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0 pointsroot_axis7y ago0 comments

That's pretty good advice for a flippant one-liner, but the overworking of engineers is pretty common across the industry.

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3 comments · 2 top-level

solidasparagus7y ago· 1 in thread

Software engineering talent is in extremely high demand and the supply is limited. You can find a job that pays well and provides excellent work-life balance. A good engineer that enforces very strong work-life boundaries is a still better than no engineer and that's the decision many companies are faced with. But you won't be paid or professionally respected quite as much as those that put in the hours - which seems like a perfectly fair trade off.

root_axisOP7y ago

You can find a job that pays well and provides excellent work-life balance

Of course you can, so why doesn't everyone do it? Why is there so much written about work/life balance and burnout targeted at programmers (much of it featured on this very website)? Why is google lampooned for on-premises chefs and nap rooms? Why does every programmer in a 10 mile radius sneer when the phrase "unlimited vacation" is posted on the internet?

you won't be paid or professionally respected quite as much as those that put in the hours

Well that's certainly true, but putting in the extra hours doesn't necessarily equate to more pay or more respect, very often it equates to much more work and responsibility without much more pay.

chillacy7y ago

There are jobs which are extremely chill. Think slower growing but still profitable companies, and then mobile or desktop development so there’s no on-call. 20-30 hour weeks, depending on how good you are at managing work perception and saying no.

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