What you do during your free time at work?

crazychrono100

Just wondering what you guys do when there is nothing much going on and you just sitting there by yourself at work?

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networker050184

Surf the 'tubes. I read/study sometimes, but I usually don't have a long enough stretch of downtime to really benefit from it.

apena7

Document, document, document.

mikej412

Check out the new posts on TE

gosh1976

I usually study. If I think I am going to have a good stint of free time I may watch a video. Otherwise, I will do some reading or work on a packet tracer lab.

snokerpoker

Read/study. Watch cbt's or train signal vids, check techspot and other news sites, browse this forum, and try to stay away from facebook and other crap sites that just waste time.

Psoasman

Work on my on-line classes, study for certs, browse TE, and watch movies if I need a study break.

MechaniX

Read books while listening to/watching podcasts. Get my mind off work for a little bit.

mikedisd2

Chat to the other guys at work.

A brief blackjack game broke out the other week.

DevilWAH

Work. i have a nasty habbit of finding projects for my self. so I have yet to experincing running out of work. I always have side projects on the go. mostly where I see some thing that could be done better and go set about sorting it out. That and study, although most of my study is done at home. IT is like the best computer game out, always changing and always a new challange. I know I'M sad.

apena7

DevilWAH wrote: »

IT is like the best computer game out, always changing and always a new challange. I know I'M sad.

I know, but it always seems like I can't level-up fast enough

Priston

Not too much free time when your a field tech installing network cable. When I do have a few extra minutes when i'm waiting on other people I like to hang out in the MDF closet and trace the wires from the Telco to all the different equipment.

It makes me cry when I find a stack of 5+ switches unplugged collecting dust in all these different companies I go to.

Iristheangel

I study. I have at least one Sybex and one MS Press book on my desk at work right now and on my computer I have the PDF version of O'Reilly's MCSE Core Exams in a Nutshell (to keep my knowledge fresh).

cablegod

I wish I had free time at work

Always something going on or something productive to do these days.

blargoe

No free time here, these days. Always head-down cranking out something productive. Closest thing I guess would be the passing-in-aisleway chit-chat on the way back to the desk.

I guess that's one of the biggest reasons why I've hardly worked on certs in like 2-3 years.

L0gicB0mb508

I like to berate my coworkers. It makes for a much more dysfunctional work place.

Turgon

No free time at work. Always something important I need to be working on.

ConstantlyLearning

crazychrono100 wrote: »

when there is nothing much going on..

Say what?

Countryboi

i spent a lot of time studying and surfing the net.....some days are so slow it would make your eyes bleed.....

jeanathan

apena7 wrote: »

Document, document, document.

You have time to document? I take screen shots as I go when I can. Or do a summary into the voice recorder function of the iphone.

DevilWAH

jeanathan wrote: »

You have time to document? I take screen shots as I go when I can. Or do a summary into the voice recorder function of the iphone.

Proper documentation is the most useful and underused tool in the box.

Screen shots are great, but only for yourself. Proper documentation should take them screen shots and put them together in to something that someone else can use to see what you have done, and why it has been done.

It takes 30min to do a decent write up, so the perfect thing to do in spare time. I always **** all the documentation, notes, screen shots for work I have done in to organised folders. Then either at the end of the project before I move on, or during spare time (often while eating lunch). Take one tidy it up, and publish the documentation in to the controlled document repository.

Took me 3 years yo get on top of documentation, (playing catch up form the person I took over from). But once I had spent hours of my own time and was up to date. Keeping up to date is not hard and does not take hours. Just a consistent approach and not letting it build up.

RouteThisWay

TE, study, fantasy football lol.

I don't consider documenting part of my down time, it is still part of my job. The guys I work with were all hired around the same time a couple yrs ago after a mass exodus of that Windows team. And no documentation left behind. We are still finding remnants of crap.

We do strict documentation and keep everything organized in Sharepoint. If we were ever to leave, the people behind us would know exactly how everything was setup and why.

My 2 cents....
Screenshots are great for end user procedural documents (ie, how to's with VPN, OWA, etc), but I think they are a little hokey for admin documentation. I think a well organized digital filing system and well written docs work better than loading up screenshots in documentation that should be for other admins to follow, not your grandmother who has problems copying and pasting. Just saying lol. My 2 cents anyway.

But yeah, I don't really have much "down time", always something to do.

powerfool

Walk and get a drink and/or go to the rest room to get rid of my last drink...

Plantwiz

DevilWAH wrote: »

Work. i have a nasty habbit of finding projects for my self. so I have yet to experincing running out of work. I always have side projects on the go. mostly where I see some thing that could be done better and go set about sorting it out. That and study, although most of my study is done at home. IT is like the best computer game out, always changing and always a new challange. I know I'M sad.

I would like to experience 'running out of work' some day...well, maybe not

There is ALWAYS something that can be done or done better!

RomBUS

Browse these forums a lot lol

If I have cases open and stuck on something I just research

I wish there was a way I could study over here but I dont think there is unless I start bringing e-books on my flash

mikej412

mikej412 wrote: »

Check out the new posts on TE

Since others have pointed out the lack of free time at work I guess I'll amend my post:

When my eyes start to glaze over during the endless all day (or night) bridge calls and no one is speaking English, I check out the new posts on TE.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm dropping off the call and running into work for a meeting.

jayc71

I keep myself occupied pretty well for most of the day. If I'm not busy with a specific task at the office, I try to use my time to study or read various blogs that are security or virtualization related.

I'm always trying to learn something

pitviper

chatroulette...

j/k :P

I gets me no free time - So I typically have to cram all of my slacking in on my lunch break

forkvoid

Browse TE, write documentation, study, work on non-ticket-related work such as pet projects(a lot of these could be classified as studying as well).

Anonymouse

My last job was a graveyard shift in a data center and I just browsed the internets, tried to find something to fix, cleaned up my lab, or took really long walks.

My current job at a busy helpdesk means I have no free time and if there is then I'm busy following up with trouble tickets.

Qord

Projects. Lots and lots of projects. Unfortunately, my down time usually only lasts me 5-10 minutes at a time, so it's hard get things done. Since that's the case, I usually have multiple windows with multiple tabs open and I do a lot of research (a little at a time)related to the projects. That way, when I have a good chunk of time to work with, I can really get something done.