undefined | Better HN

0 pointss1artibartfast3y ago0 comments

Yeah, I think there is a pretty big culture bubble, and know people on both sides.

Some people spend most of their life working 60 real hours weeks, especially blue collar work.

I have a white collar workplace, and there is a big spread. There are people that do 20 hours of real work and those with a 60+ hour average.

I have done 100+ hour weeks of real heads down work & all nighters , but can't/wont do it prolonged.

As skeptical as some people are of merit based compensation, I'm confident that the willingness to pull out the stops and get it done has lead to promotions, raises, and freedom to scale down my workload during slow times.

I think it is interesting that some people simply don't believe that high volume work happens, is productive, or is even possible.

0 comments

Moissanite3y ago

> I'm confident that the willingness to pull out the stops and get it done has lead to promotions, raises, and freedom to scale down my workload during slow times.

If I had this confidence, I'd put in the hours cheerfully; I've had spells of 80-100 hour weeks in the past and invariably it was caused by sales people or managers over-promising without asking a technical expert, and could have easily been avoided. Doing the hours resulted in some vague gratitude at best.

Now (in a new role), I can see clear evidence of things which are correlated with promotion, but working long hours is not one of them.

s1artibartfastOP3y ago

I agree that hours by themselves are largely meaningless. I should be more clear and specify hours when necessary, and not some arbitrary deadline. For example, I've been on projects that are stuck or failing and each day they are down or behind costs 7 digit revenue per day. Being the person capable and willing to work overnight to fix it or put in long weeks until it's done bought me a lot of Goodwill, promotions, Etc. I still have directors that mention them in all staff meetings after 5+ years.

Of course working 60 hours a week on some bullshit project with no impact will not have the same results.

flippinburgers3y ago

I have never experienced long hours translating into raises or promotions. Then again, I have worked for startups.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse