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I think this kind of writing is very important, because it's not just a trend in start-ups. There's a similar badge of honour of 'working long hours' at establi

I think this kind of writing is very important, because it's not just a trend in start-ups. There's a similar badge of honour of 'working long hours' at established companies. I'm watching with interest experiments happening in nordic countries about how actually working less could be beneficial, although as the article points out it's too early to draw conclusive findings[1]. [1]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34677949 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34677949

mvdwoord 11y ago
Yes, I can confirm that at after observing this behavior at many Big companies. Right now, two floors down, there is a team working 10-14 hour days including weekends for over 8 months. Needless to say that any if not all decisions by now are just sleep deprived panic reactions to a mountain of technical debt. Default reaction to every setback is to add more PMs, hours etc. It is a gargantuan mess, 100s of millions of dollars worth of pure crap really. Ultimately that cost is beared by society as a whole. Sometimes when I walk past them I am quite confident humanity is doomed.
equalarrow 11y ago
The bigger question though is who is this a badge of honor for and why? For startups, it's sexy for founders to say they cranked 16 hour days and they had a great exit. They won! Sure, they may have won, but on the other side of that is that they've ground their employees into the ground. Families and friends be damned. Seriously. There's nothing worse having a family that's second to an unsustainable and poisonous work ethic. Talk about breaking down the American family, this is one perfect example; a society that values monetary success over raising the next generation... I went through one of these and I'll never do it again. I've worked for a lot of startups too and it's only good for investors and founders that get a good exit. It's never good for the employee, even if there is a good exit. For them, the damage is done because they see "wow, we succeeded, this must be the way to do it". I was close to leaving tech - something I've done for decades - because of this attitude that is really ingrained in tech now. It's a cancer, really. I couldn't agree with the article more and hope people really take it to heart.

mvdwoord 11y ago

Yes, I can confirm that at after observing this behavior at many Big companies. Right now, two floors down, there is a team working 10-14 hour days including weekends for over 8 months. Needless to say that any if not all decisions by now are just sleep deprived panic reactions to a mountain of technical debt. Default reaction to every setback is to add more PMs, hours etc. It is a gargantuan mess, 100s of millions of dollars worth of pure crap really. Ultimately that cost is beared by society as a whole. Sometimes when I walk past them I am quite confident humanity is doomed.

equalarrow 11y ago

The bigger question though is who is this a badge of honor for and why? For startups, it's sexy for founders to say they cranked 16 hour days and they had a great exit. They won! Sure, they may have won, but on the other side of that is that they've ground their employees into the ground. Families and friends be damned. Seriously. There's nothing worse having a family that's second to an unsustainable and poisonous work ethic. Talk about breaking down the American family, this is one perfect example; a society that values monetary success over raising the next generation... I went through one of these and I'll never do it again. I've worked for a lot of startups too and it's only good for investors and founders that get a good exit. It's never good for the employee, even if there is a good exit. For them, the damage is done because they see "wow, we succeeded, this must be the way to do it". I was close to leaving tech - something I've done for decades - because of this attitude that is really ingrained in tech now. It's a cancer, really. I couldn't agree with the article more and hope people really take it to heart.