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comment by rob05c
rob05c  ·  3206 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Programmers out there have a question for you.?

Move outside the Valley.

My workload isn't any greater than any other profession's. I've worked places that demand 60, 70, 80 hour weeks in the past. Don't work for those companies. Outside the Valley, they're the minority. Be sure to ask in job interviews how many hours the team typically works, and save enough to quit if they start demanding it.

To answer your question directly, I don't get an immense workload, I work 8–5, and if I don't get enough sleep it's because I'm stupid, not compelled by my job. Deadlines happen where I end up working 'til 8 for a week, but not more than once a year or so.

If you insist on working in the Valley, there are companies with sane working hours, and you can find them. It'll just make job searching twice as hard, and mean you have to be that much better a candidate to get those jobs.

The standard definitely rises with your skills. If you suck at your job, it's easier to demand more hours of you. But that's probably true of any profession. Just don't get caught in the Dunning–Kruger Effect and know your worth, and you'll be fine.





mknod  ·  3205 days ago  ·  link  ·  

This is a great answer. I feel like people in SV live in this bubble where they think they are creating these great tools that "change the world" which can drive this idea that they need to stay up late and work all the time.

Outside, while still plagued by this in some areas, you get to work with great technologies, work on cool stuff, and also play frisbee with your dog at the end of the day without your phone ringing off the hook.

Wolfmountain3  ·  3206 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Interesting will keep that in mind, have to go into that valley btw because I spend most my time on the Net, I don't use phones only as an alarm to wake up early and refine myself in Web Programming and to prepare for Varsity. I hope