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At my company, leaving at a reasonable time is encouraged, if not insisted upon. Facilities locks down the building and parking lots in the early evening and do

At my company, leaving at a reasonable time is encouraged, if not insisted upon. Facilities locks down the building and parking lots in the early evening and doesn't like people staying late. Practically speaking, there's no way to put in >8 solid hours of programming or engineering work, day after day. Like a lot of people, I have a handful of solid programming hours each day before mental fatigue sets in. The rest of day is spent handling the related work - planning, emails, background reading, etc. More than 8 hours would be an absolute waste of time.

hermitdev 10y ago
Totally agree. Firm I used to work for, for my first 2 years, 7 to 7 was required M-F, and 8 hours on Saturday with 4 work from home on Sunday. It was utter bullshit. We didn't even have that much work to do at the time. A lot of it was inventing work. It was all about facetime to management. Result was burnout and a lot of turnover. Once i was the only one left, i basically said fuck it. Especially, as a team of 1, I was also on call 24/7. Going from 7 to 7 to a 9 to 5 day increased my productivity, happiness and income.
- taneq 10y ago
  > Once i was the only one left, i basically said fuck it. I'm amazed it took you that long. > Going from 7 to 7 to a 9 to 5 day increased my productivity, happiness and income. Wait what, 'fuck it' meant 'I'm cutting back to a 40-hour work week', not 'I'm walking away and not coming back except on a contract rate 10x what I'm currently being paid'?
fuzzfactor 10y ago
"there's no way to put in >8 solid hours of programming or engineering work" I guess not if they lock it down like a bank. OTOH, there are some high-endurance operators who not only work smarter during the regular hours, but routinely develop superior creative solutions exclusively during the extended sessions that simply require more than 8 (or whatever) hours of solid effort or concentration. My office (a scientific lab) is open 24/7/365, and I have breakthroughs whenever I want. Anything less would be poor utilization of facilities, transportation, and personnel.

hermitdev 10y ago

Totally agree. Firm I used to work for, for my first 2 years, 7 to 7 was required M-F, and 8 hours on Saturday with 4 work from home on Sunday. It was utter bullshit. We didn't even have that much work to do at the time. A lot of it was inventing work. It was all about facetime to management. Result was burnout and a lot of turnover. Once i was the only one left, i basically said fuck it. Especially, as a team of 1, I was also on call 24/7. Going from 7 to 7 to a 9 to 5 day increased my productivity, happiness and income.

taneq 10y ago
> Once i was the only one left, i basically said fuck it. I'm amazed it took you that long. > Going from 7 to 7 to a 9 to 5 day increased my productivity, happiness and income. Wait what, 'fuck it' meant 'I'm cutting back to a 40-hour work week', not 'I'm walking away and not coming back except on a contract rate 10x what I'm currently being paid'?

fuzzfactor 10y ago

"there's no way to put in >8 solid hours of programming or engineering work" I guess not if they lock it down like a bank. OTOH, there are some high-endurance operators who not only work smarter during the regular hours, but routinely develop superior creative solutions exclusively during the extended sessions that simply require more than 8 (or whatever) hours of solid effort or concentration. My office (a scientific lab) is open 24/7/365, and I have breakthroughs whenever I want. Anything less would be poor utilization of facilities, transportation, and personnel.