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Ask HN: If one works over 40hrs/week, can they claim more years of experience?

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Re: Ask HN: If one works over 40hrs/week, can they claim more years of experience?

#11

Post by bobisme »

kohanz wrote: post #9

> would it be reasonable to claim 1.5x "years of experience" with a given technology during that period As a general aside, every time I see a resume with something along the lines of: "Java (2.5 years), C++ (5 years)", I cringe a little. Please don't do this. There is something about denoting the exact amount of time you have spent with a specific technology (which we can generally deduce from your work experience a…

I think it's stupid too, but every job posting lists required years of experience.

Re: Ask HN: If one works over 40hrs/week, can they claim more years of experience?

#12

Post by kdamken »

mtmail wrote: post #3

Are you saying you drove your car really 3 years instead of 5 because you haven't used it every day? Or your marriage is 25 years instead of 20 because it was so intense? Will working three part time jobs triple the number of years? The years of experience are actual years, no subtractions, no adding. It's just a guidance and says nothing about actual technology experience. A person who claims to work 70-90h per week…

I don't think that's a fair comparison here - what if they only spent 5 hours a week coding? Would they be able to say they have a year of experience after one year of that?

I think when it comes to work experience, a year of experience denotes a year of full time work.

Re: Ask HN: If one works over 40hrs/week, can they claim more years of experience?

#13

Post by kdamken »

While you're technically correct (the best kind of correct!) in that a year of experience assumes a 40 hour work week, I don't think anyone would let you add extra years. A year of experience just means you did that job for a year.

I'd recommend against doing that for a resume - you'll be seen as a liar.

Re: Ask HN: If one works over 40hrs/week, can they claim more years of experience?

#14

Post by msbarnett »

bobisme wrote: post #11
kohanz wrote: post #9

> would it be reasonable to claim 1.5x "years of experience" with a given technology during that period As a general aside, every time I see a resume with something along the lines of: "Java (2.5 years), C++ (5 years)", I cringe a little. Please don't do this. There is something about denoting the exact amount of time you have spent with a specific technology (which we can generally deduce from your work experience a…

I think it's stupid too, but every job posting lists required years of experience.

That a lot of job postings make a mistake does not mean you must duplicate it on your resume.

Most places (and probably all places that aren't incompetently managed/places you would want to work at) do not filter resumes on the basis of "Our posting said 5+ years of C++ and nowhere on this resume does it say C++ - X Years! Rejected!". If you break your resume down along the lines of "At FooBar Corp I was directly responsible for frobnitzing the blahblahblah with C++", "At Quux Labs my primary achievement was using C++ to cromlify the flux capacitor" etc, most places won't even bother to total up the years involving a given technology.

X Years with Y are a vague wishlist item that job posting writers unthinkingly cargocult around as a rough signal of whether they want a junior engineer or someone more senior. Don't give them too much thought, never let them convince you to disqualify yourself from a job without applying, and definitely don't cargocult along with them.

Re: Ask HN: If one works over 40hrs/week, can they claim more years of experience?

#15

Post by hashkb »

bobisme wrote: post #7
dalke wrote: post #4

No. Work isn't linear. Overwork often leads to less productive work, so working (say) 100 hour weeks for a year might be less of a learning experience than working 40 hours weeks for two years. Part of experience is in knowing how things evolve. Best practices change. If you only have 2 years of clock time experience but claim 4 years of "real" experience due to working 80 hour weeks, then that doesn't mean you know…

Ok, thanks. I was thinking more from the point of view that programming is a skill and skills develop with hours of practice.

After a few real years, you'll start to appreciate how much experience your brain gets when you're washing the dishes. You need time away from the primary task to get better at it. I also echo the other points.

Re: Ask HN: If one works over 40hrs/week, can they claim more years of experience?

#16

Post by jbchoo »

Ppl in Singapore work minimally 44 hrs/week. And generally ppl work way more than that minimum req. If the claim system you asked would be implemented as world standard, I think most singapore residents would be over the moon, rushing to update their resume now.

Re: Ask HN: If one works over 40hrs/week, can they claim more years of experience?

#17

Post by theGREENsuit »

No. By working extra hours you may gain more expertise but you certainly do not gain time. You can't make time, you can only spend it. How would you reflect working 70-90 hrs/week without holidays? By having senior level expertise, a list of accomplishments and being burnt out :)

Re: Ask HN: If one works over 40hrs/week, can they claim more years of experience?

#18

Post by uptownfunk »

I know for places like top-tier consulting firms (e.g. MBB) people regularly say that 1 yr of work translates to about 2 yrs of typical 40hr/week type of work. I think the highly right skewed distribution of tenure contributes to that.

Re: Ask HN: If one works over 40hrs/week, can they claim more years of experience?

#19

Post by bbcbasic »

kohanz wrote: post #9

> would it be reasonable to claim 1.5x "years of experience" with a given technology during that period As a general aside, every time I see a resume with something along the lines of: "Java (2.5 years), C++ (5 years)", I cringe a little. Please don't do this. There is something about denoting the exact amount of time you have spent with a specific technology (which we can generally deduce from your work experience a…

Ah the old guess the signal/filter cv game. So kohanz cringes, that is one data point, but will the company you apply to cringe if you do it, or cringe if you don't?

Re: Ask HN: If one works over 40hrs/week, can they claim more years of experience?

#20

Post by panic »

bbcbasic wrote: post #19
kohanz wrote: post #9

> would it be reasonable to claim 1.5x "years of experience" with a given technology during that period As a general aside, every time I see a resume with something along the lines of: "Java (2.5 years), C++ (5 years)", I cringe a little. Please don't do this. There is something about denoting the exact amount of time you have spent with a specific technology (which we can generally deduce from your work experience a…

Ah the old guess the signal/filter cv game. So kohanz cringes, that is one data point, but will the company you apply to cringe if you do it, or cringe if you don't?

If "cringe" is a factor in reviewing resumes, you're doing it wrong anyway. Judge people on what they've done, not how they present it.
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