A 60-Hour Work Week is Not a Badge of Honour

A humblebrag: when you make your use of the word 'humblebrag' a hyperlink to its definition.

I do agree with the author that there is an inordinate number of us who brag about the number, but this isn't something that is likely to just go away. Unless a new and objective measure of 'productivity' comes along people will still humblebrag about how long they work

One 60 hour week in isolation is not a problem. Sometimes it's crunch time and deadlines happen.

Endless 60 hour weeks are a problem. Perpetual crunch time means that expectations are misaligned with the resources needed to meet them.

There is definitely many sides to this whole argument of "x hour work week". For many, it makes sense to push their limits and clock up 60+ hours/wk while many are productive working just about 40 or less. And we can certainly discuss the pros and cons of both. But one of the fundamental things that I believe we should all think about is the ability to control what/how/when you do things. This includes work hours as well. As an example, I know many colleagues who take pride in working a lot of hours and they even login from home just to reply to emails. Do they really need to do that ? In most cases, I would challenge that they don't. But it is a tendency that develops over time and one day you suddently realize that you are clocking 60+ hours/wk and don't even know why.

But then you could argue that everyone else on the team does that, my boss likes it that way blah blah. Again, totally understood that if everyone else is doing it, why wouldn't you but the fact still remains "you can control it to an extent". That's the point.

I have made it a point to set some strict boundaries. Sure, I have the luxury of doing that after being in the industry for a while as a specialist and my clients depend on my expertise. So it is more about value than time. Focus on creating that for your employers/clients and you are golden.

I probably average around 60hrs per week and my biggest reservations about this are:

1. That's 60hrs of being a sedentary lazy-ass

2. The more I work outside of work, the less well-rounded I will be

I'm a fit person and take regular walking/stretching breaks and switch between standing and sitting but I still feel like I'm spending way too much time being motionless.

Regarding being well-rounded, I've spent large chunks of my life focused on music, philosophy and learning new (natural) languages. I find that it makes me happier and makes me a more creative programmer, so I tend to feel guilty when realize at the end of the week that I've spent all of my evenings coding and reading RFCs.