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Discussion on: What developers do in free time?

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jess unrein

Love to see so many fellow readers in the comments on this post <3 <3 <3

I'm a big reader. I read pretty broadly, but the last couple years I've been really into horror and science fiction. I also play video games while listening to audiobooks. It feels almost like relaxation multitasking!

In the last six months I've been playing a lot of Stardew Valley, Darkest Dungeon, Papers Please, Hollow Knight, and Celeste. All great games for getting into the zone with a good audiobook. It also helps if you have some cats to keep you company.

When I was earlier in my career I used to feel a lot of guilt about not doing more programming things in my spare time, but it's really essential for my mental health to have that break from work.

Side note, I've noticed that, often, when I'm working on a lot of side projects outside of work, it's because I'm unhappy at work for some reason, and I'm getting my code fix elsewhere. So when I notice myself spending a lot of time on side projects it's usually a good time to check in with my manager to see how to improve things in the workplace :)