VFX here. For programmers its quite sweet, unless you insist on working long hours. unless there is a real crisis (as in data missing, lack of power or stuff

VFX here. For programmers its quite sweet, unless you insist on working long hours. unless there is a real crisis (as in data missing, lack of power or stuff on fire) I'm out the door at clocking off time. We are not curing cancer, no one will die if I leave at the contracted time. But then perhaps being, Helpful, talkative, friendly and having no qualms about telling people that seeing my family is infinity more important than dealing with their lack of planning may be why. I really do feel pity for the people (normally artists) that feel like they have to stay late. for example, people at the Moving Picture company were having dailies at 10PM (a review of the work with crit and dishing out new shots) They start at 9/10AM. There are laws against this sort of thing, unions and other mechanisms to stop employers taking the piss. However people just leave (the industry) without actually doing anything (Apparently here in the UK middle class people don't do unions.) Seriously, everyone grumbles (http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/ http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/) but little to nobody actually does anything. All it takes is 20-30% of the work force saying "actually no, we're not going to work more than 40 hours, deal with it or fire us" No employer can replace 20-30% of a workforce and keep a project schedule.