Do you work 40 hours a week, or more like 80? Do you feel overworked, or are you happy with your schedule?

-- Anonymous, September 04, 2000

Answers

I do work all the time - about 50-60 hours a week at my job and then frelance on top of that. I am tired all the time and my social life has definitely suffered. But then isn't that what your 20's are for? You have the energy and the stamina so why not (if you know what you want to do) get the legwork out of the way and get your career rolling, so perhaps you can go a little easier later on in life. Also, I can remember a time (pre- world wide net and the interweb) when jobs weren't the easiest thing to come by, never mind doing something you enjoy, so who knows when that time will come again - maybe never, but I am enjoying the work while I have it.

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

Over the past 10-20 years I averaged 50-60 hrs a week. One stretch, for a year and a half, was 12+hr days... and some 6&7 day weeks. (The record-not by me- was 98 1/2 hrs... that's straight time hrs, before time and a half... it's also now against the law)That's one reason I recently retired, even though I'm in my 40's. As much of a grind as those days were at times, it allowed me to accumulate some assets to live off. It also taught me that time is the most valuable thing in the world... and no-one knows how much of it he has left. I started counting all the friends and acquaintances I knew, who were my age or younger, who had died; when I got to 30 I stopped... We get on the rat-race tread mill and seldom realize that everyday we're losing that one thing we can't bring back...(time)...and it's unfullfilled dreams, opportunities, hobbies, travel, projects, writing, reading, music, and just enjoying friends and family.Three months ago a good friend at work went to the doctor with what he thought was ulcers... they told him he had pancreatic cancer and gave him 6 months to live. He died last month. That only reinforced my opinion (I left in June). I only wish I'd done it sooner... the stress is less, and the "work" I do is now all mine. If you're lucky enough to relish your job, great...work is important for a lot of psychological reasons, and it allows freedom by way of money. But who wants to work like a dog for 60 years, and drop dead, with little to show but a stack of check-stubs? No easy answers... but I guess that's life...

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

I purposely chose a profession in which I would not have to work 80 hours a week. In fact, I would be utterly exploited if I did, as I get paid quite poorly in the general scheme of things, for someone with a master's degree. I do sometimes have heavy weeks where I'll work 10 hour days and maybe a bit on the weekend, but I work 8.30-5 and then have time to pursue my other interests. I have to say, I wish I had more discipline, as then i would pursue other interests and not just watch one of my 12 HBO channels. (well, that is just a recent phenomena) I completely respect those who do work long hours for a goal (research, artistic endeavors, leading the nation), like you, Jen, or those who have to work many hours to support themselves/family, but I ultimately can't respect folks who work 16 hour days to make a shitload of money and buy stuff. Some of my best friends do this and I really don't get it.

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

For those of you who work more than those around you ask yourself this. How many times have you heard of someone saying, "I wish I had spent more time at work", when looking back on a life lived.

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

I guess I work closer to the 60 hours a week schedule, but I am quite happy with my work and like my schedule. I don't think it matters what other people think about doing more work. I am constantly saying "Maybe I should have done something else", but then again some of the people I work with work on the 80+ hours a week schedule.

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

That's the cliche, right, that nobody ever says "I wish I'd spent more time at work" on their deathbead?

But is it really true? Surely there must be some people who find work to be the most rewarding, or one of the most rewarding elements of their lives. I work a lot, but I like my work, and I'm happy there most of the time. If I spent all my time hanging out with my friends and family, we'd all drive each other crazy.

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

You touched on a sore spot there. I've been putting in 50-55 hour weeks (with the odd 70 hour week every few months) for almost two years at the startup where I work as a programmer. Last week management chewed us out for being slackers and having an "IBM" attitude. They didn't complain that we (the programmers) aren't meeting our deadlines, just that they don't see us here enough.

And then on Friday before Labor Day they give me a project that is due Tuesday morning. So I gave up 12 hours of my Labor Day weekend to get it done.

Startups are supposed to come with long hours, but geeze do they have to yell at us about it?

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2000

I work all of the time like a crazed weasel on crack. Can't avoid it. Always something that needs to be done -- write lecture notes, teach a class, write papers, pimp your science, write grant proposals. Oh yeah, and actually do research. I hear it's like this until you get tenure and then after you do it's the same because you've forgotten how to have a social life and all that normal shit.

-- Anonymous, September 06, 2000

I work all the time, because this is what I used to get in trouble cutting class for. Also, I work at home, so I never leave work. Finally, I feel like I'm sort of slacking, working in a chair and not building my own plumbing corporation with backbreaking labor, like many of my relatives seem to have had to do. Thus, I work a lot (80+) and still feel like I'm cheating.

-- Anonymous, September 06, 2000

I tend to work about 36 hours a week... I guess I'm in the minority here...

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2000

I work a lot, but a lot of my hours are put in at home evenings or weekends or whatever and I don't mind a bit. You see, I work in software training (that is, I teach classes but I also develop classes and write the course material and train other instructors, etc.) and so I always have to keep up with things, am always reading books and journals (technical journals, not diary-journals) and manuals and functional specs, etc. When I am not in the classroom and don't have meetings, I am free to work at home if I choose and my hours are quite flexible. And sometimes I have to travel to teach at other sites (in the U.S. and abroad) and that involves flying on weekends... So I do spend more than forty hours a week "working" but it's not like I'm stuck in a cube farm cranking out code; my hours are flexible and I'm doing something I really enjoy.

I spent many years as a "programmer/analyst" or "business systems analyst" and I always liked what I was doing (although I didn't always like the conditions and/or the employer where I was doing it) but now I feel really lucky to have a job that I enjoy (and no more two a.m. phone calls about system crashes).

Jim


-- Anonymous, September 10, 2000

I work just about seven days a week. There's more to do at work than can possibly be done, and I always feel obligated to try and reduce what remains. Alot of the time, I wish I was Blue colar worker so there could be a clear delineation of responsibility, most of which would not be mine.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

Work is not the issue. The issue is leaving your fellow man (or woman) in the dust. I work at least 73 hours a week and allocate an additional 5 hours to pointing out how little my friends work. Ha Ha. You will never catch up!

-- Anonymous, April 27, 2002