Poll: How many hours do you work a week? • Hacker News Board

Re: Poll: How many hours do you work a week?

#11

Post by veyron » Thu, Aug 04, 2011, 3:32 AM UTC

lsc wrote: post #6

jcdreads wrote: post #4

I reliably put in four or five 50+ hour weeks per year (especially if I'm at a new startup), but I've learned through hard experience that it's unbelievably counterproductive to do that for longer than a week or two at a time. My personal life and ability to stay awake, much less think/code clearly, suffer otherwise. Of course, if work is sufficiently interesting then I end up spending what free time I have thinking…

yeah. what I find interesting is that while most people seem to claim 40-50 hours, they don't appear to be working as much as people I know who track their hours (and don't count breaks) who have a difficult time reaching 40 hours a week. I suspect most people inflate the number of hours spent working (or count things like hacker news as work.)

When you bill per hour, its harder to reach that number. This is misleading because salaried employees and equity holders can easily work many hours, but hourly workers are limited by how many hours their employers will allow them to work (or by how many hours contractors can invoice their clients)

Re: Poll: How many hours do you work a week?

#12

Post by drewvs » Thu, Aug 04, 2011, 3:35 AM UTC

At the startup I work at, I average around 60 hours a week, with many weeks exceeding 70 hours a week. This is also usually done in a 5-6 day work week.

As a few people have mentioned, this number of hours is rather unsustainable, and I wind up burning out every 2 months or so for a week or two, where I put in a usual 40 hour week.

Re: Poll: How many hours do you work a week?

#13

Post by lionhearted » Thu, Aug 04, 2011, 3:50 AM UTC

I checked 80+, but it depends on how you define work. A lot of work is sitting around in an all-night diner drinking coffee and drawing on napkins. It ain't such a bad thing, and is probably less stressful than playing a first person shooter.

Re: Poll: How many hours do you work a week?

#14

Post by seagaia » Thu, Aug 04, 2011, 3:53 AM UTC

I'd say about 34 right now, once you account for occasional distraction. I usually have trouble focusing (on anything) for more than 3 or 4 hours at a time without a break.

Re: Poll: How many hours do you work a week?

#15

Post by geraldalewis » Thu, Aug 04, 2011, 4:14 AM UTC

Most days* :

5:00am - 10:00am

  * OS development
  * puzzles
  * articles
  * work on personal projects

10:00am - 6:00pm

  * coding for my day job

13hr/day * 5 days/week = 65hrs + anything I can sneak in on weekends

I aggressively work on work/life balance and take frequent breaks (a great habit leftover from my days as a smoker), so I don't spend much time staring at the screen -- I use this time fairly efficiently.

* I'm getting back on track after my wedding and honeymoon, so I'm not yet completely back in the groove yet.

Re: Poll: How many hours do you work a week?

#16

Post by mkramlich » Thu, Aug 04, 2011, 4:24 AM UTC

define "work" for purposes of this poll. work at job? work at job + side projects? work around the house? does commute time count? any hours inside an office as an employee, including reading email or chatting at coffee machine? time spent fleshing out ideas in the shower or mulling over difficult problems on a walk?

I have no idea how many hours a week I "work" for most definitions. About the most I can do is say how many hours I bill a contract client, which is, I hope, ostensibly/approximately how much I work for them. But even then it's not an exact science. I try, but it is arguably impossible to measure with perfect accuracy.

Re: Poll: How many hours do you work a week?

#17

Post by sukuriant » Thu, Aug 04, 2011, 4:32 AM UTC

geraldalewis wrote: post #15

Most days* : 5:00am - 10:00am * OS development * puzzles * articles * work on personal projects 10:00am - 6:00pm * coding for my day job 13hr/day * 5 days/week = 65hrs + anything I can sneak in on weekends I aggressively work on work/life balance and take frequent breaks (a great habit leftover from my days as a smoker), so I don't spend much time staring at the screen -- I use this time fairly efficiently. * I'm get…

But you listed "puzzles' in your work, and you included your lunch and co-worker conversation time, unless you're always in front of your screen, zero distractions. If we're all counting all that time, then that changes these numbers a lot. We really need to clarify what 'work' is for these numbers to be useful, at all.

Re: Poll: How many hours do you work a week?

#18

Post by drivebyacct2 » Thu, Aug 04, 2011, 4:36 AM UTC

I hope I have a project some day where I find myself wanting to work anything more than 40 hours a week. I have very modest living requirements and would be more than happy on whatever I could make working 25-35 hours a week. Of course, I'm not counting personal projects, my own learning or whatever. But 80 hours? That sounds (in a non-judgmental way), depressing.

Re: Poll: How many hours do you work a week?

#19

Post by SoftwareMaven » Thu, Aug 04, 2011, 4:49 AM UTC

Working full time at a startup and doing part time contract work to help cover the bills.

Anybody need some part time product management help? ;)

Re: Poll: How many hours do you work a week?

#20

Post by jarin » Thu, Aug 04, 2011, 4:52 AM UTC

My brain works about 80 hours a week, but my fingers work about 30.