5 ms·

As someone who generally works a 9-5 job at a company where most people are expected to work 9-5, can anyone explain if there are any norms or rules that enable

As someone who generally works a 9-5 job at a company where most people are expected to work 9-5, can anyone explain if there are any norms or rules that enable someone to work such abnormal hours at their companies? Do companies like Google not care as much about work hours? I can't imagine anyone showing up at 2pm at any of the places I've worked, regardless of how productive they were.

golergka 7y ago
Game developer here, most of the companies I worked at had an expectation that you show up around 12 and leave around 8-9. Guess it's a culture thing. Now that I'm a remote contractor, I can finally live according to my natural schedule and wake up around 5pm.
paco3346 7y ago
I think this really depends on the attitude of the company and specific managers. Each quarter I'm given a list of projects and just need to have them done by the end of the quarter. Thankfully my boss has seen that I'm much more productive with my abnormal schedule so I'm inclined that this type of freedom probably comes on a case by case basis.
- inlined 7y ago
  I know a former Technical fellow at Microsoft. He told me people gave him crap & joked it must be nice to be a TL and have the power to leave at 3P. On the other hand it had been years since he hadn’t watched the sun rise drinking coffee at the office. He told me he tries to make sure he doesn’t get out of bed till he hears his coffee machine go off at some time like 4A. Also, at google I’ve known people to work part of the day from home or have moderately shifted schedules to avoid traffic. Though there are often team-wide “core hours” where you are expected to be available for a meeting.
WWLink 7y ago
After you've proven yourself, some places will let you get away with a lot.
filoleg 7y ago
As others have already mentioned, it depends on the manager and the company, but I noticed that most tech companies are super lax about it and don't care when and how much you work, as long as you get expected work done, are responsive during a good chunk of the day (i.e., still have a lot of schedule overlap with your teammates, so that they can reach you out for help), and are able to participate in team-related things like code reviews/meetings/etc. For example, some of my teammates do 8 to 4, some noon to 8, and others do 9 to 1 then go to gym/do chores/whatever, and then 4 to 8. As long as you deliver and communicate well within your schedule, no one cares. I personally like it, because some days I might not feel good at all in the morning, so I get in late, but then I get a weird burst of energy around 7pm when I get home, so I sit down and end up writing some code. Keep in mind, this is a double-edged sword, because you might end up working late at night to get some burning feature done or fix a nasty bug blocking the rest of the team.
njharman 7y ago
Tldr; Small companies. And "earning" it. After 6-12mo getting shit done, probably including a 12-20 hour working until "oh shit loading money" issue. And discussion with my boss. I have freedom to time shift my work. I'm consistently present for meetings. But if I'm blocked by external factors ill take Monday off so I can work on Sat (unblocked on weds) to meet following Monday deadline. Often work late at night where I can get solid block of 3-4 hour uninterupterd. I mostly work 10 to 7 to avoid traffic. I vaguely track hours and I average 36-40 or less. But they are so much more productive. Many people spend 8+ hours at work but get little done. My 6 hours are solid work. It also helps me manage burn out. Im slightly manic depressive and partner/childless. Works great for me. YMMV.
ddenisen 7y ago
I've never worked (as a software engineer) at a company that expects their employees to show up at 9am. Now, at the place I where I work currently, most people _do_ tend to show up between 8-9am and leave by 5-5:30, so working at 6pm I often find myself among a single-digit number of people still at the office, but I think such schedules are usually driven by people's life obligations (having kids, mostly) and personal preferences (naturally early risers) rather than company requirements. I myself routinely wake up around 9am, and come in the office between 10:30-11:15am. I've been here for 5+ years, gotten a substantial raise each year since I've started, and recently gotten promoted. In talking with my manager, my working hours have never ever been brought up as a negative (in fact, my current boss tends to get in around 10:30am himself, mostly to avoid rush hour traffic).

golergka 7y ago

Game developer here, most of the companies I worked at had an expectation that you show up around 12 and leave around 8-9. Guess it's a culture thing. Now that I'm a remote contractor, I can finally live according to my natural schedule and wake up around 5pm.

paco3346 7y ago

I think this really depends on the attitude of the company and specific managers. Each quarter I'm given a list of projects and just need to have them done by the end of the quarter. Thankfully my boss has seen that I'm much more productive with my abnormal schedule so I'm inclined that this type of freedom probably comes on a case by case basis.

inlined 7y ago
I know a former Technical fellow at Microsoft. He told me people gave him crap & joked it must be nice to be a TL and have the power to leave at 3P. On the other hand it had been years since he hadn’t watched the sun rise drinking coffee at the office. He told me he tries to make sure he doesn’t get out of bed till he hears his coffee machine go off at some time like 4A. Also, at google I’ve known people to work part of the day from home or have moderately shifted schedules to avoid traffic. Though there are often team-wide “core hours” where you are expected to be available for a meeting.

WWLink 7y ago

After you've proven yourself, some places will let you get away with a lot.

filoleg 7y ago

As others have already mentioned, it depends on the manager and the company, but I noticed that most tech companies are super lax about it and don't care when and how much you work, as long as you get expected work done, are responsive during a good chunk of the day (i.e., still have a lot of schedule overlap with your teammates, so that they can reach you out for help), and are able to participate in team-related things like code reviews/meetings/etc. For example, some of my teammates do 8 to 4, some noon to 8, and others do 9 to 1 then go to gym/do chores/whatever, and then 4 to 8. As long as you deliver and communicate well within your schedule, no one cares. I personally like it, because some days I might not feel good at all in the morning, so I get in late, but then I get a weird burst of energy around 7pm when I get home, so I sit down and end up writing some code. Keep in mind, this is a double-edged sword, because you might end up working late at night to get some burning feature done or fix a nasty bug blocking the rest of the team.

njharman 7y ago

Tldr; Small companies. And "earning" it. After 6-12mo getting shit done, probably including a 12-20 hour working until "oh shit loading money" issue. And discussion with my boss. I have freedom to time shift my work. I'm consistently present for meetings. But if I'm blocked by external factors ill take Monday off so I can work on Sat (unblocked on weds) to meet following Monday deadline. Often work late at night where I can get solid block of 3-4 hour uninterupterd. I mostly work 10 to 7 to avoid traffic. I vaguely track hours and I average 36-40 or less. But they are so much more productive. Many people spend 8+ hours at work but get little done. My 6 hours are solid work. It also helps me manage burn out. Im slightly manic depressive and partner/childless. Works great for me. YMMV.

ddenisen 7y ago

I've never worked (as a software engineer) at a company that expects their employees to show up at 9am. Now, at the place I where I work currently, most people _do_ tend to show up between 8-9am and leave by 5-5:30, so working at 6pm I often find myself among a single-digit number of people still at the office, but I think such schedules are usually driven by people's life obligations (having kids, mostly) and personal preferences (naturally early risers) rather than company requirements. I myself routinely wake up around 9am, and come in the office between 10:30-11:15am. I've been here for 5+ years, gotten a substantial raise each year since I've started, and recently gotten promoted. In talking with my manager, my working hours have never ever been brought up as a negative (in fact, my current boss tends to get in around 10:30am himself, mostly to avoid rush hour traffic).