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So much of this is framed around working less to spend time with your kids -- which is perfectly admirable. But, how about working less to spend more time for

by neap24 11y ago

So much of this is framed around working less to spend time with your kids -- which is perfectly admirable. But, how about working less to spend more time for yourself (personal hobbies, interests, etc) or more time with your spouse? These also seem like equally admirable and important reasons to not work 60-80 hours a week.

hvidgaard 11y ago
They are, honestly - and I would never hold it against anyone saying they prioritize that over work. I think people mention children because a child depend on the parents far more than most people think. It's much easier to find time for yourself, or with your spouse, while working a lot, than it is with a child. I can spend time with my wife nearly every evening, or work on hobby projects - I barely have 1 hour with both my children in weekdays after school. So if my employer starts to take my weekend, I'm looking for a new job where I can also be a father.
VLM 11y ago
A lot of rounding error stuff goes on. "Can't dial in, my kids got a little league game on Sunday" which means 1 hr for kid and theoretically up to 23 hrs for hobby (well not really, but possibly). Scouts is only an hour and a half of actual scouting and the rest of the night is a night off from work. Swim meets were like that too, even counting drive time, a full weekend day off but the meet would only be like 3 hours. I've never had an ethical problem with this. No one can be productive for more than 40 hours per week or so. Maybe less, honestly. The only hope of over 40 hours of actual net productivity is operating WAY below your ability. So they pretend to think we're productive, we'll pretend to be productive.
bowlich 11y ago
The focus on kids drives me nuts. I worked in a web dev shop that billed itself as "family friendly." Flexible hours, work from home, etc. The reality was that the childless developers never got to use the flexible benefits. Your child has a soccer game? Is sick? Sure take the afternoon off, the childless devs will cover for you. We wouldn't want you to not be there for your child. Oh you want to take a two hour lunch to go out with your girlfriend. Too bad, so-and-so needs to pick their kid up from school so we need you to sit here and babysit the server while he's out.
s73v3r 11y ago
Kids are probably the most "socially acceptable" reason to not want to work yourself to death. People would think the other reasons are "selfish".

by neap24 11y ago

hvidgaard 11y ago

They are, honestly - and I would never hold it against anyone saying they prioritize that over work. I think people mention children because a child depend on the parents far more than most people think. It's much easier to find time for yourself, or with your spouse, while working a lot, than it is with a child. I can spend time with my wife nearly every evening, or work on hobby projects - I barely have 1 hour with both my children in weekdays after school. So if my employer starts to take my weekend, I'm looking for a new job where I can also be a father.

VLM 11y ago

A lot of rounding error stuff goes on. "Can't dial in, my kids got a little league game on Sunday" which means 1 hr for kid and theoretically up to 23 hrs for hobby (well not really, but possibly). Scouts is only an hour and a half of actual scouting and the rest of the night is a night off from work. Swim meets were like that too, even counting drive time, a full weekend day off but the meet would only be like 3 hours. I've never had an ethical problem with this. No one can be productive for more than 40 hours per week or so. Maybe less, honestly. The only hope of over 40 hours of actual net productivity is operating WAY below your ability. So they pretend to think we're productive, we'll pretend to be productive.

bowlich 11y ago

The focus on kids drives me nuts. I worked in a web dev shop that billed itself as "family friendly." Flexible hours, work from home, etc. The reality was that the childless developers never got to use the flexible benefits. Your child has a soccer game? Is sick? Sure take the afternoon off, the childless devs will cover for you. We wouldn't want you to not be there for your child. Oh you want to take a two hour lunch to go out with your girlfriend. Too bad, so-and-so needs to pick their kid up from school so we need you to sit here and babysit the server while he's out.

s73v3r 11y ago

Kids are probably the most "socially acceptable" reason to not want to work yourself to death. People would think the other reasons are "selfish".