As an engineer in the US what is a typical work day? Mine is 9 hours including an hour unpaid lunch. Is that normal or are there people that really get to work at 9 and leave at 5?
I have worked at a startup before and after acquisition. I am a morning person and have small kids so I normally worked 8-4. I got a little push-back for leaving early, but after a few days of telling my boss what I had already accomplished by the time he got in in the morning, it was pretty much ok.
Now, I work from home, so I usually work something like 8am-3 plus 8pm-9 so I can play with my kids after school. Highly recommended.
But if you're asking this question, then what you probably need is advice about how to talk about this with your boss.
8:30-5 (I leave a bit early to beat traffic. Sometimes if I can't sleep I'll VPN in to work and do some code janitor tasks. A few times a year my work load gets heavy enough that I'll work extra at night or very early to get through it, but that's not my normal routine.
My lunch is anywhere from 0 to 90 minutes but I probably average about 30 minutes.
During the day I'll sometimes go for a 30 minute walk. I keep a guitar at work so if I get hung up on something I'll play for bit.
Yeah, we each have an office with a door. My guitar is an electric that I either play through headphones or unamplified. Plus, I'm often just playing scales or something.
Typically something like 11:30 - 19:30, but with wild variations. I work in academia so I enjoy a lot of freedom in that respect.
It's not rare that I work in the evening, or during weekends, but I am never required to (although when paper deadlines are due, there is a strong expectation that you will in order to finish things up).
My typical workday is more like 9:30 - 4:30 or 5:00, although if needed I'll hang around until 6:00 or so. I work as an Application Architect in a large enterprise. We have some developer teams that work start-up hours, working 60+ hours a week, but most of us do an 8 hour day.
I work remotely on the west coast for a company in the Midwest.
8am-12/1pm-3pm
7pm-9pm
Leaving work at 3pm gives me time to hit the gym, make dinner, and hangout with my wife for a bit. I'll typically pick back up around 7pm and work for another hour or two depending on how busy we are.
My evenings after 9pm are then open for whatever, which is nice.
8.30-5:00 There's a few folks that do more than that but they're the more senior folks.
That's the thing I've seen about a hierarchical company structure, the further up the ladder you go the more that's expected of you and the less return you get.
This is me as well 8am-4pm... but most people in my office work 9-5 or 10-6pm, which often means answering emails when I get home. This schedule has held true for my previous two jobs as well. Exceptions are when servers and sites go down, but my current company gives me comp time when I get pulled away from my family on a weekend or a vacation so it all works out.
~8 hours of work starting at somewhere between 7:30 and 8am (so i don't have to deal with rush hour). lunch is generally 1 hour but sometimes i take less and leave sooner, and other times i take more and leave later. if i'm in the middle of something, i generally stay until it's done, but some of my coworkers drop everything when they've done their ~8 hours.
I enjoy my job a lot. Web developer in Northwest Arkansas.
I usually come in at around 8:00, take maybe an hour lunch at around 11 or 12, and leave at 5. If I get called in the middle of the night, I'm always happy to help out.
When I worked for the government my hours were a strict 8:00 - 4:30 with a 1 hour lunch.
When I worked for Toshiba, it was 45 hour weeks; I hated that job so I would come in at 6:00 and leave at 3 without taking a lunch.
I think a big part of working a lot of hours is enjoying the work involved. I greatly disliked Toshiba and the government, so working less / more hours was just awful.
8:30 - 12:30 / 2:00-5:30
I work in Paris, France so my lunch break (actually go to the gym and grab a sandwich afterwards) is paid.
Some of my colleagues do 9:30 - 1:00 / 2:30 - 18:30 or alternative hours (some work remotely, some from the office).
Germany, 7am-4pm, with half an hour of unpaid lunch time.
Usually by the time I arrive at work I already did my workout (gym or running).
Since I'm living close to my work place I also drive my bike from/to work which takes about 20 min.
I'm a math/software guy at NASA. I work 80 hours every two weeks, with flexible scheduling. A lot of folks will work over 8 hours a day to get one or two extra days off every pay period. Others (like me) tend to opt for a more traditional work schedule. I do a fair amount of telework though, usually at least 1-2 days a week.
Mostly roughly 9 to 5, although lately I have been heading into the office at 7 - 8 am & leaving at 5, or sometimes later if I'm engrossed in a particular task. Lunch is whatever time I choose to have it, typically I'll do a half hour, sometimes a little longer.
I also have flexibility to leave when I want too - there have been days where I left at 3 pm to go running with friends.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 91.8 ms ] threadThanks, I am glad to hear that at least someone works the schedule I expected though.
Now, I work from home, so I usually work something like 8am-3 plus 8pm-9 so I can play with my kids after school. Highly recommended.
But if you're asking this question, then what you probably need is advice about how to talk about this with your boss.
My lunch is anywhere from 0 to 90 minutes but I probably average about 30 minutes.
During the day I'll sometimes go for a 30 minute walk. I keep a guitar at work so if I get hung up on something I'll play for bit.
It's not rare that I work in the evening, or during weekends, but I am never required to (although when paper deadlines are due, there is a strong expectation that you will in order to finish things up).
8am-12/1pm-3pm
7pm-9pm
Leaving work at 3pm gives me time to hit the gym, make dinner, and hangout with my wife for a bit. I'll typically pick back up around 7pm and work for another hour or two depending on how busy we are.
My evenings after 9pm are then open for whatever, which is nice.
That's the thing I've seen about a hierarchical company structure, the further up the ladder you go the more that's expected of you and the less return you get.
(Silicon Valley/salaried)
I usually come in at around 8:00, take maybe an hour lunch at around 11 or 12, and leave at 5. If I get called in the middle of the night, I'm always happy to help out.
When I worked for the government my hours were a strict 8:00 - 4:30 with a 1 hour lunch.
When I worked for Toshiba, it was 45 hour weeks; I hated that job so I would come in at 6:00 and leave at 3 without taking a lunch.
I think a big part of working a lot of hours is enjoying the work involved. I greatly disliked Toshiba and the government, so working less / more hours was just awful.
I also have flexibility to leave when I want too - there have been days where I left at 3 pm to go running with friends.
9am-5pm.
Time for lunch - not specified.
The extra hour is making me both miserable and palpably less effective, but it's what I undertook, it's what they want, and the money's good.
I'm going to try and avoid jobs that expect more than 40 hours on an ongoing basis after this.
Just started a remote job, so now nobody cares about my hours, just my results. Too early to say what the typical day is.