
Ask HN: What does a sane workweek mean to you? - itamarst
What does a sane workweek mean to you as a programmer&#x2F;software engineer? Many of us obviously work crazy hours, but what do you aim for as a better alternative?<p>Some answers I&#x27;ve heard:<p>* 40 hour week.<p>* 32 hour week.<p>* Flexible hours, ability to work whenever you feel like it.<p>* Time at work to do things the right way.<p>(This is research for a book I&#x27;m working on, The Programmer&#x27;s Guide to a Sane Workweek. You can subscribe to an introductory email course at https:&#x2F;&#x2F;codewithoutrules.com&#x2F;saneworkweek&#x2F; if you want to learn more.)
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lucideer
"If the ordinary wage-earner worked four hours a day, there would be enough
for everybody and no unemployment -- assuming a certain very moderate amount
of sensible organization." [0]

This is - I think - an arbitrary question. What is "sane" in this context is
simply what's culturally normative: it varies from place to place, and has no
practical or logical reason for being set at any certain number other than the
cultural history of that place and happenstance.

People are very good at adapting to and becoming comfortable with what is
considered normative.

[0] [http://www.zpub.com/notes/idle.html](http://www.zpub.com/notes/idle.html)

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dtnewman
Some various work cultures I've worked in:

1) 70-80 work weeks. Get in at 8:30 leave at 11. Sometimes work weekends. This
is typical for some of the more competitive jobs in law or finance. Definitely
also applies to some startups, especially for founders and early employees.

2) 40 hour work weeks. People get in strictly at 9 and leave at 5. Much of the
workforce operates this way.

3) Variable workweeks going from 40-60 hours. Most startup employees seem to
be in this bucket from what I've seen.

In my first job, I did 70-80 work weeks almost every week (a bit lighter
around holidays) and it was brutal, but by far the hardest thing were the
unpredictability of my hours. I never knew whether I was gonna get out of work
at 9pm or 2am or if I would have to work over the weekend, so I could never
make plans. This was harder than the long hours themselves.

I worked at a company where people were pretty strict about the 9-to-5 thing.
The work-life balance was great, but sometimes it's a hassle if people don't
work _at all_ outside of work hours; for instance, when you need something
from someone and they don't check their emails.

In general, I think that flexibility and predictability is the most important
thing for me in what I consider a sane workweek. I wanna know that if I make
dinner plans with my wife, I can keep them. If I need to go to the doctor in
the morning that it's not a problem. I don't mind going online for a few hours
at night afterwards to make up for time missed, but I hate having to cancel
plans.

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avitzurel
Here's mine

This week: [http://assets.avi.io/screen-
shot-2016-11-15-nxdbb.png](http://assets.avi.io/screen-
shot-2016-11-15-nxdbb.png)

Last week: [http://assets.avi.io/screen-
shot-2016-11-15-cf4x3.png](http://assets.avi.io/screen-
shot-2016-11-15-cf4x3.png)

The week before: [http://assets.avi.io/screen-
shot-2016-11-15-p3gt7.png](http://assets.avi.io/screen-
shot-2016-11-15-p3gt7.png)

I typically work around 40-45 hours a week, flexible hours when I work from
home and normal hours when I'm at the office (twice a week).

When I am not injured (like now), I have 10-15 hours on the bike a week doing
anywhere between 150-250miles a week and racing over the weekend.

I never work weekend, ever. I do however sometimes hack weekend nights after
the kids are in bed and I am inspired.

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AnimalMuppet
To me:

\- 40 hours for almost all weeks. If there's a crisis, that's different, _but
there better not be a crisis all the time._

\- Most of the time, I can actually get work done. I'm not in meetings all
week.

\- My coworkers' personalities do not need _too much_ debugging. The work
culture is not highly dysfunctional.

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kzisme
Flexible hours would be nice, but I would dislike the difference in pay.
Although the commute and downtime play a factor into time wasted during my day
- I can't really justify a pay cut to work less hours.

I've heard working in chunks of time throughout the week is useful, but also
only 4-6 hours a day could be nice.

I doubt any place would pay you the same rate to work less though (most places
seem like butt's in chairs types of places)

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bbcbasic
I'd prefer to work 20 to 30 a week.

40 is ok if work is stimulating and there is no commute

