I've been at Microsoft for about eight years (which still makes me a relative newbie). I've been on several teams (changing roles by choice) and had many manage

I've been at Microsoft for about eight years (which still makes me a relative newbie). I've been on several teams (changing roles by choice) and had many managers (due to new roles or reorgs). Depending on my family life, commute, work projects, etc., I have had seasons where I would stay late. Many times, I've had my managers walk by my office and say, "Go home to your family. Work will be here tomorrow." When I was at Amazon, on the other hand, I was usually in the office about 6:30am and would go home about 4 or 5pm. (I was new to big tech and wanted to prove myself.) The younger guys on my team were more 11am - 8pm, so I was always seen as being the guy that left early. And it showed in my relationships with my manager and skip-level, which is a big part of why I left. So with my n=1 experience, Microsoft is significantly better with work-life balance than Amazon. I can't speak for other big tech. I know this hasn't always been the case - I've heard horror stories from earlier in the Ballmer years, but we're not in the Ballmer years anymore, thank goodness. I'll also say that there are plenty of times where I *love* what I'm doing and actively put in lots of time because it's fun, not due to pressure to do so. But I've done that at other companies, and I know lots of people that have that passion for what they're doing.