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When I was working for Google in MTV, I would get to the office around 6am and leave around 3:30pm. I worked early hours to avoid the chaos of the open office.

When I was working for Google in MTV, I would get to the office around 6am and leave around 3:30pm. I worked early hours to avoid the chaos of the open office. I had ~3 hours of good concentration until most people arrived & the distractions started. As a bonus, I got to pick up my son from elementary school and spend quality time with him. I would often answer email in the evenings. So I ended up working ~9-10 hours a day. Now that I work from home (for a different company), I probably work roughly 60 hrs per week. But my time is much more flexible, I typically work 8am->5pm most days, with one or two evenings of actual work (not just answering email) from 9pm to 1am, and often a few hours on the weekends. But somewhere in those 8-5 hours, I'll often take my son to school or pick him up, or take him to an athletic practice, or help him with homework, or have lunch with my wife, etc. Given that my office is steps away, the line between home and work blurs. I find that it is hard to resist checking on things almost obsessively, and I often go into my office intending to just spend 2 minutes check the progress of something only to emerge 3 hours later.

some_throwaway 10y ago
I work for Google in MTV now. I typically get in around 9:30-10 and leave around 5 with half an hour of lunch and sometimes a trip to the gym in the middle. I never work or read email in the evenings, so I probably average slightly under 7 hours a day. There's no pressure to work more, and I really value and appreciate that. Still, I feel like admitting to enjoying your free time and working ~35 hour weeks is a scandalous taboo that would ruin your chances to get hired elsewhere, so I posted this on a throwaway.
- drewg123 10y ago
  Yes, I honestly think that Google was probably the most laid back workplace I've ever experienced. It was like a vacation after my previous job. More pay for 1/2 the work is always a nice tradeoff. I had come to Google from a small company where I was in the critical path, with a feeling like if I didn't put in 110% all the time, the company could go under. The transition from that environment to being a tiny cog in a giant machine was very liberating. The main reason I answered email in the evenings was that it was a habit from the previous job.
- shaftway 10y ago
  I work for Google in MTV now. I usually get in around 8:30 and am out on the first bus, just before 4:00. I've worked 3 evenings in the past 5 years (2 were for hackathons, one of which translated into a transfer offer), and I spent two hours working on a weekend once, actually just a couple months ago. I usually play games on my phone on the bus. I also feel no pressure to work more. I feel like I'm valued by the team, and frankly more time typing wouldn't make me more productive. I feel like the work/life balance team does a great job of advocating time off, so I don't feel guilty about my time off. I've been at places that expected 60 hour weeks, and I've found that setting realistic expectations from day 1 were key to me doing my ~40 guilt free.
  - shaftway 10y ago
    Also, FWIW I'm near my vacation cap. My plan is to start taking every other Friday off in order to not lose vacation. Teammates and manager were all like "nice" when I let them know.
stevenwiles 10y ago
When you say you typically work 8am to 5pm, are you actually working for that entire 9 hours? Like, if I randomly popped in and checked on you in that window of time, how many times would I actually catch you in the middle of something? One thing I've learned about people is that they like to say they work 10 hour days, but they do about 30 minutes of valuable work. Does that describe you?
- drewg123 10y ago
  It honestly depends on the day for me. Some days are a blind rush, like today I spent all day debugging a release blocking issue with a colleague via slack. Other days are, well, not nearly so productive.

some_throwaway 10y ago

I work for Google in MTV now. I typically get in around 9:30-10 and leave around 5 with half an hour of lunch and sometimes a trip to the gym in the middle. I never work or read email in the evenings, so I probably average slightly under 7 hours a day. There's no pressure to work more, and I really value and appreciate that. Still, I feel like admitting to enjoying your free time and working ~35 hour weeks is a scandalous taboo that would ruin your chances to get hired elsewhere, so I posted this on a throwaway.

drewg123 10y ago
Yes, I honestly think that Google was probably the most laid back workplace I've ever experienced. It was like a vacation after my previous job. More pay for 1/2 the work is always a nice tradeoff. I had come to Google from a small company where I was in the critical path, with a feeling like if I didn't put in 110% all the time, the company could go under. The transition from that environment to being a tiny cog in a giant machine was very liberating. The main reason I answered email in the evenings was that it was a habit from the previous job.
shaftway 10y ago
I work for Google in MTV now. I usually get in around 8:30 and am out on the first bus, just before 4:00. I've worked 3 evenings in the past 5 years (2 were for hackathons, one of which translated into a transfer offer), and I spent two hours working on a weekend once, actually just a couple months ago. I usually play games on my phone on the bus. I also feel no pressure to work more. I feel like I'm valued by the team, and frankly more time typing wouldn't make me more productive. I feel like the work/life balance team does a great job of advocating time off, so I don't feel guilty about my time off. I've been at places that expected 60 hour weeks, and I've found that setting realistic expectations from day 1 were key to me doing my ~40 guilt free.
- shaftway 10y ago
  Also, FWIW I'm near my vacation cap. My plan is to start taking every other Friday off in order to not lose vacation. Teammates and manager were all like "nice" when I let them know.

stevenwiles 10y ago

When you say you typically work 8am to 5pm, are you actually working for that entire 9 hours? Like, if I randomly popped in and checked on you in that window of time, how many times would I actually catch you in the middle of something? One thing I've learned about people is that they like to say they work 10 hour days, but they do about 30 minutes of valuable work. Does that describe you?

drewg123 10y ago
It honestly depends on the day for me. Some days are a blind rush, like today I spent all day debugging a release blocking issue with a colleague via slack. Other days are, well, not nearly so productive.