
Ask HN: Is there a place in tech for me? If so, where? - ObligatoryRef
I&#x27;ve lived in Silicon Valley my whole life and have now worked here for about 8 years, mostly doing QE of some sort. For the last year or so, though, I feel like I&#x27;ve hit a wall.<p>I don&#x27;t really care about working on world-changing projects, or a pool table and fridge full of snacks, or even tons of free t-shirts. I really just want to walk in at 9, do work with some minimum threshold of interesting-ness, and walk out at 5 without worrying about whether I&#x27;m on call or what ridiculous promise the sales guy in our open-plan office has made.<p>Do you have a job like that? Does it exist? If so, where, and how can I get there?
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itamarst
Yes, it's possible. Many people just work 9-5. I've done interesting work at
multiple companies since 2004, never worked more than 40 hours (past few years
I've worked less than 40 hours).

How to get such a job:

1\. You may already have one. At many companies you can show up at 9, go home
and 5, and _no one will care_. Really. You just need to be productive and do
your job and everyone will be happy.

If you work in company where _everyone_ works crazy hours this is harder,
because you'll feel constant social pressure to work longer (even if manager
doesn't care). But if you pay attention you might find other coworkers doing
the same.

2\. There are many companies that have work/life balance by default. E.g. read
descriptions of companies that say "work/life balance" on
[https://www.keyvalues.com/](https://www.keyvalues.com/). Some companies there
define work/life balance rather bizarrely, but some meet my personal
definition. And in either case you can get insight into their culture.

You can also often get a sense during interview
([https://www.keyvalues.com/culture-
queries](https://www.keyvalues.com/culture-queries) has some good questions).

3\. You can negotiate explicitly. Negotiating takes some practice, but
definitely possible.

4\. How will you get your work done in 9-5? Turns out you're actually less
productive if you work long hours. I write about it e.g. here:
[https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/11/10/work-life-balance-
so...](https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/11/10/work-life-balance-software-
engineer/)

Productivity skills can also help, e.g.
[https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/08/03/stay-
focused/](https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/08/03/stay-focused/)

5\. More difficult, but also possible, is <40 hours/week: I've done it, as has
this guy I interviewed for my blog who has been working less than 40 hours a
week for 15 years now - [https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-
programmer...](https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-programmer/)

6\. Finally, I've written a book about the topic, covering negotiation skills,
productivity skills, interviews with people who have taken different paths to
this goal, and more:
[https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/](https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/)

