The Power of Free Time

This is something I’ve been pondering on the last couple of weeks, it’s a little bit of a ramble but it would be great to get some experienced developers points of view.

When I say “free” time, what I’m referring to, is paid time, in work hours, to look into / research / learn a  new skill, technology or api etc. All of which a company may benefit from.

From a Software Engineers point of view, free time is great, not only does it give you time away from a project, it also gives you a level of freedom to pursue a personal interest. This means you get extra experience in something new altogether or something you’re experienced in but just learning a little more in a specific area.

As a senior android developer, I’ll most likely be expected to know about the latest android api’s, announced earlier today. Yet I’m stacked up with internal matters, project deadlines and project management that I can’t possibly spare time to learn these new things, so where should this time occur? In my own free time out of personal interest? Is that a reasonable assumption to make? Don’t get me wrong, I love developing apps, but if I don’t have a use for something, then I’m unlikely to go away and spend my spare time learning about it unless I have a real interest in the topic (which after a full day’s work of android dev’ing, more android dev’ing isn’t high on the list).

Perhaps it should be on company time.

But from a management view point, it’s a resource that is being shifted away from paid work, into something that isn’t necessarily needed and may not ever be useful. But the good should outweigh the bad, if someone has experience in a particular topic, that can lead to a client going with you because of experience. It means quoting can be achieved with a more realistic approach rather than a finger in the air approach. Staff morale is boosted from doing something they enjoy and I imagine in many cases would lead to them working faster and / or learning new skills that speed up development in a number of ways.

The real question is how to convince a management team to take this approach. And what happens when you’re a company that wishes to pride yourself of always being on the cutting edge of your field, if you can’t spare the time to staff to learn this stuff, where is it meant to happen? Smoke and mirrors? What do development companies do?

The final question, who should get this time? Does an entire development team need this time? only senior developers? lower developers? Should a specific team of dev’s be given the task of learning new technologies, creating examples and libraries for the rest of the development team to use?

This video is a little off topic but it’s an interesting talk and discusses how the work environment might be changed for the better.

Orig Photo: https://flic.kr/p/8ys6Hs