As children, we have all been told “There is a time and place for everything” and that still holds true. Various parts of the day are perfectly suited to certain types of activities. For starters, people not only in Dubai but all over the world, find that the early hours of the morning are best suited to exercise to refresh the mind and body. Similarly, most students find that the morning after a good night’s rest is best suited to complete tasks that require concentration and learning. Hence, they prefer to wake up early and study for a test rather than burn the midnight oil.

With reference to software developers, their preferred time of day to focus on work is at night. Nighttime is when they get the most work done. One of the main reasons could be that, coding is their secondary job or hobby and hence they are able to devote time only once they have returned from their day jobs.

Coding requires focus and hours of committed concentration and so developers prefer to work at it before or after the grind of day-to-day life. This kind of work-life requires prudence to ensure that they do not overwork themselves by burning candle at both ends.

There are many other reasons why developers like to work during hours that would seem odd to the rest of us. They require larger chunks of uninterrupted time as compared to a white-collared worker. An office-goer can schedule his day into 15-30 minute slots for his meetings, checking emails or brainstorming with his colleagues.

A coder who works on large abstract systems needs longer, uninterrupted periods to process a model in its entirety. Software development or programming takes many hours to effectively put together and the distractions of the day prove to be counterproductive. Hence, most developers prefer to work at night when they can be most productive.

Software development is also a creative job that requires ideation. The essential mental stimulation that is required is at its highest when they are relaxed and stress-free. The noise and time pressure that is associated with daytime activities are taken off their shoulders at night, thus allowing them to produce quality work.

Another reason which actually necessitates coders to work at night is that they work in tandem with other programmers from different countries and may need to communicate with them in real-time. For instance, a developer from the UAE may need to brainstorm with another developer working out of the USA through open-source communication tools.

It is also common practice for a programmer to fall asleep thinking about the information and suddenly come up with innovative ideas, prompting them to jump out of bed and continue into the wee hours of the morning.

So, as we have seen, software development is an interesting job to have which will be much in demand in the future.

Code Monkey is an award-winning online platform that teaches real coding languages in a fun, gamified manner. It is very popular with Middle East schools as well as parents in the GCC areas. Students studying in K-8 grades start coding early due to the popularity of the STEM model of learning. Code Monkey believes in the adage ‘catch them young’ and allows first-time coders to develop an interest in the subject through simplistic activities.

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