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I recently finished further education and entered into full time work. I got a programming job at a very good company with equally good pay and I'm very happy with the position.

Since I have started however the days seem extremely slow. Like "how is it only 2PM?" slow. I'll do a task for what feels like 30 minutes, only to realize that its only been ten minutes. The working day is a regular 9-5 so I'm not working especially long hours, it just feels like it.

How do I get over this hurdle? I want to look back at the end of the day and wonder where the time went. Right now I'm stuck staring at the clock and being distracted from my work because of sheer boredom.

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    Spend the other 20 minutes, testing and documenting.
    – user8365
    Commented Jul 20, 2015 at 17:37
  • Wasn't it George Carlin who said something about a support group for that? Something about it being called "the bar" and they meet every evening just after work?
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Jul 20, 2015 at 18:02
  • Maybe it is not what you really wanted to do with your life? Don't try to hide what you are feeling with gimmicks. Try to see the real source of the problem and do something about it. Programming isn't supposed to be boring, unless no one gives you tasks. Maybe you are happy with the position and the money it brings, but not the actual job itself.
    – mthandr
    Commented Jul 20, 2015 at 18:06
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    Isn't this desirable in programming? I usually have the opposite experience, for example I track down a (seemingly) simple bug and implement some fixes, check in the changes and then notice that like 2 hours have gone by already. It seemed much shorter.
    – Brandin
    Commented Jul 20, 2015 at 19:23
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    @BinaryBazooka Good name - cheers
    – paparazzo
    Commented Jul 20, 2015 at 20:35

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You're experiencing the normal transition from college life into full-time work life.

Where as classes used to be 45 minutes to 90 minutes, and then you could take a break, you are now faced with 8 hour workdays in which you have to be "on" for the whole time.

It's a personal productivity issue. What's happening is you will have a period where the days go slow and you won't be sure what to do with your time. Your company doesn't want to assign high-risk projects to you because you're new, so you will have "boring" assignments that don't take much time or attention.

You could ask your boss if there is any documentation you could read about the project. If there isn't any, ask if you can create them. This would give you a lot of learning into how the system works and would create documentation for future developers, which is useful.

You could also start reading the code to understand how it works. Draw pictures and ask questions, so that when higher risk projects do come, you will arrive at solutions quicker.

Another option still, is to buy programming books and read them in your down time.

Ultimately, this "boredom" issue will get solved with time. You will eventually be able to focus for longer periods of time and do more work within an 8 hour day, and find what works for you in terms of staying productive. In addition, you will get assigned responsibilities that take up your time.

Until then, you will struggle with how to use your time effectively. Everyone goes through it. Just make sure you're doing your work!

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