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Comment by owens99 | Hacker News Reader

I’ve hired a lot of engineers over the years who were better at engineering than me, but I can get 10x done faster because it’s my vision/passion and I work 80 hours a week vs their 40 because it’s my company (I am also full stack). So I say I understand the product and market 5x better and put in 2x the hours, which totals 10x.

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Do you worry that your team will see you working 80 hours/week, conclude that they have to work that much too, and burn themselves out? Even if you can work that much without burning yourself out because it's your passion/vision/company, most people can't. It seems to me that employees often look to folks at the top to set the culture and feel obligated to follow along, even if that culture includes unsustainable work hours.

No, it's his company, if anything, I'd enjoy working for him. But only if my work contract clearly states that I need only put in X hours per week into work.

I worked in a startup, became the right-hand of the boss and owner, and then he'd slip into work only once per week. I did this for three years, my pay was... ok, but I didn't see the ability to develop any further or earn any more and eventually quit, and started my own company a few months ago.

I would've really appreciated if he would've done more, so that I could have focused more on actual technical work and not administrative or management work. Mabye I would've even stayed, I don't know.

Then again, I am very different than most people, so maybe this is just a very lonesome opinion...

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