I've been working full time for myself for 18 months now and can see some similarities (and I have been working this weekend despite just moving house and should be unpacking).
My tips would be the following, but ultimately everyone is different:
- Don't be afraid of doing a 9-5. If you find that a struggle, it's generally suggesting that the work isn't engaging enough.
- Don't work weekends, or at least every weekend. You'll soon start to resent the personal time lost if ever you felt the need for a career change.
- Make sure you can get out the house. I rent a desk in a converted chapel in a cemetery and absolutely love going to work.
- If you spent time on weekends coding, then it suggests coding is a hobby as well as a job. You may have side projects or just want to learn something new. Don't sacrifice this time for your day job. It's probably one of the rare qualities that actually makes you good at what you do.
- An hour of work outside of 9-5 is usually preceded with an hour of "I must sit down and do some work" followed by an hour of "what was it I should do now that I stopped working" - so expect a 3 hour mental drain for work during your time off.
- Do you want to be doing this in 5 to 10 years time? If not, what do you want to do instead, then do that.
Your schedule may work for you, but just keep a look out for other areas of your life being affected and recognise the source. You'll find your fiancee will probably be the to give you signals.
That's great you're loving your work. I've had some really good jobs in the past (IBM, Ericsson), but got a bit bored because it became repetitive or unchallenging. That I find very tough, but thankfully I now have more than enough to keep me engaged! We are the lucky few.
My tips would be the following, but ultimately everyone is different:
- Don't be afraid of doing a 9-5. If you find that a struggle, it's generally suggesting that the work isn't engaging enough.
- Don't work weekends, or at least every weekend. You'll soon start to resent the personal time lost if ever you felt the need for a career change.
- Make sure you can get out the house. I rent a desk in a converted chapel in a cemetery and absolutely love going to work.
- If you spent time on weekends coding, then it suggests coding is a hobby as well as a job. You may have side projects or just want to learn something new. Don't sacrifice this time for your day job. It's probably one of the rare qualities that actually makes you good at what you do.
- An hour of work outside of 9-5 is usually preceded with an hour of "I must sit down and do some work" followed by an hour of "what was it I should do now that I stopped working" - so expect a 3 hour mental drain for work during your time off.
- Do you want to be doing this in 5 to 10 years time? If not, what do you want to do instead, then do that.
Your schedule may work for you, but just keep a look out for other areas of your life being affected and recognise the source. You'll find your fiancee will probably be the to give you signals.