How many hours do you work
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I amn curious to know what difference between the hours you are contracted to work and the hours your company expect you to work are.
Any horror stories out there?
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This has never been an issue for me - even when I work for young startups. But then, I go in expecting occasional long nights and weekends and demand the flex time to compensate for it (if I'm salaried).
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I used to work for a place where 60 hour weeks were the norm. The strange thing was that the group of people working together had a real chemistry and a lot of mutual respect, so that it didn't seem onerous to be at work.
I'm in a different place now, and not working that many hours a week on a consistent basis, but there was a certain adrenalin charge in the old place that I miss every once in a while.
Hours haven't ever really been a problem for me, 'cause I LOVE this database stuff and I'd do it for free for non-profits if I ever won the lottery. That probably qualifies as a mental illness, so you should take this opinion with a large grain of salt.
And then again, I might be wrong ...
David Webb -
I am contracted to work a normal 40 hour week, but the actual amount of hours that I work ranges from 50 to 70 hours a week
I regularly work for weeks without a day off (without getting compensated with overtime pay or time off) - there is always "urgent" work that needs to be done. Whilst I enjoy what I do from day to day, the pressure and fatigue takes its toll. I would probably be a lot more productive if I were well rested. It would be interesting to see what others say - maybe I am just a sucker
(and I definitely do not get paid enough for what I do)! -
Here, Here!
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2 1/2 years of 'education' in the fledgling Internet Stock Trading world
SET HORROR_STORY ON
Monday through Friday Schedule
4:00 AM - wake up, vpn in and check nightime maintenance
4:30 AM - nightime maintenance check complete, timer to shower, eat and dress
5:00 AM - drive in to work
5:45 AM - arrive at work, walk in the door
6:00 AM - perform pre-trade server checks
7:00 AM - pre-trade start
7:00 AM to 5:00 PM
fight changes made by developers to production without testing via thedevelopers 'sa' access - this was done by fiat of the company owner.
emergency (additional) database builds to lessen overall trade load volume on server farm.
emergency (additional) server builds to lessen overall trade load volume on server farm.
install beta or gold release candidates (Win2K, SQL v7.0) into live production (no testing) at owners fiat - usually the day they hit the publicly available download site!
9:00 AM - normal trade day start
3:00 PM - post-trade day start
5:00 PM - end of trade day server checks
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
fix whatever the developers screwed up with their 'sa' access
transfer emergencey server/database information to appropriate servers
decommission emergency (additional) database builds to lessen overall trade load volume on server farm
decommission emergenct (additional) server builds to lessen overall trade load volume on server farm
review nightly maintenance
7:00 PM - drive home
7:45 PM - arrive at home, walk in the door
8:00 PM - vpn in start nightly maintenance
8:30 PM - nightly maintenance al begun, time tio eat and then got to sleep
Every Satruday
5:00 AM - wake up, vpn in and check nightime maintenance
6:00 AM - drive in to work
6:45 AM - arrive at work, walk in the door
7:00 AM - OS, SQL and hardware maintenance
2:00 PM - drive home
2:45 PM - arrive at home, walk in the door
Sunday - nothing - I usually slept
I was the only DBA for the firt 2 years and 3 months of the 2 1/2 years at this firm. The Sql Server database farm grew (NT4.0, SQL v6.0 and SQLv6.5) from 17 SQL Servers with 3 databases per server to 66 SQL Servers with 5 databases per server. Also, this firm went from handling 2% of the daily NASDAQ trading volume to a little over 5%. I did not quit, but was terminated ( a.k.a.'fired') for having a poor attitude at work - I wonder why ? The firm hired 3 DBAs to replace me - they all quit together after 30 days. They then hired another 3 DBAs and those poor souls are still there today as far as I know !
SET HORROR_STORY OFF
Today is another post entirely ... I'll start that one with
SET GRATITUDE_MODE ON later ...
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
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Man, you all work too much.
SET @Manual_Overtime = 'Find New Employment'.
I work my 40 and go home. There are occasions where we need to work late to help out a customer, but overtime is the exception, not the rule. I'm a team player so I'll put in extra effort when needed, but I always make sure I get comp time for extra hours put in. I work so that my kids can have a good life, but that doesn't mean I plan on missing out on any of it......
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I currently work for a firm that describes the position as "salaried". If you do not work 40 hours during a week your paycheck will show the missing hours as vacation pay / holiday pay or sick pay. When the allowable number of hours of vacation / holdiay or sick time has been used, guess what .. right the number of paid hours and of course your gross pay goes down.
What the company defines as "Salaried" is actually better defined as "Hourly - exempt" .. we pay you on an hourly basis and we (meaning the company) are exempt from paying you overtime. The pressure is always on to finish the task by the due date and snide remarks and looks are freely given by your manager if you leave after an 8 hour work period. So do I have a good work attitude .. heck no - from a managers point of view ... from my point of view - heck YES
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Here, Here!
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bitbucket,
Not sure how you do that, but I'd recommend finding a new job. And if you do, make a complaint to the Department of Labor. Salaried is salaried. Deducting vacation if you leave early and reducing pay is the sleazy thing that gets companies fined and managers sent to jail.
We don't do lots of things right in Corporate America, but @#$#ing with employee's pay is one thing that's pretty well protected.
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To answer the original question, I'm salaried and am supposed to put in 40 hours a week. I end up going over that, though, between regular work hours and then after hours maintenance.
bitbucket - I'd verify with HR if your position is classified as Salaried. If so, it's time they start treating you truly as salaried. And I'd follow Steve's recommendation about talking with the Department of Labor.
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In nearly 20 years I've always been fortunate in that I have worked for companies where extra hours over those in the contract were recognised. Not always in financial terms but in something much more rare, genuine gratitude.
I've never begrudged the extra hours when there was a genuine give take attitude and I have been very careful never to abuse such a arrangement.
When you are expected to work vast hours for an at best indifferent employer you begrudge every second.
As far as I am concerned my role requires creative thought and if I'm knackered I'm not going to be able to deliver my best. One of the greatest discoveries during the industrial revolution was that if you don't work your employees until their eyeballs bleed they actually perform better.
Personally I'm at my most technically productive in the morning i.e. 6:30 onwards. I get progressively less technically able after 14:00. For this reason I focus on the less technical aspect of my job after lunch such as documentation, speaking to customers, admin etc.
I don't know if it is because I am approaching 40 and am not yet at the stage where I can afford a decent mid-life crisis but I am very aware that the beneficiary of massive hours is someone I will never meet and probably has an annual income greater than my entire life time earnings.
Steve has mentioned that your priorities shift as you get older. When you are young the long hours culture is a way of getting experience and getting ahead.
When you are older the long hours culture is a way of getting a(nother) divorce, delinquent kids and a heart attack. No-one died thinking "God, I wish I had spent more time in the office"!
My horror story is that I fell asleep at the wheel and nearly killed someone.
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"No-one died thinking "God, I wish I had spent more time in the office"!"
TINATDHHIL
'there is no acronym to describe how hard i laughed'
I owe you a beer.
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Here, here.
David, if we get you to the states, beer's on me.
Massive hours are there for a reason. When there's a crisis. They're not a regular occurance. Or shouldn't be.
Remember, at some point you'll retire. If you've been working massive hours for 20 years, what will you do?
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If I ever get to the States it will be beers all round.
I don't have many ambitions in life but I would really LOVE to have a game of baseball and the US seems to be the only place where it is played. Who says America has no sense of irony when they call it "The World Series"
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