I've always been jealous of those Google guys; they get to spend one day a week on personal projects within company time. They typically spend it on innovative ideas to develop both themselves and the company.

If I look at my current set of responsibilities at work and home, I can conclude that I am in need of such a day too. Sure, I can manage to spend a few hours in the evening and weekends at the mercy of my girlfriend. Somehow these hours are not as effective as I want though, and I know exactly why: Software development, innovation and research requires large blocks of uninterrupted time. Ideally, this time is to be spend fresh, and not after a long day of work. Even more ideal would be if the time is to be spend free from any business objectives.

After playing around with this idea for a few months, I decided to take the plunge and negotiate this option at work. Guess what: it's arranged, effective per March. By reducing my contract to 90% and throwing in a couple of holidays, I now have my very own Tech Friday!  Since it is outside company time, I am free to spend it as I wish.

I intend to treat the day similar to a regular working day: I will get up early and work all day long. The difference is that I will be doing it from home, on projects of my choosing. I guess I will spend most of my time working on s3maphor3 projects, trying out new technologies and reading. 

Now that I have this arranged, I am even more confident that it is the right choice. Essentially I am sacrificing part of my disposable income for the sake of my personal development and freedom, which is worth much more in the long run. By those means, I consider my Tech Friday more of a neccessity than a luxury.

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