I think the key question here is this guy's relationship to his boss, which can't be determined from the brief amount of data provided. There's also the issue o

I think the key question here is this guy's relationship to his boss, which can't be determined from the brief amount of data provided. There's also the issue of whether more features make a difference, so this entire thread is a bike-shed-painting exercise. Everybody is saying "no", and I'm the PM who usually tells his team to take more time off, but I'm also a contrarian, so for purposes of this comment I'll say "yes" Here's the deal: work is somewhat arbitrary. Yes, there are those of us who are working on curing cancer, building the next space transport system, or curing world hunger. But most of us are doing something a lot more mundane, like getting some random project finished. Given a situation like that, there are two types of thinking. Type 1 says that since none of it matters, you might as well look out after yourself: make sure you are well-cared for. Have plenty of time off. Do fun stuff to alleviate the boredom. Pick up a video game in the evenings to spend ten thousand hours playing it over the next year. Type 2 says that since none of it matters, it's up to you to make it matter. Pick a goal, find something to push yourself to. Make it into a game. Do something, anything, to keep making yourself learn. Life is about stress, and if you are not externally stressed you must learn to create your own internal stress if you are to grow and learn and do more cool stuff. Neither one of these types of thinking is worth a hoot by themselves, but I'll only work with people who have type 2 thinking and have to force themselves back to type 1. I've found there are way too many type 1 folks who have long forgotten how to work as a type 2, and those are folks who are just filling up seats and waiting for the end of the day. Those are also the types of folks who sit around wondering if it's "feasible" to work 11-hour programming days. The rest of us are just doing it. So yes, you can, but it should be something special, and you need a system where you break off and do cool stuff. This is a long run, not a sprint, but even in a long run you need a kick -- a long sprint at the end. It's actually one of the better parts of a long run. Don't be a sucker for an abusive boss, but learning to push yourself and getting in the habit of applying internal stress is a critical factor in moving your life and career forward.