
Ask HN: If one works over 40hrs/week, can they claim more years of experience? - bobisme
If someone were regularly overworked, averaging say 60 hours per week, would it be reasonable to claim 1.5x &quot;years of experience&quot; with a given technology during that period?<p>Say if someone often worked 70-90 hours per week and worked on holidays and didn&#x27;t take vacation for 5 years.  How could somehow reflect that experience on a résumé? Would it be fair to at least claim 7 years experience for that time?<p>Thanks
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dalke
No.

Work isn't linear. Overwork often leads to less productive work, so working
(say) 100 hour weeks for a year might be less of a learning experience than
working 40 hours weeks for two years.

Part of experience is in knowing how things evolve. Best practices change. If
you only have 2 years of clock time experience but claim 4 years of "real"
experience due to working 80 hour weeks, then that doesn't mean you know to
handle the changes from 3 years ago when Framework 2.4 became Framework 3.0.

You also don't have a baseline. A lot of people regularly overwork.

Finally, if someone asks "when did your first use Framework" and you reply
2013 but your resume says you have 4 years of experience, then you will likely
be called out for the discrepancy.

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bobisme
Ok, thanks. I was thinking more from the point of view that programming is a
skill and skills develop with hours of practice.

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dalke
Skill development, in the model of K. Anders Ericsson, requires a certain type
of deliberate practice, not simply "hours of practice." Moreover, he argues
that it's only possible to spend a few hours a day at deliberate practice. The
rest doesn't contribute to improved learning.

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mtmail
Are you saying you drove your car really 3 years instead of 5 because you
haven't used it every day? Or your marriage is 25 years instead of 20 because
it was so intense? Will working three part time jobs triple the number of
years?

The years of experience are actual years, no subtractions, no adding. It's
just a guidance and says nothing about actual technology experience.

A person who claims to work 70-90h per week without vacation for 5 years might
attract some companies. Others will say the person has no private life and
might burn out soon. Those extra hours work short-term, but long-term they
aren't a batch of honor.

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kdamken
I don't think that's a fair comparison here - what if they only spent 5 hours
a week coding? Would they be able to say they have a year of experience after
one year of that?

I think when it comes to work experience, a year of experience denotes a year
of full time work.

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saluki
I would be honest with your history . . . I've been developing with X since Y.
If you start to inflate things you're going to fall down a slippery slope
where you're not even sure how long you've been doing things and
interviews/conversations could get confusing/make you look bad.

Most companies just care that you know your stuff enough to be production so
3-5 years of experience is plenty saying 7 years isn't going to improve your
level/pay/experience.

Keep things honest, I wouldn't advertise that you avg. 60 hours per week
worked on holidays etc. You'll be better off getting away from that in your
next job.

I've done that before and seen people do that for years and when things go bad
they are still shown the door like everyone else. So don't be that person.
Work reasonable hours for reasonable pay.

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kdamken
While you're technically correct (the best kind of correct!) in that a year of
experience assumes a 40 hour work week, I don't think anyone would let you add
extra years. A year of experience just means you did that job for a year.

I'd recommend against doing that for a resume - you'll be seen as a liar.

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theGREENsuit
No. By working extra hours you may gain more expertise but you certainly do
not gain time. You can't make time, you can only spend it. How would you
reflect working 70-90 hrs/week without holidays? By having senior level
expertise, a list of accomplishments and being burnt out :)

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partisan
No and does it really matter? I find that interviewers are open to seeing
candidates who don't have experience exactly in the range they are looking for
as long as you can impress them with your knowledge. The ones who do are the
places you probably shouldn't work anyway.

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jbchoo
Ppl in Singapore work minimally 44 hrs/week. And generally ppl work way more
than that minimum req. If the claim system you asked would be implemented as
world standard, I think most singapore residents would be over the moon,
rushing to update their resume now.

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uptownfunk
I know for places like top-tier consulting firms (e.g. MBB) people regularly
say that 1 yr of work translates to about 2 yrs of typical 40hr/week type of
work. I think the highly right skewed distribution of tenure contributes to
that.

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kohanz
_> would it be reasonable to claim 1.5x "years of experience" with a given
technology during that period_

As a general aside, every time I see a resume with something along the lines
of: "Java (2.5 years), C++ (5 years)", I cringe a little. Please don't do
this. There is something about denoting the exact amount of time you have
spent with a specific technology (which we can generally deduce from your work
experience anyway) that, at least to me, broadcasts a lack of confidence in
your own skills.

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bbcbasic
Ah the old guess the signal/filter cv game. So kohanz cringes, that is one
data point, but will the company you apply to cringe if you do it, or cringe
if you don't?

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panic
If "cringe" is a factor in reviewing resumes, you're doing it wrong anyway.
Judge people on what they've done, not how they present it.

~~~
kohanz
Sure, if you're hiring for a position where written communication skills are
unimportant.

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MalcolmDiggs
Hahahaha, classic.

Oh wait, you're serious?

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dotcoma
no (imho).

