I personally do 9-5 with a 30 minute lunch, maybe 60 minutes if I meet a friend or something. A lot of startups tend to have flexible hours, especially for soft

I personally do 9-5 with a 30 minute lunch, maybe 60 minutes if I meet a friend or something. A lot of startups tend to have flexible hours, especially for software engineers. I've worked in places where some engineers don't get in until 10:30, but they stay until 7:30. There are a lot of people who work overtime, though, like 9am-9pm, but I've never been that type, and nobody has ever complained about my productivity, so it seems like a personal preference. I prefer to come in early and leave a little early, because I value my time with my family and friends much more than I do a couple more hours at the office. I learned a long time ago that there will always be more work to do tomorrow. I think the hours that work for you really depend on how much time you need to be by yourself. If you're busy with meetings during the 10am-4pm hours, then maybe you want to get in early at 8am or leave later at 7pm so that you have some alone time to get work done without being pestered by others. I contrast this experience with my jobs in Chicago and Atlanta, where 9-6 was expected, and if you showed up late you would get in trouble. I haven't really experienced that in SF or SV, unless there was a 9am meeting that I missed because I was late. (Hasn't happened yet, but it's the only reason I would get yelled at.)