Submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world [bot] to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/09/google-employees-typically-work-longer-than-eight-hours-a-day.html
Google employees typically work more than eight hours a day: Internal memo::Employees said they were eager to share the HR representative’s response with their relatives.
This is true for most technology always-on businesses… Also why they get paid a ton in most cases
But should it be true? Why should businesses people work for expect or require them to use more than the minimum amount of time required for a full-time job, which should be lower anyway?
As an almost FAANG sized company engineer, I stay because I have work to do.
They ask me: Hey RedditWanderer, how much money /people and how long will it take to do this? I’m free to say whatever number, but I need to hit it. And when I don’t, I often feel personally responsible that I wasn’t able to foresee delays. They pay me a lot to get it right so I work a lot to look like I’m right.
On top of that the studio is like a 4 star hotel. Running late and would like to finish this one thing? That’s cool they’ll cook me food and pay my cab home. Got this project right? Here’s $80,000 worth of stock as bonus. Don’t feel like working today and you’re ahead of schedule? Then just don’t come to work. It’s all about the social contract that they’ll let me do whatever I want because they’ll know I’ll do as much as I can.
I’m not saying it’s the proper way to do anything, and I definitely don’t expect my teams to stay late. Ideally I do my job well and nobody (aside maybe for me) needs to feel like they should work later.
You can argue that it shouldn’t be true, but the fact that this is presented as breaking news about Google is ridiculous. This is true about many positions in the US.
But he said they get paid more. That makes it ok for some reason.
I work for a large online retailer for 10 years and I can assure I never worked more than 40 hours per week in that time period, and I’ve been part of the on-call rotation for half of it.
And besides, overworking software engineers is a stupid waste of money because our productivity starts going to shit even before the 40 hours, let alone on overtime.
You are talking a few hours each week. You are also taking about 150k total comp right out of school.
If you have the ability to bust ass for a few years at Google you’ll be easy to hire at every future gig, you’ll learn from some of the smartest people on the planet, and have your first home by 25.
100% worth it to put time in at any FAANG.
The problem is that nobody in tech can even really work for eight hours a day for long periods. People who work long hours almost always pad out the actual work with non-work. And the people who live at work are typically screwing around so much that they barely get any work done.
Yes, it makes sense to do all of this as a person working there, but I think it is telling that the companies let this happen. People can only work so much. Why not get the work out of them that you can, and then send them on their way?
I will say when I was younger and started in tech I stuck around the office until 9pm every day, then I’d get beers with my coworkers. I was learning so much more than I ever did in school, and doing projects that were really fun, and I made a ton of money for myself and the company (I did not get paid near what I was worth though).
Now, after many many years, the jobs aren’t challenging anymore, and the interesting work has been split up and blocked by organizational bureaucracy (you can’t do that because it would need a team of X to build, Y to deploy, Z to support, all when the job could be a 150 line Python script with 15 mins a week maintenance).
I’ve tried startups and they’re fun, the last one my shares got diluted vastly cutting my pay, and I have friends who got acquired for less than their options cost them, taking a loss. It’s not so fun working overtime for the VCs to snatch your tickets right from your hand.
Now I’m back at a big corp again, where I spend my time optimizing tiny levers in a vast machine to make a few more bucks here and saving a few there, organizing it all by multiplying 12 columns of a spreadsheet and putting in bullshit targets.
Nowadays I wish I could work 9 to noon for how much mental energy I have.
Me: I could be making almost double my current salary if I worked for MANGA
Dad: WHAT? So why don’t you?
Me: Where do I begin…
if I worked for MANGA
So do they pay you in first run Pokemon or what?
They obviously mean Microsoft Apple Netflix Google Applebees
I’m not sure if anyone commenting read the context, but this is in response to an interview that claimed they work one hour a day and screw around or work on their own startups the rest of the time.
100% true with FAANG
Every American lawyer: “Lol that’s cute.”
Could be an interesting experience depending on where you’re at in your life but I’d lose it.
I don’t think I’ve ever worked a salaried position and only worked 8 hours per day.
Shit even at the lowest point in my life after the 08 crisis when I worked as an Arby’s manager I pulled 50/week.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Poo management. If work can’t be done in a work day, it’s just poor management.
just_another_person@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’m upvoting this for the typo. Never change it.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Heh. Alright. I’ll leave it and take my lumps.
lemann@lemmy.one 1 year ago
That typo is pretty damn accurate TBH.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Mobile. Ugh. I didn’t even notice.
SCB@lemmy.world 1 year ago
This ultimately has little to do with management and far more to do with people actually caring about what they’re doing and wanting to get deliverables finished
anon_8675309@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Wouldn’t be rushed to get deliverables finished if it wasn’t a management issue.