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I’ve been working 4d/week for the last 5 years as a Data Scientist. I first proposed it during salary negotiations with a small startup, who were surprised by i
by mbrundle 6y ago
I’ve been working 4d/week for the last 5 years as a Data Scientist. I first proposed it during salary negotiations with a small startup, who were surprised by it but were willing to give it a go. It worked out really well, and once I had that under my belt, I was able to ask for the same arrangement at subsequent job interviews - I would make a point to raise this up front, and it proved a good way to filter out companies that likely wouldn’t have been a good work/life fit. (I look after three young kids outside of work; wife is a corporate lawyer who has to work 24/7, so my 4d/wk schedule is important in maintaining some semblance of balance for the kids).
Now I’m at a multinational (a publicly listed health data company) and the arrangement continues to work well, even though I now manage a team of 8 data scientists. I’ve had colleagues who’ve dropped from 5 to 3d/wk, the company seems very flexible around this type of arrangement. At the startups I felt that I had to squeeze in 5d of work in 4d at times, whereas here the workload has felt more commensurate with the hours I have available (and my manager often checks in to make sure this is the case).
Overall I love having an extra day to the weekend (I take the kids out to places in London on Fridays when it’s considerably less busy). My colleagues with similar arrangements used this to split their working weeks in half, and that worked well for them.
Happy to answer any questions.
- jazz_from_hell 6y agoCool! Sounds like a good deal. Having an understanding manager really helps I guess. I also have three kids so I know the struggle :)
- mbrundle 6y agoNice to meet other P/T tech dads-of-three, we’re a rare breed! Have sent you an email to say hi. : )
- rizpanjwani 6y agoAre you hiring junior/intern data scientists from Canada? I know someone who is almost finished their masters and have worked on real data from telecomm quality of service as part of their thesis, and have had a term of internship.
- mbrundle 6y agoI don’t think we’ve worked with anyone in Canada in our team, however it’s a huge company With multiple DS teams, and some may be open to this. Feel free to send a CV and I can forward to the appropriate hiring partner.
- rizpanjwani 6y agothanks very much. Where/how can I forward it?
- mbrundle 6y agoJust added my LinkedIn link to my profile, hope that helps.
- paledot 6y agoThanks for sharing. I also negotiated a 4-day week (and love it), but it was after I'd been at my current company for 4+ years. It's encouraging to hear that employers are open to hiring people at 4 days off the bat, because I'm never going back. Maybe it's hard to tell at this point, but is your salary pro-rated at 80%?
- mbrundle 6y agoYes, my salary has been pro rated 80% at every job where I’ve had this arrangement - that’s always been agreed upfront. One interesting thing I noticed is that several employers were open to interviewing even after I made it clear that I can only do 4d/week, it turned off fewer companies than I thought it might. After my initial experience, I found it better to declare it up front, because there was one case where I only mentioned it at the final interview and the CEO, who literally had his pen out to write down an offer, promptly sheaved it again and said he couldn’t work with that arrangement. All of my part time roles have been in the UK, and I’ve wondered whether it’s a little easier for European employers to accommodate these arrangements (vs in the US).
- paledot 6y agoI suspect it's more accepted in Europe than in the US. Here in Canada, we're somewhere in between. Not quite the same workaholic culture that parts of the US suffer from, but we haven't been as successful as many continental Europeans in fighting for and keeping our labour rights. No 6-week vacations for (most of) us, though at least we have parental leave. Then again, I understand that the UK is the most American part of Europe, especially of late. So maybe things land in the same ballpark after all.
- dbancajas 6y agoHi, great setup. Have a question about data science. My wife is trying to shift into this field from IC Design. Do you have any tips as to what material to focus on? She's been doing the Andrew Ng's coursera machine learning courses. Also would appreciate tips on how to look for your first gig as a data scientist! Thanks and more power!