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Are there companies that would let you take the rest of the week off in that situation? If so, shouldn’t they also make you work overtime to finish some work th

Are there companies that would let you take the rest of the week off in that situation? If so, shouldn’t they also make you work overtime to finish some work that you underestimated? Isn’t the trick to just work at a sustainable pace, day in and day out, and celebrate the wins along the way? All that said, in the last five years my longest holiday has been a week. The work really is endless.

hisoko_33 5y ago
Yes, having worked in a FAANG I actually enjoyed the fact that you're measured in a somewhat standardized way. After delivering enough impact I usually took a step back and chilled for a few weeks. Didn't take vacation, just arrived to the office to chat with friends and play ping pong. Sometimes when I felt like it, I continued to grind towards the next expectations level for the cash bonus, but most of the times it wasn't worth it and I just preferred taking a rest.
cloverich 5y ago
Vacation is still important even with a sustainable pace. Personally, when i’ve managed teams i’ve always included vacation as part of our 1:1 career talks. Especially with new engineers. If people aren’t taking vacations it’s a dealbreaker to me — taking a real, long, no calls while out vacation is to me as core to professional engineering as fixing bugs and shipping features.
Viliam1234 5y ago
> All that said, in the last five years my longest holiday has been a week. The work really is endless. Sometimes, even the week off doesn't mean less work, because the few weeks before the vacation you have to work harder to compensate for your coming absence.
- nickd2001 5y ago
  This seems horrific to me. Why do people let companies do this to them? Let me guess.... US health insurance? (i:e the need to always be employed to be covered)? A former (US) colleague I had, every year after 9 months he quit the same job to go round S America on his motorcycle. Then after 4 months travel he got hired back. They couldn't manage without him. Eventually they started saying he wouldn't be able to keep doing this and return next time, so he smiled sweetly, said "OK" then 4 months later said "do you need anyone?" and of course they snapped him back up. Part of why he was so good at his job was having a decent break and recharging. In fact arguably he was far more use to his employer by doing this, than what they "wanted" him to do, i:e stay there all the time only 2 weeks annual vacation get burnt out. Sometimes people have to turn to this sort of extreme behaviour to have any sort of life outside work, in the USA at least. I suppose he risked no health insurance for 4 months, or bought some. Maybe now he's older that wouldn't work. Well, please people, look after yourselves.

hisoko_33 5y ago

Yes, having worked in a FAANG I actually enjoyed the fact that you're measured in a somewhat standardized way. After delivering enough impact I usually took a step back and chilled for a few weeks. Didn't take vacation, just arrived to the office to chat with friends and play ping pong. Sometimes when I felt like it, I continued to grind towards the next expectations level for the cash bonus, but most of the times it wasn't worth it and I just preferred taking a rest.

cloverich 5y ago

Vacation is still important even with a sustainable pace. Personally, when i’ve managed teams i’ve always included vacation as part of our 1:1 career talks. Especially with new engineers. If people aren’t taking vacations it’s a dealbreaker to me — taking a real, long, no calls while out vacation is to me as core to professional engineering as fixing bugs and shipping features.

Viliam1234 5y ago

> All that said, in the last five years my longest holiday has been a week. The work really is endless. Sometimes, even the week off doesn't mean less work, because the few weeks before the vacation you have to work harder to compensate for your coming absence.

nickd2001 5y ago
This seems horrific to me. Why do people let companies do this to them? Let me guess.... US health insurance? (i:e the need to always be employed to be covered)? A former (US) colleague I had, every year after 9 months he quit the same job to go round S America on his motorcycle. Then after 4 months travel he got hired back. They couldn't manage without him. Eventually they started saying he wouldn't be able to keep doing this and return next time, so he smiled sweetly, said "OK" then 4 months later said "do you need anyone?" and of course they snapped him back up. Part of why he was so good at his job was having a decent break and recharging. In fact arguably he was far more use to his employer by doing this, than what they "wanted" him to do, i:e stay there all the time only 2 weeks annual vacation get burnt out. Sometimes people have to turn to this sort of extreme behaviour to have any sort of life outside work, in the USA at least. I suppose he risked no health insurance for 4 months, or bought some. Maybe now he's older that wouldn't work. Well, please people, look after yourselves.