Ask HN: How many hours do you work?

Frontend lead (basically a js engineer tbh) for a moderately large site, and I put in 4 hours of proper serious work, 2 of less focused work where I refactor, tweak stylesheets, try to smooth things out, and then the rest of the day is spent swanning around, smoking and chatting shit with the guys in design, marketing, qa and ask the parts of the business we don't generally talk to enough.

The later part of my day is often the most productive - fag break meetings have initiated most of the best work we've produced by having an informal chat before something becomes a thing.

Working hard is genuinely admirable, I did startups and put in some serious deathmarch shifts, but I honestly believe that if you're delivering what you signed up to do, and using any leftover time productively, you're making a positive net contribution and probably becoming a better developer as a result. It's a win-win and you won't burn out.

Write beautiful, elegant code, deliver everything you've promised you will, the rest of the time just enjoy doing something you love.

Few months ago I started working on my new startup http://betapage.co , so I have to work hard. I am working 7 days a week, I spent my 11-12 Hours in my office on product development and marketing , and 2-3 hours at home in reading new things about startups and blogs, mostly I read questions and answers on quora.

As someone operating a start-up, about five hours of serious production work per day, seven days a week. About three hours per day of problem solving, research, dealing with various issues, and a dozen other things that go into trying to build a business out. Productivity stays high so long as the production side of the work stays under 50 hours per week. Occasionally I'll blow off a day on the weekend and use it for whatever I feel like, I find that relieves any feeling of creeping burn-out; and I allow myself to do that any time I want to, it acts as a pressure valve.

Total time invested is typically 50-70 hours per week depending on what I need to get done. I don't have a family, so that makes it a lot easier for me personally. I take breaks throughout the day whenever I feel like it. I try to heavily restrict demands on my time, I find that's hugely beneficial both to my work and non-work life.

Did you miss the time between 1:30 PM - 4:55 PM. Shouldn't it be 5 hrs. ?