31–40 of 323 posts
I don't know why anyone would pride themselves over it.
Here's my issue: I'm an entrepreneur. Doing a startup is my dream. I'm having fun and creating amazing memories. I work as much as I possibly can. Stopping me from working on my startup is like keeping a child locked in a room. I don't force my team to do the same (and they don't). I don't brag about it, I am not burning out, not messing with my sleep, not jeopardising my health. Moreso, when I force myself to stop it takes me a long time to start again. That's how my brain works. Why is 40 the golden standard? Do I have to apologise for the amount of work I do?
I had a boss tell me at an end of year meeting that another employee had worked 1000 more hours that year than I had. I looked my boss in the eye and said "then he's doing something wrong". Consistent 60 hour weeks is a failure of management and of the employee to better manage their time. Especially if you are salaried.
The problem with this is the guy is addicted to working weekends. He's been doing it for years and it makes everyone else look like "slackers", despite his obvious burnout.
I had a boss tell me at an end of year meeting that another employee had worked 1000 more hours that year than I had. I looked my boss in the eye and said "then he's doing something wrong". Consistent 60 hour weeks is a failure of management and of the employee to better manage their time. Especially if you are salaried.
It's not that binary. Some weeks 60+ hours can be very productive - but it's important to recognise when you're not being productive and take a proper break - I still find that a challenge.
I wonder if the author would give the same advice to famous workaholics like Paul Erdos? Here's my issue: I'm an entrepreneur. Doing a startup is my dream. I'm having fun and creating amazing memories. I work as much as I possibly can. Stopping me from working on my startup is like keeping a child locked in a room. I don't force my team to do the same (and they don't). I don't brag about it, I am not burning out, not…
I am doing do a degree and paying the bills by freelancing. So 50-60hr/wk, combined education and work, is something regular. It is possible to sustain it, if you are an introvert like me. It's just important not to do the same thing all the time. My degree is focused on low level programming and hardware, and I mainly do AngularJS development for living. So this kind of switch definitely helps. Other thing which is…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It isn't about disrupting an industry. It's about money.
Exactly. The thing is, people who make say $120k/year but work 80h weeks, are at exactly the same level of compensation / status / respect as people who work 40h but make $60k/year. This applies to salaried or consulting professionals of course; if you're working your ass off to build your own business and maybe hit big rewards in the future, it's a sensible choice. Otherwise, you're just busting your health and pers…
The other problem is that somehow people want to make an exception for their startup. Their startup is special. Their startup won't suffer from these problems. As if their startup has found a way to make humans efficient and healthy without sleep. Please. That kind of thinking (I'm staring at a comment right now) is exactly what leads to this kind of mess. Where does the 40 hours a week come from? Years of experience by both workers and their managers and executives.
Why then are executives nowadays so clueless, especially the ones at startups?
Question: Do non-software people (I'm thinking Scientists, Mathematicians, etc) ever complain about this?