Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

nymag.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 243 posts

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#211

Post by iagooar »

hycaria wrote: post #203
iagooar wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I also know from experience that time spent travelling is tiring, but is it strictly work? > On the plane they could have the laptop out and be working on spreadsheets. Or they could be playing Angry Birds. Would one activity count as working and the other not? If the company put me in that plane, I can do whatever I want and it'll still count as work. I wouldn't be in that plane if it wasn't for the company. The t…

Or you do your taxes, respond to emails, call friends/family, plan your next family trip, all that stuff that can be done remotely and that you otherwise would've done on sunny sundays and whatever and come back fully available ? Doesn't sound that simple to me.

It doesn't matter! I could be doing anything, ANYTHING, and it'd still count as working hours. If the company doesn't want you to waste time traveling, you shouldn't be traveling.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#212

Post by animal531 »

tokyoHacker wrote: post #148
cm2012 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japanese and Korean salaryman culture is 996 and notoriously unproductive.

Working as an engineer in a traditional japanese tech company(大企業), I can say that 996 is not a norm here. In fact at my workplace, working on two consecutive weekends is prohibited. A significant fraction follow 995 though.

To be honest, that's not much better.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#214

Post by mat4magic »

yibg wrote: post #79
hobs wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very common to have an "in the trenches" mentality and to even miss it - the shared stress and common purpose drives people close together, but mostly for the wrong reasons. I still am actively in contact with the people from "that job" and never made as strong of a bond with others, but I still wouldn't go back.

I agree and it's similar for me. The closest work friends I have are from this company and formed during this period. 5+ years later and we still have regular gatherings. Of course the topic of conversation inevitably drift back to when we worked together and specifically during this period. A bit of silver lining in all this I guess, the friendships that have formed.

This is also the reason why sororities, military,.. do hazing. Because the hardship makes forming a bond easier. Its something that evolves naturally. Most people dont know why it works it just happens

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#215

Post by TheOperator »

jammygit wrote: post #198
TheOperator wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience 996 is a scam to get compensated for doing tons of hours of work while often doing no more work than the employees on a regular schedule. I've seen plenty of people working two jobs who just do the needful and rest every minute they can who do far less work tha their "less hardworking" peers. You CAN take a 40hr week worker, make them work extra, and their productivity will spike pretty hard. It's ju…

I know of two truckers personally who fell asleep at the wheel because of that attitude/culture/expectation, leading to crashes. They were okay but it was scary stuff.

Oh yeah but you legitimately can get more work done. It's just every now and again it causes a trucker to plow through a schoolbus because they're half awake at the wheel. This is why Truckers are hired as independant contractors to limit the liability of companies making them work unsafely. So they can argue they don't need to pay for little Billy's wheelchair.

Yet for the companies involved this arrangement is highly profitable. They don't pay any of the externalities. I'm not saying it's a good thing. It's merely a profitable thing.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#217

Post by munk-a »

hycaria wrote: post #202
munk-a wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you want to work 75+ hours? What are you working for - what value are you receiving from life? These are serious questions, I've worked crazy overtime (defined by me as anything over 50 hours a week) and never want to return to it, consistently doing 10 hour days is draining and significantly lowered my productivity, it was just bad times all around.

I have 2 jobs (say 55h away from home, but one being on duty even though on location, i get to sleep a bit) yet I still wish I could have more work or work more. For various reasons : * if you have to work that much then you probably are doing something important, or your opinion is needed on various things. Either way you feel important and valued (even if it's complete bullshit in the end) * keeps you from boredom.…

Uh, volunteer, find a hobby?

A lot of these reasons are personal and fine but...

> hopefully pay follows. And the experience is always valuable for later employment.

I hope it doesn't, because if pay follows your self-destructive habit then other people will be forced into it if they want to receive similar compensation and it becomes a race to the bottom for our time. I value my personal leisure time, I need quiet brain time to unwrap my thoughts from the deep intricacies of the work I do on a daily basis - if your brain is more resilient and can keep going at 100% 24/7 that's great, enjoy it as it'd certainly be interesting to always be on - but I value my time and the more that working > 40 hrs becomes normalized, the more we workers lose our gained ground in minimizing the work week.

Lastly,

> Alas none of it at 27 and I fear it's too late for me, and that I'll just be a mediocre unnecessary worker all my life.

Don't worry, I've known forty and fifty year olds that have been balls of stress and anxiety, it's still well accomplishable, but! Unless your physiology really is different, being a ball of stress and anxiety - running constantly on adrenaline - it's the sort of action the human body can only sustain for so long. Never let that last point (money) convince you to sacrifice your physical well being either today or down the road - your life and what you're living is more precious than anything you'll ever produce, and that's true for everyone.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#218

Post by stjohnswarts »

I have worked 75 hour weeks but only like a couple times a year, people who say they work that much are usually filling their time with worthless filler. I bet less that 1% of them actually do it. The rest is meetings, web surfing, wasting time on the phone. However business owners can easily do this when profits are down.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#219

Post by stjohnswarts »

freetime2 wrote: post #179
jnbiche wrote: post #139

I worked 60-70 hours a week for 6 months and destroyed by health ( actually programming for 50+ of those hours, tracked time since it was billable hours for a consulting firm). Finished the project by the deadline I was hired for, but quit soon afterwards and within 2 months I was in the ICU, and then in and out of the hospital several times with some serious chronic health issues that I'm still recovering from 2 yea…

> Why isn't there someone disrupting software development paying experienced people like me a low salary for 20-30 hours a week? I'd still get over half as much done as I do working 50 hours a week, I'm sure. I've seen many, many developers working 30 hours a week. It's generally not acknowledged openly or written into the contract, but it takes the form of coming in late in the morning, "working from home" at least…

I'm in this situation. I spend about 30 hours on real development and 10 hours on self improvement (trying new stuff/learning new techniques) . I easily get as much done as my co-workers who go to every meeting and work overtime. Difference is I'm not burned out like the ones who try to look like "company men" by putting in 50 hours a week and attending every little corporate meeting and event that happens.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#220

Post by stjohnswarts »

seppin wrote: post #120
bryanlarsen wrote: post #3

And even if they do spend 75 hours at their workplace, they're probably spending far less than 40 actually working. (says the guy posting on HN instead of actually working).

> And even if they do spend 75 hours at their workplace, they're probably spending far less than 40 actually working. Interesting, in Europe the hours are less but you are expected to work every minute you are there. In America you are expected to physically stay longer but being on FB/Reddit is no big deal. Sounds like a bad way of doing things.

That varies by company. I have worked in Europe and those individuals goofed off just as much as my American compatriots AND had fewer hours.
Post reply on HN