
Do Software Engineers inflate the reported hours they claim to work? - pjtham
Every now and then I hear a Software Engineer (often from the Bay Area) report how they work or are expected to work &quot;60 to 90 hours a week&quot;, for example this guy: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;dvdL-21o3GM?t=224<p>60h&#x2F;w is 12 hours a day 5 days a week and 90h&#x2F;w is almost 13h a day 7 days a week...<p>I cannot imagine how you can stay productive during such extended period of time, not to mention any time to sleep, commute, self-care, basic house chores, family, games etc. Yet still, my impression is that plenty of Bay Area engineers are staying up-to-date with various Netflix shows, computer games and contribute to open source projects... this just doesn&#x27;t compute.<p>Probably one of the largest surveys of IT professionals on how long they work (still self reported) is the Stack Overflow survey, which shows that the average is actually more like 42h a week in the US: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;insights.stackoverflow.com&#x2F;survey&#x2F;2019#work-_-hours-worked-per-week<p>0. Are Software Engineers inflating the reported hours per week they claim to work?<p>1. Why would they do so? Doesn&#x27;t this contribute to a worse, unhealthy working conditions overall for everyone?<p>Thoughts?
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uberman
IT professionals in the "Bay Area" do not reflect the broader nationwide IT
community. They tend to be younger, often fresh out of college with no family
connections in the area.

My first job out of college (actually while I was in college doing a co-op
program as well) was with a large IT company in Redwood Shores. I lived in SF
proper. I had left my family and friends "back home" and joined my new
"family" at work. Looking back, they were not co-workers, but more like fellow
cult members.

It was routine day in day out that we would get to work around 10am and work
until 10pm then go clubbing for a couple of hours. This was work in the office
and before the rise of startup houses. With a startup house and a fresh batch
of fellow cultists right out of college working from their bedrooms, 60 hours
a week seems easy to me.

This is clearly not the way the broader IT community functions. Today, I work
from home and put in 10 hour days Monday to Friday plus whatever I put in on
the weekend. My wife who does defense/intelligence tech routinely works longer
than me.

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dusted
TLDR: No-one pays for hours, they pay for value. Nothing else matters (to
quote metallica).

I think some companies (and people) need to change their thinking:

One might be thinking intensely about the problem for 2 hours, and spend 1
hour writing the code, they might report 7 hours. Not because they're lazy
slackers, but because they're backburning, seeking flow and inspiration,
getting interrupted and all the other stuff that gets in the way of coding..

I code mostly the first hour when I arrive, when I've got the clear idea from
all the backburning that I couldn't help but do the night before when doing
house chores, playing Apex Legends and on the drive to work. When that's been
flushed, I read some articles and "wait for it to come back", then there's
lunch, and after that I will read another article or two, listen to music, do
reviews, and then think hard about the problem.. Then for the last 2 hours,
"it" will be back, and I will write the code down.

Am I lying when I've logged the days time?

No.

That code costs a days worth of salary, it does not matter how many lines it
is, or even how hard it was to write.

What matters is that my employer is satisfied with the value they got for that
amount of money in that amount of time.

If they can't accept that, they'd have to find someone else..

But would they want that?

Would that guy who sits and types the entire day produce more code than me?

Maybe not, maybe he's doing more interation. Maybe, maybe he's just better
(tm) than I am. Maybe not, maybe he's writing more, but worse. But it does not
even matter.

Would the money for a days work be better spent on him than me?

I wouldn't know. But I can't feel bad, because I'm doing the best I can, and
my intention is good, and nobody can ask for more. I've been here for 6 years
and never heard a word for it.

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w_t_payne
A few years ago (2014ish) I would start the work week pulling 7am to 10:30pm -
approx 15 hour days -- but couldn't sustain that for more than a couple of
days, so by Friday my hours would drop to 10-11 hours per day, and I would
spend pretty much the entire weekend asleep - so significantly less than the
90h claimed and much closer to 60h. After a couple of years of this, I was in
the middle of an emotional breakdown with rapidly encroaching early-onset
rheumatoid arthritis - my body couldn't handle it any more. So ... while I
don't think it's totally impossible - it's also a long way from being a
healthy lifestyle. (Needless to say I try to avoid this sort of thing these
days).

~~~
pjtham
Thanks for sharing your experience, glad to hear that you got a better handle
on this now!

