Some various work cultures I've worked in: 1) 70-80 work weeks. Get in at 8:30 leave at 11. Sometimes work weekends. This is typical for some of the more compe

Some various work cultures I've worked in: 1) 70-80 work weeks. Get in at 8:30 leave at 11. Sometimes work weekends. This is typical for some of the more competitive jobs in law or finance. Definitely also applies to some startups, especially for founders and early employees. 2) 40 hour work weeks. People get in strictly at 9 and leave at 5. Much of the workforce operates this way. 3) Variable workweeks going from 40-60 hours. Most startup employees seem to be in this bucket from what I've seen. In my first job, I did 70-80 work weeks almost every week (a bit lighter around holidays) and it was brutal, but by far the hardest thing were the unpredictability of my hours. I never knew whether I was gonna get out of work at 9pm or 2am or if I would have to work over the weekend, so I could never make plans. This was harder than the long hours themselves. I worked at a company where people were pretty strict about the 9-to-5 thing. The work-life balance was great, but sometimes it's a hassle if people don't work at all outside of work hours; for instance, when you need something from someone and they don't check their emails. In general, I think that flexibility and predictability is the most important thing for me in what I consider a sane workweek. I wanna know that if I make dinner plans with my wife, I can keep them. If I need to go to the doctor in the morning that it's not a problem. I don't mind going online for a few hours at night afterwards to make up for time missed, but I hate having to cancel plans.