Crunch Time

[Grudge]

So it's a Friday night and there's absolutely nobody here and I'm sat here doing Uni work.

How do you guys deal with "crunch time"? Here at Uni, every week feels like crunch time until you finally get a term-time break. I'm just worried about these moments cropping up in an industry position (which they undoubtedly will) and not knowing how to keep afloat.

How do you keep yourselves going without deviating / breaking from work too much?

I've got a Domino's on the way...

[ErikKiller]

Legal drugs.

[nub]

More than anything, music, if it's not too distracting for you. But not just any kind of music you "tolerate." I mean music that you truly appreciate listening to. Not stuff you just listen to in your car to keep things from being dull for instance.

I personally find that listening to music I really appreciate works great in keeping me focused and productive. My crappy part-time job pushing shopping carts at a Super Target tends to get really tedious and frustrating and listening to some of my favorite metal bands makes it a million times easier. Unfortunately, I get bitched at by the managers for it.

Another thing that would help is investing in a really good pair of headphones so you get good audio quality. Much better than a cheap $10 pair of headphones. I would recommend over-ear style, but if a big set of cans (haha, boobs) are too much for you, then there's really good on-ear and in-ear stuff out there too. I personally hate having stuff crammed in my ears or sitting directly on them, so I prefer over-ear style. Honestly, I think you get the best listening experience with over-ear headphones.

[jimonions]

What nub said. I find it very easy to work with good on-ear headphones on whether or not I'm listening to anything, its just you, the music, and the work. I get the rest of my duties out of the way first so nothing comes up that will distract me (food, bathroom, sleepy, etc). It sucks that I have to wear glasses to see my screen though, it hurts after a bit. Contacts are a good alternative until they start drying your eyes.

This may just be me but I prefer snacking while working. Any caffeinated or sugary drink helps me keep going without feeling drowsy. unfortunately the college life isn't so easy keeping your pantry full.

Working somewhere comfortable and quite outside of your home can increase productivity. You are less likely to resort to procrastinating. Working alongside someone may or may not help you.

Motivation is the biggest drive. I want to see my work complete and show others. Especially knowing that I learn so much all out of my own initiative.
Just my thoughts on this subject. I really need to stop playing Guild Wars 2..

[Grudge]

Music is a good one, I often find myself forgetting to play my music. I play it pretty loudly here out of my sound system because the walls and floor are quite good for soundproofing. In a work environment, I could use some headphones to keep myself going too, so good suggestion.

95% of the time I think it comes down to the fact that I just have other distractions that I can too easily resort to on my own home computer. Like you said about Guild Wars 2, jimonions - wouldn't be an issue in a work environment because the computers would only have the software you needed installed to do your job. Maybe I should start going on campus to do my work?

I'd shut down my Facebook during term time but I need it to stay connected with certain projects that are academic, such as collaborative work and staying in touch with lecturers easier than emails.

[SM Sith Lord]

Basically you gotta start loving crunch time. All time should be crunch time; then you get more shit done.

[MaK]

Basically you gotta start loving crunch time. All time should be crunch time; then you get more shit done.

Sounds like a path to insanity.

[zombie@computer]

Crunch time for me was usually in bed. Literally. I piled the books next to my bed and studied the hours before i went to bed and sometimes early in the morning.

[Grudge]

Waking up is so much more difficult lately, I waste hours in bed by waking up at 11am when I could be putting extra work into my projects.

[Hollow]

Are we talking crunch time for studying or crunch time in games development? Because I've only experienced the latter.
All I can say is music, and/or some sort of podcast to zone your brain out into autopilot so you just focus. It's cancels out all distractions with a constant sound. A good music playlist also puts me in the right mood to get shit done.

Crunch is also a really stupid thing that you'll have to get used to in the industry. For the most part, more hours doesn't equate to more productivity or quality of work. So even if you're needed to hit deadlines, doing a 15 hour day is unlikely to make you more efficient.

[Grudge]

Are we talking crunch time for studying or crunch time in games development? Because I've only experienced the latter.
All I can say is music, and/or some sort of podcast to zone your brain out into autopilot so you just focus. It's cancels out all distractions with a constant sound. A good music playlist also puts me in the right mood to get shit done.

Crunch is also a really stupid thing that you'll have to get used to in the industry. For the most part, more hours doesn't equate to more productivity or quality of work. So even if you're needed to hit deadlines, doing a 15 hour day is unlikely to make you more efficient.

For me they are quite close to the same thing (I'd imagine) as my studying IS games development.

All I'm expecting that differs in crunch @ industry is the higher sense of pressure and the amount that needs to be done in, probably, the same amount of time. Music seems to be a solid one - would you say perhaps headphones (even if not necessary) would work better than playing it out of speakers, just because it cancels out everything else? Suppose that's a given, really.

[amckern]

i get over it by yelling at noobs in games

[Dr. Delta]

Music, and sleep. Sleep's a pretty important one actually. Gotta keep sleeping enough, or you'll end up doing silly things which will take many hours to fix or you can't understand how to solve a problem. Too bad I don't listen to myself.

[nub]

would you say perhaps headphones (even if not necessary) would work better than playing it out of speakers, just because it cancels out everything else? Suppose that's a given, really.

Absolutely. You could buy a pair of Bose headphones that are designed to isolate outside noise. They don't have the best sound, but their noise isolation is absolutely superb. You will essentially hear JUST the music with a pair of those, and you'll completely zone out while you work. That's essentially what they were designed for.

Speakers are great if you just want some background noise while you get shit done, but that won't allow you to totally zone out. If you need to be able to hear someone or something (like your phone) while you're working, then speakers might be the way to go. If you're wearing sound-isolating headphones, you're simply not going to hear anything but your music. Actually, that tends to be the case with most headphones.

[SM Sith Lord]

As far as music, I listen to the same song over and over throughout the day. Don't know why, it just seems to keep me in the same mind state I guess. There are certain songs that I immediately associate with projects of mine because I listened to them so many times while making it.