Wait, if you work overtime in the U.S. you do not get compensated for it?
My mom is a soon-to-retire nurse and she was a salaried employee who, if she worked overtime, made either time-and-a-half (1.5x) or double-time (2x) pay depending upon the situation.
But software developers, for all of the talk of ninjas and rockstars and whatnot, are a socially low and easily exploited class that make decisions against our own interests (laughing off the idea of unions, etc); so we often work up to 1.5 to 2 times (60-80 hours is very common) over our official salaried hours for free.
But I _do_ agree that, compared to many other professions prestiges is low. I also agree that it's time for unions, although simply owing the company collectively may work better. More importantly, people should not allow themselves to be exploited and realise that doing so is just as bad for them as for their fellow developers.
I don't know how it is in Europe, but in the US it is kind of a complex situation where we are externally not regarded as socially lower (from the outside it is all very glamorous and we are all Silicon Valley millionaires) and we do make decent baseline wages (though outside of a few companies like Google there tends to be a glass ceiling on our earnings unless we become something other than software developers, eg become tech managers) and (rather importantly right now) we do have a very high level of employability relative to many other professional fields.
But all that aside, we are still often exploited as a resource (IMO) by the "ruling class" of business people/MBA types/investors/etc in ways they would not allow themselves to be exploited.
That will definitely not help bring prestige to the field. Professions that require unions are seen as being so easy to enter that they need to form unions to avoid the effects of the free market.
I'd also trade in a lot of prestige for the guarantee of employers not having overtime as a free resource that employees are expected to give with a smile.
But I agree on the prestige thing, I'm a non-union web developer and I don't feel much prestige in my position.
Software is in high demand but still a middle class job (similar to nursing). It's very mentally demanding. The physical demand is different as it's a problem of not being active enough to be healthy. Not to mention that in software you are likely spending a significant time working outside of normal working hours if it's for your company or just to increase your skills/learn something new. How else are you supposed to have the required a super awesome github profile to show when you go for an interview?
Take this with a grain of salt, it really depends on where you live. I live in the Ohio area and of everyone I went to college with and everyone I have ever worked with I have never met someone that has worked more than 45 hours a week.
I'm just older now (41 this year) and while I still work as a software developer and have avoided the management route (since I still love coding), I've become somewhat jaded on the business end of things.
Don't get me wrong, I think in certain situations (eg. developer is a founder or has meaningful preferential equity in a company) that working very long hours toward a goal without directly being paid for those hours is perfectly acceptable; but I cringe when I think of how many hours of sleep I missed in my younger days for a pat on the back or token meaningless non-monetary perks when I was a common-stock-holding pleb being constantly diluted out of equity in even the moderately successful companies.
Previously I had to work over 50-60 hours regularly without over time pay. That probably goes against what is expected of an "exempt" employee and I probably should have been compensated. I left that position for obvious reasons.
Generally in the US if you are paid a guaranteed yearly salary, meaning not paid hourly, you do not get overtime pay. One exception I've experience is in retail. For example the manager of our deli department would get paid 1/2 time (not time + 1/2) for overtime.
That said, most people try to average out to around 40 hours, because they usually agree to five 8 hour days.
If that's the case, then Silicon Valley doesn't deserve to exist.
The only people for whom it's reasonable to expect unpaid overtime are genuine founders with real control over the company and their place in it, and who will get real rewards if it succeeds,
You work so many unpaid overtime hours that your actual hourly wage isn't THAT high anymore.
Maybe you do. Except on projects with direct benefit to your career, it's a waste of time and you'd be better off to stop. You don't get more respect by being a chump. You just get loaded with more grunt work.
You want your bosses to think you have leadership potential, not that you're a hard worker who can be used as a garbage disposal for stuff no one else wants to do, or who will accept abuse downwind of others' mistakes (understaffing, bad planning, etc.)
especially if you also take only 10 vacation days into account
Don't work for shitty companies. Three weeks is the absolute minimum.