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Ask HN: What kind of jobs only work 40 hours a week?

5 points by wavesounds ↗ HN
I'm looking for a job that has a good work life balance. So that I can work on side projects and pursue my hobbies. I also need time off to recharge and travel and I have found that companies that offer "unlimited" vacation really offer no vacation, because everyone is too afraid to take time off.

So my question is what kind of jobs/companies in a major city like SF only expect you to work 40 hours a week with guaranteed vacation time? And how do I present this question while interviewing without sounding lazy or not "passionate"?

6 comments

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jayvanguard
Work for a european based software company. Very different culture around vacation.
wavesounds
That would be great. Do you know any efficient way of finding these positions in SF? I just searched the handful of European companies I know of and they don't have any listings in SF.

Also I don't necessarily need as much vacation as Europeans get, just a few weeks a year that I'm actually encouraged to use would be fine.

logn
SAP has offices in Palo Alto. Like most large corporations, 40 hrs is the norm. When I was there, vacation was determined by tenure. 3 weeks to start, 4 weeks after 3 years, and 5 weeks at some point.

And they definitely encourage vacation. For accounting it's considered a debt, so they want everyone to use it up to improve financial results. I imagine most public corps have this attitude as well.

As far as asking and not sounding lazy in interviews, I tend to ask something like "What's life like working here?". In one of the interviews you're sure to find someone who will give you a candid answer and you can segue into more direct questions if it feels right.

jgamman
on off the cuff comment: try targeting Aussie or Kiwi companies - we've got our share of workaholic nutjobs and there is probably a bit of selection bias but it's culturally acceptable to want a couple weeks off in summer (which is our xmas period so it's a natural fit). i know a few NZ start-ups are quickly landing in SF to access capital/growth and Sam Altman was in Auckland a month or so back so it's not as though it's a step down the credibility ladder. NZ govt sponsors a Kiwi landing pad/hub in SF somewhere, that might be a good way to start [1]. Aus probably does something similar.

[1] http://kiwilandingpad.com/

skylark
You'll probably have decent results with non-tech companies. I work for a large bank in SF and the work life balance is excellent, straight 9-5 job.
bwb
Our company, wwwh.com pratices a strict 40 hour work week + we have real vacatoin + we are 100% remote so we don't care where you travel to. Shoot me an email at ben@wwwh.com

We don't hire in SF though as the cost of salaries there isn't worth it for us when we can hire anywhere globally. But, if you are interested in moving let us know. Thanks, Ben