> My job is a side quest, not a main quest.

Even if it were your main quest, I think the strategy you outline is worth following. Going all out is what causes burnout, and that applies to whether you are working for yourself or for someone else, and also whether you are working a job or working on your passion.

A career is like an ultra marathon -- maintain a sustainable pace, and run with people you like to spend time with.

And definitely do not put any kind of work contact on your phone. If people are texting your private number, ignore it until you are back on the clock, or even consider blocking them. If you're not on the clock, you're not reachable. If they want you reachable, that's called "being on call" and is a separate negotiation involving higher wages and agreed-upon hours.

It’s interesting to see the shift on HN from hustle/burnout culture to wiser takes on work life balance. The startup culture in the Bay burned a hole in my soul at one point with its 80+ hour a week puritan laden virtue signaling.

This 100%. I got burned out by the classic case of working at a startup from pre-seed round. After two or three years or so of working virtually every single day, including between leisure activities on “days off” and almost always “on call” replying to emails and DMs, I just stopped. I didn’t reply at absurd hours, even if I knew the answer or had something to say. I didn’t spend hours outside of work thinking about work anymore.

Over time, I started putting more time into properly decompressing from work at the end of the day so I didn’t feel stressed about the next day.

I get burned out from time to time still, but it’s much more “in the moment” burn out vs systemic burn out.

> The concept of "quiet quitting" is a shameful, panicky fraud perpetuated by the power holders in the industry that see their power slipping

Is it?

I always took "Quiet Quitting" to mean, "Lets see how long I can do nothing until I get fired", not "Work to Rule" or "work your pay", or whatever.

I've seen this "Work 5 hours a week sporadically answering slack and see how long till they notice I produce nothing" before, and it's surprising how long I've seen people get away from doing basically 0 work and continue drawing a paycheck.

I think it's largely because most companies don't properly manage a remote teams. It happens when they don't understand how to properly set results-based expectations and deadlines for remote work.

But it's also a huge middle-finger to your teammates who may still care about their work and job, and having dead-weight on the team is demoralizing.

When it comes to health and well being f*ck what's appropriate do whatever you can get away with ... just do not put life or well being of other people in harm ways