My current (and hope to stay a very long time) job is 4-day week, and so were my last 2 before that. Its easy to negotiate in my experience. The thing is, most people simply don't ask. Maybe they're scared it makes them look not committed or something. But that's easy to fix by cranking out decent work for the 4 days you're there. Its probably harder if you have line management responsibility or some other expectation that needs you there more. But coding? No problem. I have an "excuse" in terms of extra caring responsibilities, which I declare, and that probably puts to bed any idea people have that its out of laziness. As for golden handcuffs, some truth in that perhaps, but if you enjoy 4 days a week and that frees up time, does it really matter if you then feel a bit tied to that employer? Its a trade-off. One other thing, you can save random bits of money with a weekday off by doing jobs you might otherwise paid someone to do, or cook cheaper but fiddlier foot etc. good luck asking. ;)