For those of you working full-time as a web designer or web developer, do you think you have enough free time after you finish work for the day -- to spend with loved ones, buy groceries, and do chores around the house? Do you continue to study web design or development outside of working hours, and if so, how much time do you usually spend studying (to keep up to date with new developments in tech or simply to augment knowledge)?

This is very important for people who haven't yet started work to know.

Edited January 27, 20206 yr by Stephen18

I prefer not to work full time. I've got my working week down to just over two days. and that includes research (learning) time.

I suspect I may be the exception to the rule.

I have all the time in the world since i was made redundant for Christmas (web/print designer). At least now i can walk my daughter to school and back every day.

I work 8:30 - 4:30 on days I get the train to work, and 8-4 on days I drive, so with travel time I've out of the house from about 7:30 - 5, when I get home from work I have my dinner (Which is usually ready) then get a shower, then from about 6pm, maybe a little before I'm working on personal development projects usually for 2, 2 and a half hours, then I go upstairs to bed with my partner and we'll watch a film or a couple of episodes of a tv show, then after that for me its either read, play on the xbox, play on my phone, watch youtube, or some combination for an hour or so, then in bed at 11ish, and do it all again the next day when my alarm goes of at 7pm!

I have a subscription to Laracasts through work, so when there's a new video posted on there I watch that, usually at night in bed on my phone.

Weekends it varies, I could go out for the day, or just a few hours, or I could spend the vast majority working on personal projects like I did this past weekend.

I get into work at 7, do 1 hour of study and start at 8, I finish at 4 and spend the remainder of the day doing leisurely stuff.

This wasn't the case early on in my career as I knew I'd have to put in significant study time to get where I wanted to be.

Working freelance I get to choose when I work so making free time is relatively easy - in fact "work" is something I do in-between everything else!

Of course there are exceptions, say when a client needs me there at a specific date/time, or I have a heavy workload (it's not uncommon for me to be working on several projects simultaneously).