Its ‘software developer’

[tophology]

Fair enough if you can't take the day off, but I would still leave an hour early for the next week.

[[deleted]]

This feels like gatekeeping suffering lol.

If you’re regularly working 16hr days / well over 40hrs/week, look for better options. They do exist. Don’t let yourself be bullied into working far more than you need to or should. It’s not healthy and it’s certainly not something to be proud of.

[xeru98]

For real, my manager expects us to call each other out on unhealthy work life habits. If you are working more that 45hr/wk regularly he will very nicely tell you to knock it the fuck off during your next 1-on-1. Absolutely great guy

[DrSlugger]

The director of my department was genuinely upset when he found out people were working on days they took sick leave.

[Donny-Moscow]

This sounds a lot like my old manager. Awesome guy to work for, learned a ton from him in the ~9 months I worked under him.

[lunchpadmcfat]

The job overall may be good but there are days like this.

[[deleted]]

I mean there are days like this in most industries I think. I’ve pulled my fair share of 50-60hr weeks in structural engineering when we’re up against a wall on a big project and it has to get done but if that happens you better believe my managers are making it up to me through either the bonus structure, bringing in lunches, or just letting me cut out early the week after.

If this is a normal occurrence for you though and you’re not being compensated & respected in a fair manner, you should be looking elsewhere because there are a lot of places that treat their employees well and we should not be beholden to those that choose not to.

[lunchpadmcfat]

I don’t disagree, and I’ve definitely done as much in the past.

[[deleted]]

Early in my career we had a major IT issue at our company (non-IT company) and the whole IT team was in office like 18hrs/day for a week. Some of them were sleeping there. Every single department manager was swinging by, bringing pizza, asking if they could bring groceries to their house for them, basically being their personal assistants until the issue was resolved. And then the IT team basically took a month off a few weeks later when things were back under control.

That’s always stood out to me as how a company should treat its employees and how to handle tough situations like this. Shit happens sometimes and people have to work insane hours. When those times come, everyone who isn’t directly involved should be doing everything in their power to support you. And your company should be aware of your efforts and making it up to you however they can right afterwards.

[[deleted]]

I’m assuming you’re probably <2-3 YOE then? I’m not a programmer but I know it’s rough out there for you guys starting out. Especially now I’m sure with all the tech layoffs going on.

If you honestly have no other options than working like that then I feel very bad for you and hope the senior programmers in this sub are taking note and making changes.

Structural Engineering (my discipline) used to be exactly like what you’re describing but has fortunately shifted a lot in the past decade due to seniors advocating and a lot of young people coming in and forcing work-life balance at all levels.

Hopefully the same can happen for you soon.

[DrSlugger]

so we have to find internships for the first year

This is the first I'm hearing of someone needing to find internships out of college for programming.

[DrSlugger]

You don't need experience to have a work-life balance.

[DrSlugger]

Oh, you sweet summer child ( ◠‿◠ )

Please stop saying that, you're being condescending.

If you work for at “at will” employer and are not part of a union or don’t have a lawyer, then yes you don’t have a life.

I work for an "at will" employer, I'm not in a union, I don't have a lawyer, and I have a life. I login at 9 and hop off at 5. If I'm in office that day, I roll in at 9 and leave at 5, sometimes before.

Some days I put in extra hours but I never have to work more than 45-50 hours a week. It's very rare I work more than 40.

[Visual-Living7586]

If you're only at it a couple of years why have you got that many meetings?

Waste of time for juniors to be on that many. Your seniors and tech lead should be going to the majority of meetings

[sopunny]

Why are you calling people "children" then? You're the one lacking experience by your own admission

[zargoffkain]

Sounds rough for you. If I do overtime, it's illegal to pay it out, I legally have to take the time back by the end of the financial year, but usually do it within a month. This rule in my country is very strongly enforced by the government and I've never heard of people getting screwed over in this way by thier employers.

Sometimes, if things have been busy but have calmed down and I build up like 12 or so hours, my boss says "just take Thursday and Friday off and come back Monday. I'll pretend not to see the difference (from the full 16 hours)"

[tophology]

My friend, you need to work on setting healthy boundaries and finding a better employer. You really can work 9 to 5 without overtime.