Does anyone work a 40 hour week anymore? especially in IT?

[Soybomb]

It seems like every job interview I go on they spring a big work week on me. Talking to most of my friends, it seems like the norm. Is the idea of working "only" 40 hours a week dead for most professioanls, especially in IT?

The last interview I was at they asked me what I'd think of 45-50 hour weeks, maybe working for 7-6. I'd love it? And this was after we'd already talked salary like that 25% increase in hours won't factor in. The interview before that I asked the supervisor for that position what the average day would be like and was told "in this department we look at the work day as time to have meetings and then get our work done when we get home." Gee that sounds wonderful.

Don't get me wrong, I've been doing IT for a number of years now, I understand late nights and long weekends are sometimes required but I personally don't want it to be the norm. I'm starting to think thats going to be a tough order.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: Soybomb
It seems like every job interview I go on they spring a big work week on me. Talking to most of my friends, it seems like the norm. Is the idea of working "only" 40 hours a week dead for most professioanls, especially in IT?

The last interview I was at they asked me what I'd think of 45-50 hour weeks, maybe working for 7-6. I'd love it? And this was after we'd already talked salary like that 25% increase in hours won't factor in. The interview before that I asked the supervisor for that position what the average day would be like and was told "in this department we look at the work day as time to have meetings and then get our work done when we get home." Gee that sounds wonderful.

Don't get me wrong, I've been doing IT for a number of years now, I understand late nights and long weekends are sometimes required but I personally don't want it to be the norm. I'm starting to think thats going to be a tough order.

I do =D

8-5, hourly, finance/accounting

I'm also a maggot though; 8-5 does not exist for manager and above (at least from what I've seen)

2/2 warps this morning, on a roll.

 

[Q]

Internship + work from home = win

 

[yllus]

Still generally doing 40-45 hours a week here. As a software developer I tend to slip in terms of code quality if it gets much higher than 50 hours a week. I imagine that if I wasn't exempt from overtime that might be a different story.

 

[RKS]

When I was in IT (Oracle Analyst) for a county agency I worked 37.5 hours/week.

 

[trmiv]

I do. We can't even work OT without prior approval. I'm an hourly IT guy though, so I'm sure the salaried folks are different.

 

[nakedfrog]

It's gotta be a pretty important project or a major fuck-up to get me to do over forty.

 

[Train]

Originally posted by: yllus
Still generally doing 40-45 hours a week here. As a software developer I tend to slip in terms of code quality if it gets much higher than 50 hours a week. I imagine that if I wasn't exempt from overtime that might be a different story.

Sometimes if I've really got some momentun going on a project I can be productive past 50 hours, but most of the time I just cant code that much in a week, my brain will be fried.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Soybomb
It seems like every job interview I go on they spring a big work week on me. Talking to most of my friends, it seems like the norm. Is the idea of working "only" 40 hours a week dead for most professioanls, especially in IT?

The last interview I was at they asked me what I'd think of 45-50 hour weeks, maybe working for 7-6. I'd love it? And this was after we'd already talked salary like that 25% increase in hours won't factor in. The interview before that I asked the supervisor for that position what the average day would be like and was told "in this department we look at the work day as time to have meetings and then get our work done when we get home." Gee that sounds wonderful.

Don't get me wrong, I've been doing IT for a number of years now, I understand late nights and long weekends are sometimes required but I personally don't want it to be the norm. I'm starting to think thats going to be a tough order.

Tell them if they expect you to work more than 40 you must be paid for it or officially documented comp time. Professionals are starting to take back their life and realize that 40 hours means 40 hours. Not any more without just compensation in the form of money or time. Calling you after hours also means you should be compensated for that time, minimum 1 hour so a 5 minute phone call = 1 hour of time or money.

 

[buck]

I wish, usually around 45-50, sometimes more.

 

[eleison]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
It's gotta be a pretty important project or a major fuck-up to get me to do over forty.

Agreed....

 

[Soybomb]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Soybomb
It seems like every job interview I go on they spring a big work week on me. Talking to most of my friends, it seems like the norm. Is the idea of working "only" 40 hours a week dead for most professioanls, especially in IT?

The last interview I was at they asked me what I'd think of 45-50 hour weeks, maybe working for 7-6. I'd love it? And this was after we'd already talked salary like that 25% increase in hours won't factor in. The interview before that I asked the supervisor for that position what the average day would be like and was told "in this department we look at the work day as time to have meetings and then get our work done when we get home." Gee that sounds wonderful.

Don't get me wrong, I've been doing IT for a number of years now, I understand late nights and long weekends are sometimes required but I personally don't want it to be the norm. I'm starting to think thats going to be a tough order.

Tell them if they expect you to work more than 40 you must be paid for it or officially documented comp time. Professionals are starting to take back their life and realize that 40 hours means 40 hours. Not any more without just compensation in the form of money or time.

I believe that is about the road I'm going down. I'm eager to get back to work and start earning again but I feel like I've got a pretty diverse skills set and a good amount of experience. I think I'm going to hold off for an employer that can hire the appropriate number of employees to get the job done.

 

[Unheard]

We work 37.5 hour work weeks here.

 

[nageov3t]

I alternate between 36 hours one week (3 x 12 hour days) and 44 hours the next (4 x 11 hour days). hate the schedule, but it generally works out to 40 hours give or take.

I don't even think about staying 15-20 minutes late if I have to (figure it's more than made up for by the time I spend neffing on the clock). if I've got to stay an hour+ late, I'll make it up elsewhere by coming in late or leaving early.

 

[skim milk]

pff that's nothing
I'm looking to jump to asset management, expected work week = 70-75hr

 

[acheron]

There had better be a damn good reason if I'm working much more than 40 hrs. (software developer) Sure an hour or two here or there is fine, but it's not the norm, and it's not 50 hours either.

It's really only happened once in the 5 years I've been working (worked until 10 or 11 several nights and then on a couple weekends, trying to finish a release), and I got a bonus for it.

The interview before that I asked the supervisor for that position what the average day would be like and was told "in this department we look at the work day as time to have meetings and then get our work done when we get home."

Jesus. I hope you laughed in his face and walked out.

 

[Fritzo]

I do 40-45 hrs/week.

 

[blackdogdeek]

in a bad job market, beggars can't be choosers. if you can afford to not land the first job you get offered, more power to you. however, i know people who have been looking for work for over 8 months. they would kill for the chance to work 50 hours a week.

 

[Exterous]

My job is pretty good about it. If something crazy happens and I have to pull a lot extra hours they will usually let me go home early on day to make up for it.

As it is I find 41 hours a week is my average

 

[Jeff7]

Engineer here (kind of a combination of electrical, computer, and mechanical). Most weeks thus far have been 40hrs. That only really seems like it'd change if some product comes back from a customer which is failing for an unknown reason - then it's usually, "Get this fixed. You have until 4pm Friday."
It's even more fun when they want it fixed by 4pm on the same day.:shocked:
Then you're into "Starfleet Engineer" territory:
"I can have this fixed in about 4 days."

"You've got 6 hours."

"..."


Now recently, I did work on a project a little bit over the weekend, but it was probably for less than an hour, and it was partly because it's an interesting project, and partly because I didn't want to forget the code I'd thought up. It's not only more efficient than what's there already, but what's there already a) doesn't work, and b) is just.....not at all easy to interpret, which makes fixing it pretty much impossible. It's now been rewritten - it's more robust and capable, and a fairly inept kitten could follow it.

 

[fleshconsumed]

A lot of people will do it. I will not unless I have no other choice.

It all comes down to this. I sat down and calculated how much free time I have on a typical weekday. Currently I work 37.5 hours a week, plus paid overtime if I choose to. Assuming 7.5 hour day, 1 hour for lunch, typical prep time after you get up, shower, travel, etc, sleep, best case scenario I only have 6 hours on a typical weekday to myself. And that's with only 15 minute commute. In those 6 hours I have to fit in cooking, eating, showering, exercising, doing home chores, studying, catching up on news and email, reading, and some quiet time to relax. Those 6 hours fly fast, and most of the days I don't get to do everything I want to. If I had longer commute or had to work even one, or two hours overtime, that would mean only 4 hours of me time. Sorry, but that's not enough.

Like I said, I have no illusions, occasionally there will be a need to stay overtime to get the job done. I'm fine with that, this is the reality. However, I will not willingly do overtime on a regular basis. Time to myself is just too precious, especially if you're not being paid for overtime.

 

[melchoir]

40hrs here, comp time after. Last job was 40hrs, and comp time after.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Working 40 hours a week to the minute in underwriting. That's because we have to log into phones and crap.

Now when I was doing my internship in IT, it was different. They worked ~9am-3pm with an hour lunch on campus, but then spent many hours working from home and work 50-60 hour weeks on average. That's also because they took away one of their team members, so a 3 person team (that worked quite well, and they all worked 40-45 hours/wk) is now a 2 person team with the same amount of work....

 

[manlymatt83]

I do contracting, so it's hourly - so not often

 

[Whitecloak]

40 hours a week is a pipe-dream for me.