Re: Re: Positive meditations (relaxation) or outright theft?

[vladb]

You are right, the reason I initiated this discussion was that I wasn't set on any given point. And you are right by saying:

For me, there are just no absolutely correct, objective answers for this. I'd guess most of us have seen a scenario where they did something good, were acknowledged for it, and reprimanded anyway. Plus I'd guess we've all seen the behaviors between the extremes.

I couldn't come up with any 'absolute' answer. There are always two sides of a coin. Being hired to to do programming in the first place, I think that minor distractions such as, say, reading more of perlop or playing with a JAPH may in the end be constructive. At my work, our bosses even discussed the idea of letting us (programmers) take a day or two off to study any area of Computer Science that might interest us. By letting us enhance our knowledge on our own time (although still paid for by the company), they make an investment in their company's 'knowledge bank'. Besides, they don't have to pay even more cash for a 3rd party course.

Again, I didn't mention this in my original post, but on many occassions I would find myself working significantly harder than called for by the bosses. In one particular case, I had to stay overnight to complete an important project. This was done completely on my own initiative. Had I not agreed to do so, no one would be there to complain. To sum up all, I do believe that my input into the company is matching or exceeding company's contributions towards my bi-weekly paycheque.