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Working anymore than 40h a week as developper for someone else is non-sense is you just earn a fixed salary



I agree, but feel that this is something that only comes with experience. It's very easy as a new grad to not value your time as much as it's worth (imposter syndrome maybe?).

I signed a contract for $X salary for Y hours of work. If I work 1.5Y I never got paid $1.5X. That's a lesson most developers need to internalize.


I have never had a salary job that did not require on a regular bases over 40 hours a week. I worked for a college and during August I would work easily 70+ hours a week getting ready for the school year.


On contrary, I never had such a job - always 40h weeks, having 6 different employers. In past 15 years I worked literally once hard over whole weekend, to deliver on Monday 1am. In my current work I had to come during weekend once every few months for go-live, but it was due to business nature of employer - you can't patch ebanking or banking core integration during week (unless fixing showstoppers of course).

I have some colleagues around me who work more than I do, for no good reason - they don't get pay more because of this, some vague promise never put on paper/email that maybe yearly bonus will reflect that (it rarely does), or they might get a raise (they rarely do), or even get promoted (happened like once in past 6 years). Surprisingly, their private life ain't very rich, they definitely don't compensate "quantity with quality".

The remaining life that you have - be it next 30 or 60 years, NOW are the best times to enjoy it. You will not get healthier or stronger over time, you will not have more free time or motivation. You can't put a price on a life lived well. What you definitely can do is having regrets later, when its too late.


Yup, I work 35-40 hours a week, outside of emergencies and legislative deadlines.




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