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Comment by sureglymop | Hacker News Reader

> I worked 80 hour weeks

I don't know how the work culture is there but that seems completely insane.

I've said it many times and I'll say it again. The first thing I tell anyone that enters the work force: Do not play the hero. You don't have to save the world. You will only be rewarded with more work. Put that passion and energy into something you created and own and control.

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A few years ago I clocked like a 110 hour week. I was the director but also hands on so I was doing a ton of work but also responsible for delivery. Work was at a job site away from home. Worked straight through two weekends. I felt like I was doing this because I owned it. It culminated in a big demo for the client executive team that went flawlessly. At the end nobody said a word to me. I thought I did something really valuable for the company with direct visibility to leadership and they still didn't seem to care. I poured so much energy into that job and it just went nowhere. I wasn't fired on the spot but I ended up being laid off less than year later.

Hopefully you learned to better identify when you should/shouldn't do that kind of thing in future?

If it's your own startup then sure, otherwise "hell no". ;)

If they ignored heroics like that, I would have been searching for new employment immediately.

It’s fun being the hero, till it isn’t. Balancing one’s natural behavior with burnout is definitely a skill.

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