4 ms·

>12 hours/day I can't even imagine working a minute longer than 8 hours per day, and 12+ hours is woow. Is this common in US? I work 8 hours my whole career

>12 hours/day I can't even imagine working a minute longer than 8 hours per day, and 12+ hours is woow. Is this common in US? I work 8 hours my whole career (IT). My wife works 6 hours per day. (central Europe)

Aeolos 3y ago
I have worked 10-12 hours a day throughout all of my working career (from 19yo onwards). This is in central Europe, and I'm not even the hardest worker around.
- balfirevic 3y ago
  Do you just sleep, work, commute and do chores? That sounds dreadful to me.
  - Aeolos 3y ago
    I also have hobbies and a social life - but it has consequences. Family and children are entirely 100% impossible in this lifestyle without a stay-at-home partner. And unlike previous generations, stay-at-home partners are no longer a thing. (Edit: to make it clear, I am not making a judgement, nor wishing for a stay-at-home partner - I'm entirely in favour of everyone making their own choices in life. I am just pointing out that younger generations are now living in a totally different environment from previous generations, where a stay-at-home wife was the default. Which is yet another component in the birth rate equation.)
    - balfirevic 3y ago
      Props to you man, I have no kids and still barely manage to have hobbies and social life with just normal full-time hours. I do need a lot of time to sleep and simply rest and do nothing, so that is a factor.
throwaw12 3y ago
I am an engineer as well, in western Europe with kids. But I regularly see people committing code at 9pm or commenting on docs at 11pm or see their testing traces (logs) at 1am and on weekends. I can't compete with them in any way. "Don't work hard, work smarter" doesn't apply here, because I am surrounded by smart people, who also do smart work, when baseline is same, you just need to work more. Guess who will be liked/praised more and have less chances to be laid off when conditions get worse? I am lucky though, its not easy to fire people here, can't imagine what's happening in US
- balfirevic 3y ago
  > But I regularly see people committing code at 9pm or commenting on docs at 11pm or see their testing traces (logs) at 1am and on weekends That might not mean much - you'd see the same from me, but I don't work more than 8 hours/day (on average), I just work very irregular hours.
  - throwaw12 3y ago
    > I just work very irregular hours. Do you also come to office and spend 8 hours, even if you do nothing? I see those people in the office almost regularly
    - balfirevic 3y ago
      Yeah, makes sense if you see them in the office all the time. I often come to the office for just a couple of hours and then do more work afterwards from home, and other days work entirely from home.

Aeolos 3y ago

I have worked 10-12 hours a day throughout all of my working career (from 19yo onwards). This is in central Europe, and I'm not even the hardest worker around.

balfirevic 3y ago
Do you just sleep, work, commute and do chores? That sounds dreadful to me.
- Aeolos 3y ago
  I also have hobbies and a social life - but it has consequences. Family and children are entirely 100% impossible in this lifestyle without a stay-at-home partner. And unlike previous generations, stay-at-home partners are no longer a thing. (Edit: to make it clear, I am not making a judgement, nor wishing for a stay-at-home partner - I'm entirely in favour of everyone making their own choices in life. I am just pointing out that younger generations are now living in a totally different environment from previous generations, where a stay-at-home wife was the default. Which is yet another component in the birth rate equation.)
  - balfirevic 3y ago
    Props to you man, I have no kids and still barely manage to have hobbies and social life with just normal full-time hours. I do need a lot of time to sleep and simply rest and do nothing, so that is a factor.

throwaw12 3y ago

I am an engineer as well, in western Europe with kids. But I regularly see people committing code at 9pm or commenting on docs at 11pm or see their testing traces (logs) at 1am and on weekends. I can't compete with them in any way. "Don't work hard, work smarter" doesn't apply here, because I am surrounded by smart people, who also do smart work, when baseline is same, you just need to work more. Guess who will be liked/praised more and have less chances to be laid off when conditions get worse? I am lucky though, its not easy to fire people here, can't imagine what's happening in US

balfirevic 3y ago
> But I regularly see people committing code at 9pm or commenting on docs at 11pm or see their testing traces (logs) at 1am and on weekends That might not mean much - you'd see the same from me, but I don't work more than 8 hours/day (on average), I just work very irregular hours.
- throwaw12 3y ago
  > I just work very irregular hours. Do you also come to office and spend 8 hours, even if you do nothing? I see those people in the office almost regularly
  - balfirevic 3y ago
    Yeah, makes sense if you see them in the office all the time. I often come to the office for just a couple of hours and then do more work afterwards from home, and other days work entirely from home.