I worked in a US based office for a global company. The benefits were pretty awesome- down to them paying for my home internet, but our US based benefits were still quite weak when compared to our counterparts around the globe. The US working hours were longer and when I went on overseas assignments I found that their quality of life was higher than ours overall. It's quite depressing.

When I started looking for a job last March I realized that the monetary compensation from the offers I had were within a few thousand of each other but on only one of the interviews did multiple employees bring up that they were a true 9-5 and people actually get mad if you reply to emails after hours or do work during your off time. Their offer was $4000 less than the others and they didn't seem like they wanted to negotiate. I took it anyway and I now work 40 hours or less per week, I leave my computer at the office and I don't feel guilty for not having access to work when I am not at work. So even though I make a little less yearly, I am making quite a bit more per hour.

I wish more people in positions of choice would prioritize a true work life balance. Not only has it been great for my physical and mental health, non-developer employees get the same treatment as it sets a company standard.

I can't believe how long I bought into the culture of giving up a personal life to get a head at work. I used to put in 60-80 hour weeks and still feel like I wasn't contributing as much as I should. Now I have hobbies(!) and I think I solve more programming problems working in my garden than I ever did sitting in front of a computer.