Sergey Brin says 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot' • Hacker News Board

Re: Sergey Brin says 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot'

#21

Post by pixelpoet » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 2:13 PM UTC

I definitely am not on the side of making policy of such work hours (it's illegal to work more than 40 hours / week and on Sundays [for most] here in Germany, and I support that), but to play devil's advocate a little bit...

I feel I've benefited a lot from being really obsessed with certain programming projects earlier in life, "worked" (?) something like 80 hours per week, basically every waking hour, got well ahead of my peers and set up the great and relaxed career I enjoy now.

So actually in some ways, working your ass off early in youthful exuberance and then reaping the benefits later can be the "lazy" option, no?

Re: Sergey Brin says 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot'

#22

Post by FpUser » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 2:13 PM UTC

>"Competition has accelerated immensely and the final race to AGI is afoot"

And of course Sergey needs to win since poor thing need another yacht for Mondays. And of course those ungrateful workers must work their asses off to help the "needy".

Go fuck yourself Sergey.

Re: Sergey Brin says 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot'

#23

Post by GCUMstlyHarmls » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 2:13 PM UTC

patch_collector wrote: post #13

"No amount of success at work makes up for failure at home." I suppose 60 hours might be a good spot for someone who doesn't have a family and isn't interested in having one.

Or friends, or hobbies, or ...

Re: Sergey Brin says 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot'

#24

Post by Upvoter33 » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 2:13 PM UTC

weinzierl wrote: post #16

zdw wrote: post #10

Can I suggest an experiment? Sergey could decide to be put in a shared cube farm for 6x 10s a week and see how long he lasts. I think there's a large difference between the fatigue invoked in work that is some variant of managerial "in meetings where it's low information hot takes 80% of the time" work, and actual engineering work where drafting design documents, working on code, and context switching while waiting f…

This and take away his nannies, chauffeurs and other servants. Let his wife work a regular job too. If you are not privileged, running a family is another 40 hour a week job.

I mean, I take your point and even agree with you. But, to be fair, I'm sure Sergei worked 60+ hours/week when Google was starting.

Re: Sergey Brin says 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot'

#25

Post by Manfred » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 2:15 PM UTC

lawn wrote: post #8

I don't believe him. I'm sure forcing people to work more hours would be even sweeter for him.

I don't even think that is true.

Onboarding time and brain drain when someone leaves are real problems for companies. Burning people out in a few years is just not efficient.

I also don't think people can be productive for that long, for me personally the limit is at about 36 hours in 5 days.

And why would you let a single person work for 60 hours when you could easily spread that work over multiple people? I assume ABC is large enough to do that?

Re: Sergey Brin says 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot'

#26

Post by awisema » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 2:15 PM UTC

xnx wrote: post #12

I'm going to continue to shill for the billionaire in this instance: what's the right number of hours to work on the most important technology of our lifetime (or maybe ever)?

“The work is mysterious and important”

Re: Sergey Brin says 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot'

#27

Post by cduzz » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 2:15 PM UTC

Upvoter33 wrote: post #24

weinzierl wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This and take away his nannies, chauffeurs and other servants. Let his wife work a regular job too. If you are not privileged, running a family is another 40 hour a week job.

I mean, I take your point and even agree with you. But, to be fair, I'm sure Sergei worked 60+ hours/week when Google was starting.

It's almost like how many hours a week a person can work on a thing depends on their ownership of the thing, their domestic situation, and their financial state.

Re: Sergey Brin says 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot'

#28

Post by ripped_britches » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 2:15 PM UTC

If you want a team to work 60 hours, it’s definitely possible to filter hiring for workaholic types who genuinely love doing that. But it’s a really bad idea to force people who aren’t like that to maintain face in office.

Re: Sergey Brin says 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot'

#29

Post by voidhorse » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 2:16 PM UTC

pmarreck wrote: post #11

You’d think that a guy this smart would know that the data not only disagrees with this, but that this rules out anyone with a family

That's the thing, with these guys that have been lucky enough to make it in the current economic system, their detachment from reality and their indifference toward other human beings always goes further than their intelligence, which, like everyone else's is generally limited and narrow.

Re: Sergey Brin says 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot'

#30

Post by praptak » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 2:16 PM UTC

xnx wrote: post #12

I'm going to continue to shill for the billionaire in this instance: what's the right number of hours to work on the most important technology of our lifetime (or maybe ever)?

Are you working for the technology to benefit humanity, or rather to be ultimately owned by a super rich minority?

Then right number of hours very much depends on this.