Value Your Time. Do Not Work Overtime
You can work overtime for a day, for a week, maybe a month, not more. If overtime becomes the new normal for you then eventually your productivity drops and YOU BURN OUT…
Are YOU skilled enough to fulfill your responsibilities
during working hours without overtime?
Have You Ever Spent Evenings or Weekends Working for “Thank you”? 🔗
I bet you felt that strange feeling inside you. When you are tired, when your partner is already in bed, when your eyes are burning, when you stop feeling your neck and back…
You keep on working, you feel like it’s your duty, you are the superhero who will same the team and push the last fixes right before the deadline. Then you feel like the relief will come, and you will be standing on the pedestal holding a golden medal.
That doesn’t happen, though. Maximum what you get is an extra day off or just a “thank you” from your manager. Now go and divide those extra hours you worked overtime by the amount of “thanks” you get
- that is your income for working overtime.
The Infinite Loop of the Top Performer. 🔗
The interesting thing about this working pattern is that the more you work the more they expect from you.
Who will be the first one to be asked to work at the night duty or make a release after working hours? Will it be the top performer who dedicates his personal time to go an extra mile or the one who goes offline exactly at 6pm? I think the answer is obvious. Why be top performer? :thinking-face:
The companies have developed methods to make developers perform to the maximum possible limit.
Don’t calculate how much money you make a month or a year, calculate how much you make an hour.
Why NOT Work Overtime? 🔗
- Management changes/new owners -> possibly you don’t like them, or they don’t like you.
- One day you may get fired. Out of nowhere. Just wake up and have no access to slack and mail.
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Makes you lock yourself from new opportunities.
- Business may go down. Crisis in this field, in the world, competitors succeed.
- From my experience it’s hard to get a decent salary increase within one company. Much likely someone on the side will propose you better compensation.
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Company opens a new niche/project and old one becomes obsolete.
- Your expertise sticks to one tech stack and similar problems.
- Usually, tech stack doesn’t get updated, but the world of tech evolves much faster.
- The more management feels that you need this job, the more work they will put on your shoulders. That’s the law.
Time Goes By. You Forget Each Other. 🔗
I remember those times when I was working hard on previous projects. One day I parted ways with those companies. The next day I was not needed, they forgot about me.
I also moved on. Sometimes I recall all that hard work, overtimes, dedication, worries, stress… Now I think that was just a waste of my energy and time to work extra hard.
What’s interesting is that with each new company that I joined it was better, than previous one. It’s a good luck or experience of choosing <a target=”_blank” href=”/How-To-Choose-Between-Multiple-Job-Offers”better working conditions</a>.
Exceptions. Why You Should Work Overtime. 🔗
- You simply love it.
- You don’t have personal life or hobbies.
- This is your company.
- You don’t have ambitions.
- You have equity stakes at current company.
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You gain a precious experience you need to advance in your career.
- Long term contract.
- Company will threaten you if you leave.
- You have no other options on the market.
- You are not skilled enough to apply for a better position.
- The only your friends you have got are your colleagues, with whom you built close relations.
You have to work as many hours as much you are paid.