The amount of anti-American FUD on HN lately is getting absurd. 60h isn't just not common, it's basically non-existent. In my 15 year career across multiple co

The amount of anti-American FUD on HN lately is getting absurd. 60h isn't just not common, it's basically non-existent. In my 15 year career across multiple companies in multiple cities and states the average I've witnessed is 35-42 hours a week. If you subtract lunch, coffee breaks, surfing the web it's probably around 25-30 hours of work a week. Vacation time typically starts at 2 weeks for entry-level workers(plus another 2 weeks of sick/personal time plus another 10-15 holidays) and increases to 4-5 weeks (or 'unlimited') for people with more than a few years experience. The average software engineer will pay a trivial percent of their salary in health insurance premiums. If you're stocking shelves or working a cash register or cleaning toilets you're probably better off in the EU than in the US. But if you're a software developer, your quality of life is obviously going to be far higher in the US.