Ask HN: How many hours do you work?

#1

Post by fantominous » Wed, Aug 26, 2015, 7:25 PM UTC

I joined Facebook as an engineer straight out of college a little less than a year ago. During my time here I've constantly felt like I'm not working hard enough. I spend around 9 hours a day at the office, but not all of that time is spent working.

To get a better idea of how much time I actually work I started using the pomodoro technique a few weeks ago. I've noticed I do around 12 pomodoros (about 6 hours) of solid work before calling it a day. Usually by the end I'm mentally exhausted (is this normal?) and want to go home.

I'm really curious to know if six hours of work a day is normal. How much time do people spend actually working at the office? A lot of people at Facebook put in long hours, but I feel like that may be because they spend some time browsing reddit, reading hacker news, etc., rather than working.

So far after compiling feedback I've received from my manager and peers I'd say I'm performing above average but not exceptionally.

I hear about people working 60 hours a week and I wonder how they do it. Do you compromise on productivity? How do you stay focused for so long?

How many hours do you put in at the office? How many of those are spent doing productive work?

Re: Ask HN: How many hours do you work?

#2

Post by heinrichf » Wed, Aug 26, 2015, 8:11 PM UTC

I recall reading interviews of some top mathematicians (probably at the end of the Princeton guide to Mathematics), who stated that they couldn't work on their problems deeply more than a few hours a day. The rest of the day would then be spent attending seminars, reading papers or typing. So yes, it is perfectly normal to be "mentally exhausted" after uninterrupted hours on a mentally challenging task, albeit you could probably spend 9 hours straight on some routine programming without problem, except perhaps boredom.

Re: Ask HN: How many hours do you work?

#3

Post by ekr » Wed, Aug 26, 2015, 8:12 PM UTC

That's exactly my problem, I can't work for more than 5-6 hours because of exhaustion. But in my case, I'm still in school and work full time, so that may be part of the problem.

Re: Ask HN: How many hours do you work?

#4

Post by S4M » Wed, Aug 26, 2015, 8:30 PM UTC

heinrichf wrote: post #2

I recall reading interviews of some top mathematicians (probably at the end of the Princeton guide to Mathematics), who stated that they couldn't work on their problems deeply more than a few hours a day. The rest of the day would then be spent attending seminars, reading papers or typing. So yes, it is perfectly normal to be "mentally exhausted" after uninterrupted hours on a mentally challenging task, albeit you co…

Fair point, but I would say that a mathematician might require more intense concentration than a programmer.

Re: Ask HN: How many hours do you work?

#5

Post by atmosx » Wed, Aug 26, 2015, 8:48 PM UTC

Most programmers have stated on HN that they work on avg 4 hours per day. Most ppl cannot work more than that. Of course there exceptions but about 4 hours of pure programming (reading documentation, writing/refactoring code) is acceptable. Otherwise you risk burn out.

Re: Ask HN: How many hours do you work?

#6

Post by Rockdtben » Wed, Aug 26, 2015, 8:53 PM UTC

9:30 AM: Arrive at office. 11:30 AM: Stop working 11:50 AM: Go to lunch. 1:30 PM: Get back from lunch. 4:55 PM: Go Home.

2 hours a day.

Re: Ask HN: How many hours do you work?

#7

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 26, 2015, 9:04 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How many hours do you work?

#8

Post by feedthebayer » Wed, Aug 26, 2015, 9:25 PM UTC

I think the average person's capacity for deeply focused work is generally considered to be around 6 hours per day. I've found that to be the case for me as well. However, I can be maxed out at my day job, but go home and work on an unrelated side project for several more hours.

I highly recommend Cal Newport's blog as he writes phenomenal content on "deep work", the importance of focus, and how to maximize your "deep work" output. --> http://calnewport.com/blog/about/

Separate out "deep work" (design, coding, problem solving) from "shallow work" (email, social media). Do as much deep work as possible every day, but then fill in the rest with shallow but necessary work.

P.S. My average day-job working time is 8 hrs.

Re: Ask HN: How many hours do you work?

#9

Post by jblake » Wed, Aug 26, 2015, 9:30 PM UTC

I run my solo bootstrapped SaaS business and have put in consistent 80-100 hour weeks (total computer time) for the past 4 years and am 60-85% "productive" (according to RescueTime). Of course there have been some odd weeks of only 20 hours (...and some 120). Not really proud of it. It is what it is. It's been working. I think in the next 2 years I'll be able to figure it all out and taper down (which I really look forward to!). It's just that every hour adds such clear value to the company... so I keep going. The hours come easy when its all yours. I've had a programming job before and could hardly stay awake for the 8 hours... let alone be productive!

Re: Ask HN: How many hours do you work?

#10

Post by Someone1234 » Wed, Aug 26, 2015, 10:00 PM UTC

jblake wrote: post #9

I run my solo bootstrapped SaaS business and have put in consistent 80-100 hour weeks (total computer time) for the past 4 years and am 60-85% "productive" (according to RescueTime). Of course there have been some odd weeks of only 20 hours (...and some 120). Not really proud of it. It is what it is. It's been working. I think in the next 2 years I'll be able to figure it all out and taper down (which I really look f…

I can understand the motivation of investing so much time when you personally get to reap all of the rewards, but do you ever worry about burnout? Seems like you've been going at 100% for two years now, how long more can that continue before your mental or physical health takes a beating? When was the last time you took a vacation/holiday?