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Comment by 100011_100001 | Hacker News Reader

I've had the same debate myself. Honestly, not counting crazy hectic meeting days I could work 9-3 and still produce more than others. The only thing stopping me is the feeling that if I'm getting paid I should be working.

However, I know that if I worked 9-3 my personal well-being would improve.

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you need to see a therapist about feeling guilty about overworking.

You only need to work as much as whats required, nothing more. If you can close off your assigned 'tickets' etc, given each sprint, do so, then rest. Your personal well-being is #1.

It's kinda weird watching team members finish two tickets per week when you know they could finish two per day. I know I should probably relax like them but it feels too much like cheating (and let's be honest, it is).

i agree its gross, but its the reality we live in. Assuming you're being payed the same salary range as someone who is 1/5 as effective as you, why should you work harder than them? you're not compensated for your extra energy put in (unless its your own startup etc, or you have a large equity %) so theres no reason to do more than you're asked. beautiful thing about a salary job is you clock in, do whats asked of you, then do your own stuff on the side.

You're stuck in an hourly mindset. If you pay someone to build a house, and they complete the house, they're done. They get paid. Whether they build it in 1 day or 200 days, the price is the same.

Getting paid for time is a trick that you need to surpass. Get paid for what you produce. That is the primary difference between businesses and individuals: the non-correlation of time and revenue for a business versus an individual.

It's not just me that is stuck in an hourly mindset, it's every company offering developer jobs ever. In my contract it's not defined how much I have to get done, only how many hours I have to work per week. Time worked is tracked, work done not really.

yeah unless a company is run 'differently' (see https://twitter.com/tobi/status/1210242188870930433 for example) in terms of culture, no one is going to come out and say don't work for the full 7-8 hours a day.

If it helps: Anecdotally 8-5 isn't standard in tech (none of the companies that I've worked for, and none of the companies of folks that I've talked to about this kind of thing have worked for). I'm betting you also don't have unlimited PTO?

More importantly, this is my fav career anecdote:

"You know you've made it when people pay you to be you."

It sounds like you're at (or past) this point. The hours you work don't matter. The value you bring to the company, and the value the company brings to you - that's what matters, when you reach that point.

Personal well-being is one of the things that the company can give (or take!) from you.

A team of 10 devs costs $2-$3M a year. If you are providing 70% of the value, you should be pulling in more than $1M a year - even accounting for the overhead of having someone else code review and QA.

Are you making 7 figures? If not, you shouldn't feel guilty about how much you're working. It sounds like you could lean on your employer for a six figure raise which can pay for things like a personal trainer.

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