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I had the 'benefit' of coming in to a low pressure job early in my career sitting next to colleagues in a high pressure situation. Seeing the cognitive decline
by Joeri 11y ago
I had the 'benefit' of coming in to a low pressure job early in my career sitting next to colleagues in a high pressure situation. Seeing the cognitive decline worsen day after day convinced me very early on that working all those hours provided only downside, not upside, and in the ensuing decade nothing dissuaded me of that. I'm not even convinced that the 40 hours i work myself is itself not too much. Less hours worked means you can't power through but have to replace endurance with wits, which leads to much better decision-making. Of course, sometimes there is no substitute for hard sustained work, but if you're too tired to see the substitutes, then many problems end up needing that hard workload to solve.
- Bahamut 11y agoNot only that - you lose sight of the larger problems that need solving, but don't get to solve for too long that it becomes forgotten. I've worked some 30-35 hour weeks at my current job, but work has been super happy with my productivity that it isn't an issue (plus I do a lot of open source work outside the job, so work still benefits from that) - occasionally I still participate in some prolonged hours due to major deadlines, but those deadlines are malleable and not prioritized over product team work-life balance. It is a refreshing contrast with the typical startup here in the Bay Area
- louhike 11y agoEven though I tend to agree with your comment, I think we should not mix sleep deprivation and overtime. Sleep deprivation is really really bad, whatever the context. Working more than 40 hours might make sense if you do various tasks and you like your job and its environment.