Do you guys oftenly get distracted from work while on this forum?

Snow.bros

How do you guys keep with your work while you on this forum? reading post, replying to post, instant messaging on TE, sometimes i find myself distracted from work while on this forum especially if you have started a thread or reading an interesting hot debate on an active thread i just get carried away sometimes do you guys also experience this if you do, how do you stay on top form at work and add TE to the schedule?

CodeBlox

Sometimes I routinely check in for the latest posts at work too. I try not to get carried away though. It's usually a quick look.

santaowns

Forums before work!

Plantwiz

Before work, maybe lunchtime, after work. Not certain why it should be an issue 'during work'? If you are concerned about being 'caught' do not surf at work.

Master Of Puppets

I hang around TE all the time but it has never been a problem. If I have some work to do, I finish it and come back.

VAHokie56

YouTube is a much higher offender than this site....

Snow.bros

Plantwiz wrote: »

Before work, maybe lunchtime, after work. Not certain why it should be an issue 'during work'? If you are concerned about being 'caught' do not surf at work.

No it's not really about getting caught but it is a matter of getting carried away and when you snap out of it your inbox is flooded with important e-mails and one of those e-mails happens to be your boss's with an urgent request sent 2hrs ago, you know that kind of stuff

networker050184

Same with anything else in life, discipline. If you have work to do it's time to get off the internet and get it done.

ITMonkey

I for one think the forums are addictive. Spend too much time on them socializing.

kj0

When I wake up, I get up and have a shower, make my lunch and my wife's, breakfast and then to work. Once I walked into work, the first thing I do is log onto facebook and check my notifications (That's it, no further than checking them) then I have TE and another forum I check (Usually just look at the virtualisation stuff and I do read everything once I get home, so there aren't that many updates as most of you are all asleep during my day at work) and then I check the newspaper site.


All up, my morning routine at work takes no longer than 10 minutes. I read somewhere once that to be successful at work, don't start your day off with work straight away, leave the emails and either go around and say "Hello" to everyone or look at something that would have distracted you later on.

The next time I generally will look at all those sites again is lunch time and again, that barely takes anytime what-so-ever.

Once I know in the morning that everything is all good, I am then not wondering whats happening while I am trying to focus on work.

zxshockaxz

I tend to just keep TE minimized and check it throughout the day. My job isn't super busy this time of year, so it doesn't seem to interfere too much.

Death Dream

This site isn't active enough for me to check it more than once or twice a day. So no, not really an issue for me.

Iristheangel

Not really. My job is pretty busy and I haven't had a lot of downtime at it lately so I pretty much scan through in the morning and keep it minimized

N2IT

Another vote for YouTube.

DevilWAH

not really,

Honestly while I enjoy posting and reading peoples thoughts, I am much happier with my head buried in the command line, trouble shooting or designing and deploying stuff.

So yes sorry people but you do come second to my true love

ajs1976

after a few years, a lot of it is the same conversations over and over again. Find myself looking at only specific boards and not the whole thing.

DevilWAH

N2IT wrote: »

Another vote for YouTube.

Seriously people browse you-tube while at work?? is this in lunch hours or just through out the day.

I come on TE during the day if I have posted a question or I see a comment I have made on a question thread has been responded to and I want to insure no additional info is required.

I have a really simple rule of thumb, if the boss walks up behind me would I want to minimise the screen.. All the bosses are well aware of the quantity and breath of work I get though, so if they see Facebook open and me commenting on a status they know that is an exception rather than the rule and generaly just ask how the family is doing. I work so that I don't care who's standing behind me or what they see me doing. I work how if I saw others working it would not annoy me, unlike some other members of staff who all I see on there screen is the internet, and who seem to do no work and have twice the time off every one else does.

Watching work related videos and posting on forums with work related questions and answers is all the internet I look at at work, aside from vendor documentation and for troubleshooting. I might hope on to FB but the only friends I have on that are my wife and about 4 other close friends so I might visit it 2 or 3 times a week. The rest of my web browsing is done at home where it on my time.

blargoe

I check this site at least once during the day if I have time along with a couple of others on occasion. It is not high on my list of priorities to do so, but I consider it keeping up with events/trends in IT, which I feel is relevant to someone in my role.

Some of you have time to goof off on You Tube at work? Seriously?

Iristheangel

ajs1976 wrote: »

after a few years, a lot of it is the same conversations over and over again. Find myself looking at only specific boards and not the whole thing.

+10 to this. A lot of conversations get recycled. Not a bad thing but answering the same question can get old so I find myself only checking a few times a day instead of how it was when I first showed up on the forums

SteveLord

I've used YouTube for demos/presentations on IT products. Once in a while when I want to hear a specific song. Otherwise, I get a 1hr lunch break for goofing off/personal stuff. But unless I leave the office during that time, I am likely to get interrupted so I wouldn't watch a TV show or anything.

Mishra

I feel keeping up to date with this forum is aligned with my job responsibility to keep up to date. I look at technical articles in the morning as well.

If I'm giving the impression I'm not working well/hard enough then I fix that or leave because it can't be fixed. It feels a little awkward but I've benefited from this site to help me do my job and I actually use it as a judge of IT activity. "yeah, I've heard a lot of people going to Lync recently... I guess it is becoming a stable product" kind of thing.

I look at it 0-3 times a day... I definitely don't get distracted. I need something to fill voids while I work because there is so much waiting time sometimes.

DevilWAH

SteveLord wrote: »

I've used YouTube for demos/presentations on IT products. Once in a while when I want to hear a specific song. Otherwise, I get a 1hr lunch break for goofing off/personal stuff. But unless I leave the office during that time, I am likely to get interrupted so I wouldn't watch a TV show or anything.

work related videos are a different thing to catching up one watching the latest fools drive there cars in to shop windows or try to dive through thick ice.
I watch CBT nuggets at work, especially if I have a new project and want to brush up on a technology I haven't used in a while or is new. There are plenty of work usages for forums and youtube.

I would love to get back in to another forum i use to use a lot get a few more t shirts but just don't have the time to do it and my job. And my company pays me to do my job.

phoeneous

DevilWAH wrote: »

Seriously people browse you-tube while at work??

Youtube is a phenomenal learning resource that has gotten me out of a bind several times.

DevilWAH

phoeneous wrote: »

Youtube is a phenomenal learning resource that has gotten me out of a bind several times.

see my last comment.

Plantwiz

Snow.bros wrote:

important e-mails and one of those e-mails happens to be your boss's with an urgent request sent 2hrs ago, you know that kind of stuff

Someone is paying me for my attention to be on their needs? No, I cannot relate. And I am not trying to be a snob, but seriously, that is an real long time to not be 'working'. I have never found down time, there is always something to do or make better when specific tasks are slower. I could see surfing on lunch, but just not on work time.

So, I guess how answer would be more along the lines of integrity or discipline to do one's job.

Perhaps block the site from work if it is too much a distraction? Not really a good choice.

The core of the site is for IT training, so perhaps focus on the specific exam you seek out rather than looking through everything at inappropriate times? Frankly, it is flattering you find that much to do here for that long a time in one shot, but maybe save that fun for when you arrive home?

Master Of Puppets

ajs1976 wrote: »

after a few years, a lot of it is the same conversations over and over again. Find myself looking at only specific boards and not the whole thing.

Although I haven't been around as much as most of you guys, I still notice that. However, I don't think it is specific to TE. I see this everywhere. People just starting out in IT, wondering about certification or career path will always ask these things be it on the internet, with friends, coworkers or in school. With all of that, I still find very interesting stuff on a daily basis around here.

Spaced

I don't check this during work, but I do get distracted after work when I'm trying to study, particularly something I am not all that excited about studying. If you see me post a lot, you can be sure I am avoiding some sort of school work....like tonight.

Snow.bros

Plantwiz wrote: »

Someone is paying me for my attention to be on their needs? No, I cannot relate. And I am not trying to be a snob, but seriously, that is an real long time to not be 'working'. I have never found down time, there is always something to do or make better when specific tasks are slower. I could see surfing on lunch, but just not on work time.

So, I guess how answer would be more along the lines of integrity or discipline to do one's job.

Perhaps block the site from work if it is too much a distraction? Not really a good choice.

Let me try and introduce myself and my job to you sir and maybe you can give me real advice rather not insult me because of my lack explanation,
I am a 21 yrs old guy and this year was my first year in the IT industry, i am in a learner-ship program and as of now i don't really have a job title and i have so little responsibility, my job at this point is, in the morning i log backup reports for the previous day, i remove unnecessary tickets on our help-desk and coordinate tickets throughout the day i am in help-desk but i don't take calls yet and to be honest some of the days are quiet you don't get customers logging tickets constantly maybe they might log a ticket in the morning and log a couple more in the afternoon and maybe later in the day, i do fix or prep clients machines in our workshop sometimes but that happens maybe twice a month so yeah i do get a lot of time in between and most of the time i am the run around guy in the office because everyone knows i am not the busiest guy at the office, the e-mails i get are internal e-mails not directly from customers.Do believe me if i could get more tasks to keep me busy it would be an honor to me because i am keen to learn from the experience and maybe one day i could become like you guys that's the sole reason i am on this site.

Another reason i posted this question is because i was also curious about some of the members who are online most of the times and by their certs i could tell some of them are working. As a moderator in the forums i would admire this post as a compliment and doesn't seem like you accept it.

How do you get the impression that i lack integrity and discipline?

paul78

Snow.bros wrote: »

Let me try and introduce myself and my job to you sir and maybe you can give me real advice rather not insult me because of my lack explanation…

I’m sure that Plantwize can speak up for herself.

But I have to admit that as I was following the thread, I too came to the presumption that it was a discipline issue. One of the undercurrents of an anonymous forum is that posts often lack context and can be easily misinterpreted. And if you add cultural and generational differences in choice of words, it can lead to further opportunities for distortion.

You had represented the issue as being “distracted” and also as missing important emails. So that does imply perhaps a challenge with self-discipline.

It sounds like your current job has spurts of activity and then followed by downtime. In that type of environment, I can certainly foresee that there could be some tedium and need for stimulation during the downtimes. Perusing this forum to interact with peers in IT from all over the world seems like a legitimate way to pass the extra time. As do using the various learning opportunities throughout the internet. Perhaps you can consider setting a timer for when you do start exploration of the forums and other resources. That way, you know when it’s time to check email or continue with other work-related activities.

I personally, don’t have time during my work day. I do however like to take mental breaks during the day so I can reflect on some challenge that I may be working on. I find that reading these threads to sometimes be therapeutic and offers me a break from work activities.