 10:30 where I could start to manage some feeble output. I didn't really kick into gear until 2 or so, and maximum productivity was from 4-7 PM. It actually went from 4-11, but staying that late wasn't approved by the other policy maker, my wife. Fortunately, my productivity late in the day more than made up for the farting around in the morning and I generally had far better and higher quality output than my morning people peers. I'd also often log in from home later and put in a few tweaks thanks to creative thinking during the drive home. These days I telecommute 100% and set my own schedule and generally disregard the concept of "office hours" but it takes demonstrated performance to your employer to get to that point.
