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I think that the younger workers in their 20's to 30's, especially the new tech workers, are really doing it because it's fun. So, working 12 hours a day 6-7 da

by sysreader2016 11y ago

I think that the younger workers in their 20's to 30's, especially the new tech workers, are really doing it because it's fun. So, working 12 hours a day 6-7 days a week isn't a big deal. Whereas the older crowd, the 40+'ers, want the same pay (or more) for 'work-life balance'. I've been told 'work-life balance' means up to 8 hours a day and up to 5 days a week, and after hours is for spending time with family and friends. I've encountered plently of 40+'ers who discourage learning new skills during free time, programming on the weekends, hackathons, and the like. Simply because that stuff goes against work-life balance. It's hard for me to believe that the 40+'ers are as ambitious as younger tech workers.

humanrebar 11y ago
Typically when developers have to work overtime, it's due to a bad business plan or bad project management. Experienced developers insisting on a sane work/life balance (without getting into numbers) is a way to insist that management is accountable for its decisions. Otherwise, the individual contributors pay the price, typically the most talented, nicest, and most eager-to-please. And, yes, those contributors often skew younger because they haven't gone through that exact song-and-dance before. Spending the nights and weekends learning is sort of another subject. I would rather employers spend more resources training employees during business hours, especially for enterprise and industry-specific technology, but that's an entirely different subject.
dominotw 11y ago
>It's hard for me to believe that the 40+'ers are as ambitious as younger tech workers. It might be true. But punishing everyone over 40 based on this stereotype is wrong.
ryandrake 11y ago
Why does ambition somehow now mean you have to WANT to do your job for 12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week? Do you think surgeons spend their days off at home practicing surgery on their pets as a hobby? Don't get me wrong--everyone should always be learning. But in what other profession is it expected that you continue doing your work "for fun" after hours?
- collyw 11y ago
  To be fair I guess surgeons read plenty of medical papers out of work hours. I am not working on my time off, but I am keeping up to date.
- sysreader2016 11y ago
  I'm just saying that I think a lot of young people in the tech industry don't care about work-life balance. And those same young people wouldn't have a problem working 12 hours a day to complete a project. Secondly, highly talented professionals do spend free time practicing their skills. Idk anything about surgeons. I'm in tech because I think the work is fun. I'm typically on my computers up to 18 hours a day. As you can imagine I would have no problem doing some r&d after hours for fun. Who cares what other professions are doing? I'm in tech because I'm a builder and that's what I care about.

humanrebar 11y ago

Typically when developers have to work overtime, it's due to a bad business plan or bad project management. Experienced developers insisting on a sane work/life balance (without getting into numbers) is a way to insist that management is accountable for its decisions. Otherwise, the individual contributors pay the price, typically the most talented, nicest, and most eager-to-please. And, yes, those contributors often skew younger because they haven't gone through that exact song-and-dance before. Spending the nights and weekends learning is sort of another subject. I would rather employers spend more resources training employees during business hours, especially for enterprise and industry-specific technology, but that's an entirely different subject.

dominotw 11y ago

>It's hard for me to believe that the 40+'ers are as ambitious as younger tech workers. It might be true. But punishing everyone over 40 based on this stereotype is wrong.

ryandrake 11y ago

Why does ambition somehow now mean you have to WANT to do your job for 12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week? Do you think surgeons spend their days off at home practicing surgery on their pets as a hobby? Don't get me wrong--everyone should always be learning. But in what other profession is it expected that you continue doing your work "for fun" after hours?

collyw 11y ago
To be fair I guess surgeons read plenty of medical papers out of work hours. I am not working on my time off, but I am keeping up to date.
sysreader2016 11y ago
I'm just saying that I think a lot of young people in the tech industry don't care about work-life balance. And those same young people wouldn't have a problem working 12 hours a day to complete a project. Secondly, highly talented professionals do spend free time practicing their skills. Idk anything about surgeons. I'm in tech because I think the work is fun. I'm typically on my computers up to 18 hours a day. As you can imagine I would have no problem doing some r&d after hours for fun. Who cares what other professions are doing? I'm in tech because I'm a builder and that's what I care about.