A day in the life of a typical developer

I am not saying that this is true everywhere, but it is based on what I've seen in different companies.

A day in the life of an on-site developer.

7:45 am to 8:55 am - commute to work
8:55 am - walk into the office
8:55 am to 9:05 am - get coffee or tea or mountain dew, chat with co-workers
9:05 am to 9:20 am - check and reply to email, both work and personal
9:20 am to 10:50 am - do some work
10:50 am to 11:00 am - get coffee or tea or mountain dew, chat with co-workers
11:00 am to 11:30 am - "very important" meeting
11:30 to 12 noon - the meeting ran 30 mins longer than expected
12 noon to 1:00 pm - lunch
1:00 pm to 1:10 pm - check and reply to email, both work and personal
1:10 pm to 2:00 pm - start a technical discussion with co-workers. Technical discussion turns into an office politics and stock market review, followed by iPhone vs Blackberry vs Windows 6 and 7 mobile pros and cons
2:00 pm to 3:30 pm - do some work
3:30 pm to 3:40pm - get coffee or tea or mountain dew, chat with co-workers
3:40 pm to 4:00 pm - google around for some work and non-work related info
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm - "very important" meeting
4:30 pm to 5 pm - the meeting ran 30 mins longer than expected
5 pm to 6:15pm - commute home

TOTAL TIME FROM STEPPING OUT THE DOOR TO COMING BACK HOME = 10.5 hours (minimum)
TOTAL TIME SPENT ON ACTUAL WORK = 3 hours (maximum)



A day in the life of the off-site developer.

7:50 am to 7:55 am - get coffee or tea or mountain dew
7:55 am to 8:10 am - check and reply to email, both work and personal
8:10 am to 10:50 am - do some work
10:50 am to 11:00 am - stretch a bit, get coffee or tea or mountain dew
11:00 am to 11:30 am - "very important" meeting via a conference call
10:30 am to 11:30 am - use speaker phone, put it on mute and do some work
11:30 to 12 noon - the meeting ran 30 mins longer than expected
11:30 to 12 noon - do more work, while the "very important" meeting turns into a useless discussion
12 noon to 12:30 pm - lunch (home cooked meal)
12:30 pm to 12:40 pm - check and reply to email, both work and personal
12:40 pm to 3:30 pm - do some work
3:30 pm to 3:40pm - stretch, get coffee or tea or mountain dew
3:40 pm to 4:00 pm - google around for some work and non-work related info
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm - "very important" meeting
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm - use speaker phone, put it on mute and do some work
4:30 pm to 5 pm - the meeting ran 30 mins longer than expected
4:30 pm to 5 pm - do more work, while the "very important" meeting turns into a useless discussion
5 pm to 5:50pm - do some more work

TOTAL TIME FROM SITTING IN AT HOME OFFICE DESK TO SIGNING OFF FOR THE DAY = 10 hours (maximum)
TOTAL TIME SPENT ON ACTUAL WORK = 7 hours (minimum)