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Discussion on: Why I Left 3 Consecutive Jobs

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Eljay-Adobe

virtual hugs

In some countries, salaries are public information. Not sure what prevents that from being the norm here.

One of the things I've learned the hard way is the value of work-life balance.

A friend of mine works at a company that is known in the industry as a grueling 80+ hour a week company. Lots of stories about people burning out there. I won't mention the company, because it isn't relevant.

My friend takes the bus to work, and puts in an 8 hour day. Works 5 days a week. A 40 hour week.

So I asked him, "Don't they ask you to work 80+ hours a week?"

He said, "Nope. You can if you want. I don't want to do that. I do a solid 40 a week, and I'm done, and go home. There's more to life than work. No one has asked me to work more than a full work week."

Hmmm. So those people that are putting in the long hours there and burning out... self-inflicted. Maybe competitiveness and peer pressure are big factors, too. But still, ultimately, self-inflicted.

I've had bosses where I was putting in 60+ hour weeks. That set the bar, and became the expectation. Was that extra effort appreciated? Rewarded? Nope and nope.

The lesson I learned is I was allowing myself to be taken advantage of. And I wasn't even asked to put in that extra effort, I had done it to myself, voluntarily. Self-inflicted. I don't blame anyone but myself.

What about deadlines? About all the work that has to get done? I've discovered that I'm a software developer... I'm not the project manager. It's the PM's job to worry about deadlines. It's my job to work on what needs to work on, as prioritized by the PM.

If the PM wants to know how long it will take me to get something done, I'll give my best estimate. I don't pad it long, nor try to be overly optimistic. But it is just that: an estimate, not a commitment.

But if the PM just pulls the numbers out of thin air and scribbles those imaginary numbers on the Gantt chart... well, garbage in, garbage out. Gantt charts are just a planning tool, not gospel.