
Ask HN: At which companies do programmers work less than 7 hours a day? - maruhan2
It&#x27;s pretty hard to find information on work hours for companies. Also since obviously the work hours on a particular day depends if you are in a busy period or not, I think an average across 6 months would be a pretty good estimate.
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itamarst
Some options:

1\. [https://www.keyvalues.com/](https://www.keyvalues.com/) is great job
board that has some companies that explicitly claim they have work/life
balance. The writeups let you see working hours in some cases, for good or for
bad; make sure to read them, they all have different definitions of work/life
balance.

2\. You can apply to any company that sounds like it'll be reasonable, and if
you get a job offer negotiate a shorter workweek. I've done this, and I also
interviewed someone who did this at 7 or 8 different companies:
[https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-
programmer...](https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-programmer/)

3\. Negotiate a shorter workweek at your current job. Actually easier than
finding a new job.

4\. Just... work less hours. I.e. you're at normal 40-hour/week job, and you
just work 7 hours a day. If you're good at what you do you'll be just as
productive, if not more. I did that involuntarily at some point due to RSI
limiting how many hours I could type. No one complained about shorter hours
because I was productive enough. Downside is companies often judge you by
hours in office, not by output ([https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/06/21/why-
company-want-lon...](https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/06/21/why-company-want-
long-hours/)).

I cover these and other approaches in my book:
[https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/](https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/)

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chatmasta
All of them. Some have their butts in their seats for longer than that, but
very few employees are generating 7+ hours of productive work on a daily basis
for any extended period of time.

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maruhan2
I think that's well known. I'm asking the "official hours"

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psyc
It could be dumb luck, but I haven't worked at a company that had official
hours in about 17 years. I've got used to working at companies where as long
as you produce good work, show up to scheduled meetings, and don't outright
embarrass your boss, you can come and go as you like.

~~~
jxub
This depends heavily on the country.

Southern Europe really has an "ass in the chair" perspective to work, despite
resembling relaxed/lazy to the outsiders.

Netherlands and Nordics, from what I heard, are the opposite.

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jlengrand
In the Netherlands, it's pretty typical to work 32 hours a week. Over 5 days,
that's less than 7 hours a day. Though most people prefer having 8 times 4 and
take a day off :)

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some_account
In Sweden at a big company, your day as a programmer usually has a few
meetings and a lot of social interaction with colleagues. Maybe you get 3-4
hours of programming every day if you are lucky and can focus in the noisy
open office environment. Im in the office about 7 hours every day. Salary is
excellent for Swedish standards and living costs.

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maruhan2
May I ask what the typical programmer's salary is there?

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plogik
Depends on where in Sweden. Salaries in Stockholm are higher than the rest. I
live in southern sweden, entry level is just over 30'SEK (USD4000), senior
over 40' (USD5000). Varies from company to company and by industry etc. But
around that ballpark generally

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Scea91
Interesting. Those numbers are not that different from Prague (my city). I
expected much higher salaries in Sweden.

~~~
jxub
4k-5k euro net monthly also seems to be in the ballpark for senior dev
contracting rates in Warsaw.

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skylark
Less than 7 hours (6 or less) is typically considered a part time arrangement.
If you're a high performer, you can try to negotiate for this kind of
situation, but it's rare to start a job with that type of benefit. You should
expect to lose a proportionate amount of your salary, (keep in mind that
depending on your tax bracket, the percentage hit to your take home will be
less affected.)

The benefit of being officially on part time is that it sets everyone's
expectations and shouldn't negatively impact your promotion trajectory,
especially if you're able to fulfill your duties on a part time schedule.

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segmondy
The broke ones. :)

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hodl
The broke ones need you to work 15 hrs a day and "you'll get your backpay once
were back on our feet"

