4 ms·

>'I enjoy a 40-50-hour work week and prefer a marathon to a sprint.' Is 40-50 hours a week the new casual? That's 9-12+ hours of work and/or adjacent things pe

>'I enjoy a 40-50-hour work week and prefer a marathon to a sprint.' Is 40-50 hours a week the new casual? That's 9-12+ hours of work and/or adjacent things per weekday considering lunch and any sort of commute. I've done everything from 40-70+ per week, for quarters at a time. Personally, if I was being heavily recruited I'd be looking for 20-32 hours per week of consulting over a 40+ hour grind, preferably in a place without a high cost of living.

ryanSrich 12y ago
It has been my experience that Startups in the valley expect you to work for at least 10 hours per day, everyday. For example last year I interviewed with a former YC company and they were saying that it's not uncommon for 90% of the team to still be in the office after 9:30pm. Occasionally putting in long hours is a requirement of every job. I understand that, and in fact prefer to work late some times. But working past 9pm every night, never seeing your family, never doing anything with anyone outside of work? That's just absurd. Unfortunately that's the culture of the Valley.
- rhizome 12y ago
  Well, to put a finer point on it, the "culture of the Valley" sounds to me like poor management and disorganized development.
bicx 12y ago
After doing the 80/hr week grind in the earlier days, I'm really glad to get to a consistent 40ish-hour week. If I could pull off a steady 20-32 hours, that would be awesome. Honestly, using time trackers like Harvest has shown that I'm really only productive 6 hours a day, and after that it's a struggle to focus. With that in mind, your 20-32 hours is on the mark.
- incision 12y ago
  >'Honestly, using time trackers like Harvest has shown that I'm really only productive 6 hours a day, and after that it's a struggle to focus.' This is actually part of my thought. My completely anecdotal notion is that the typical 8 hours a day breaks down to something closer to half that in truly productive work. We're just stuck with ancient conventions about time and pay that really don't make a whole hell of a lot of sense applied to knowledge work. I think it would be a better deal for everyone involved to get 4 hours of relative brilliance per day than the same or less overall productivity out of 8+.

ryanSrich 12y ago

It has been my experience that Startups in the valley expect you to work for at least 10 hours per day, everyday. For example last year I interviewed with a former YC company and they were saying that it's not uncommon for 90% of the team to still be in the office after 9:30pm. Occasionally putting in long hours is a requirement of every job. I understand that, and in fact prefer to work late some times. But working past 9pm every night, never seeing your family, never doing anything with anyone outside of work? That's just absurd. Unfortunately that's the culture of the Valley.

rhizome 12y ago
Well, to put a finer point on it, the "culture of the Valley" sounds to me like poor management and disorganized development.

bicx 12y ago

After doing the 80/hr week grind in the earlier days, I'm really glad to get to a consistent 40ish-hour week. If I could pull off a steady 20-32 hours, that would be awesome. Honestly, using time trackers like Harvest has shown that I'm really only productive 6 hours a day, and after that it's a struggle to focus. With that in mind, your 20-32 hours is on the mark.

incision 12y ago
>'Honestly, using time trackers like Harvest has shown that I'm really only productive 6 hours a day, and after that it's a struggle to focus.' This is actually part of my thought. My completely anecdotal notion is that the typical 8 hours a day breaks down to something closer to half that in truly productive work. We're just stuck with ancient conventions about time and pay that really don't make a whole hell of a lot of sense applied to knowledge work. I think it would be a better deal for everyone involved to get 4 hours of relative brilliance per day than the same or less overall productivity out of 8+.