Working More?

  • I work 45-50 hours per week and over time is expected, if it is necessary to get the job done.  I work more or less depends on deadlines.  I am satisfied working for a financially sound small company.  My CEO is very tough, but he is also very generous with company trips if annual goals are meet.

     

    -JeffC

     

  • When my son was little, I worked 40 hours a week, but when I was on call, I would put more hours depending what went wrong that week.  Now my son is in high school and does not need too much of my attention, I usually put in 45 - 50 hours a week at work.  The longest hour I put in was 65 hours a week when I tried to meet a deadline of a very aggressive project.

    Maybe my priority is shifted now.  I don't mind to work long hours since my son is grown up.  I don't feel too stressful working long hour.  Actually I felt very stressful when my son was little and I head worked 40 hours a week. At that time the company actually refused to promote me because of this reason.  My manager said my skill was good and I did a good job but just because I could not stay late at work, they could not give me the promotion. I sent out my resume the next day. 

  • There is a curious phenomenon in the United States. It seems that the more advanced we become, the more hours our technology people are working and for less money. At the same time, our union workers are working less hours and for more pay. So how exactly do I get my plumbers license?


    Cheers,

    Alex

    Rogue DBA

  • If I negotiate my salary by comparing job offers to job postings and salary surveys, but then end up averaging 45 hours a week, then an argument can be made that I'm allowing myself to be exploited.  Five hours per week might not sound like much, but doing the math, five hours per week adds up to working more than SIX WEEKS PER YEAR - FOR FREE ([5 hours x 49 weeks]/40).  To me - that's a nice gift to employers.

    With outsourcing and other factors, getting compensated appropriately for overtime is easier said than done.  Having said that, I think we should recognize that working long hours provides enormous benefits to employers, and therefore, I think it's reasonable to expect compensation in return.

    (Political Note: As some of the above posters will attest, DBAs and developers usually don’t have control over the size of their workloads.  A few years ago, that was enough to require employers to classify us as non-exempt employees.  As non-exempt employees, federal law required employers to pay us time-and-a-half for all hours worked over forty hours per week.  However, employers have been misclassifying white-collar workers, like DBAs, as exempt from overtime for years.  As a result, we haven't been paid the overtime we were legally due.  In the late 90’s white-collar workers were beginning to realize this and began demanding overtime from their employers, oftentimes via lawsuits - which they were winning.  Well - the Bush administration didn't like this very much, so they modified U.S. Department of Labor’s interpretation of the overtime law to "clarify" the definition of exempt vs. non-exempt employees.  President Bush claimed that such lawsuits were the result of overtime rules that were difficult to interpret.  In other words, employers who were losing these lawsuits weren't bad people - they just couldn't understand the confusing law.  In fact, the law was very clear, but employers ignored it.  Generally speaking, the Bush administration's "clarification" worked in employers' favor.  As a result, DBAs/developers are no longer eligible for overtime.)

  • I´m a developer (with basic DBA skills) working at a medium size IT company in Brazil. Firts I´m surprised to see in u.s. 35-37.5 can be the standart hour/week contracted while here the standart is for 40 or 44 hours/week.

    Five years ago i´m working about 40h/w and finishing school in a very truncate time.

    Now I´m working about 52h/w with no extra hours rewards (sad). The time is flexible since the work is done but to get in shedule extra effort is necessary, in most cases.

    In few cases extreme hard work has necessary like the las November/December. Two months working at 80hours/week.

    I cannot guess working more than the contratecd 44hours/week if i have wife and kids.

    :/

    Jean

  • Five years ago...I was working for an up-and-coming security company. I was working about 40-45 hours a week with the one-in-a-while disaster/project that has to be done outside normal business hours. That, and I commuted about 45-60 minutes each way every day.

    Today I work from home 4 days a week, only commute 60 minutes each way on Mondays, and am limited to 40 hours a week (being a contractor). I have put in overtime here and there but only so much that it would make my average about 40.1 hours a week.

    However, that isn't all I would consider "work". I do a lot of research and learning on my own time. While I don't get paid for it, that certainly could be considered work.

    -- J.T.

    "I may not always know what I'm talking about, and you may not either."

  • Current is 45 hours + 8-10 hours via VNC during the out-of-office time.

  • I work for a university that's partially state funded so we work 37.5 hours a week.  I tend to work longer than that so typically 40 hours a week for me.  My boss is cool about the hours though so as long as I work my required time I can basically choose my schedule: come in late nearly every day, take long lunches (also nearly every day), that kind of thing.  But having this freedom means I really love my job and is one of the reasons I stay later than most people -- besides the fact I have to make time for coming in late and those long lunches.

  • 5 years ago, I was still in college, working ~20 hours at the university in the College of Arts & Science College Computing department.  I loved how laid back that job was and how much room I had to explore...

    I'm definitely working more though now that I'm in the "real world".  Usually 40-45 hours a week, with the 45 hour weeks being rare.

  • 5 years ago: Fex-time. 45-50 hours a week, 5-10 hours is remote support. Telecommuting 1 day a week. Round trip travel time to/from the office 2 hours 30 minutes per day. Primary on call duty 24x7x365 Quality of life good.

    Today: Flex-time. 40-45 hours a week, 0-5 hours is remote support. Telecommuting on an exception/as needed basis. Round trip travel time to/from the office 10 minutes per day. Primary on call duty 1 out of every 6 weeks. Quality of life 'Most Excellent' !

    RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."

  • More than 5 years ago? Nope-Five years ago I had my own company and worked part time as a consultant and part time as an AF Reservist. It was great money and I loved it. I averaged about 20 hours per week and still had a fairly large income. Then reality set in. My husband was layed off from his IT job, I produced two lovely children, and we needed benefits. Now I work in County government. 8-4:30 with one hour lunch. The very best perk is that I get time and 1/2 for any over time worked. However, it is only comp time-no $$. Oh well, it does end up giving me a few extra weeks of vacation per year which puts me right up there with the Europeans! My salary could be better too, but the hours, the comp time, and the location (6 miles from home with no traffic) mean I will be staying for a while.

  • I changed jobs to work ~ 40 hours a week.  5 years ago I was on call 365 days a year and often got calls in addition to 45 daytime hours a week.  It weighed on me till it was a huge burden - like a ball and chain I couldn't shake even when I didn't get called.  I worked hard at work and gave the company loyalty and the best I had, but in the end it was more than I could stand.  I'm still on call but rarely get calls and it isn't the burden it was. 

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