There are two things that kill my 8-hour-day productivity:
1. Meetings
2. Someone upstream not doing their job.
#2 is far worse than #1 (and directly related to the parent's #1). There is truly nothing worse than a project manager who allows requirements to be delivered late, but doesn't push out the deadline for the entire project.
Now suddenly you will find yourself in a corner as he will grow(in comparison) inevitably
I completely fail to see the inevitability. People don't fall into a coma the minute they leave the office. If he's grinding away 5-6 hours extra hours alone in the office every day, while you're spending those 5-6 hours meeting new people, hanging out with friends and colleagues, learning new things and playing around with fun hobbies and projects, why should he grow more than you.
It's just as likely that two-three years down the road he'll be completely burnt out with a stagnant skill-set while you have a great network, varied skill-set, plenty of energy and are ready and able to use those to move onto bigger and better things.
I would just think this imaginary guy is an idiot. Unless he's working for himself but I don't think that's what you're talking about. You'd be pretty stupid to effectively work for free, or do you assume that this overtime gets paid? In any case, if the guy has no life and is happy to work all day that's just fine by me, I wouldn't care at all. And if he gets paid for that, that's great, he deserves it if he really works that hard and actually delivers quality results (which I doubt). You talk as if it would be a competition on who can work the most hours. I don't think it is.
Edit: If it's the money you're after I think you should try to work smarter not harder :-) i.e. if you're only way to get more money is to work more hours maybe you should find another job or change career.
Perhaps I'm just fortunate, but in my current situation, I don't think this would matter much. Sure, my co-worker may get a larger raise, but I'm pretty comfortable with my current salary, and the fact that I can average 40-45 hours a week with a lot of flexibility in when I work those hours. Perhaps one day, my boss will turn evil, and tell me I'm not producing enough, but, at that point, I'll find other work, because I have no interest in working for company that expects 60 hour weeks to be the "norm."
Comments
There are two things that kill my 8-hour-day productivity:
#2 is far worse than #1 (and directly related to the parent's #1). There is truly nothing worse than a project manager who allows requirements to be delivered late, but doesn't push out the deadline for the entire project.Lets say #2 is not a problem for the minute and you meet somebody like you.
He and you do your day job in 8 hrs. But he puts in an additional 5-6 hours a day and is likely to put for the coming years.
Now suddenly you will find yourself in a corner as he will grow(in comparison) inevitably. And there will be little you can do.
Putting in crazy hours isn't mandatory, but neither is winning and succeeding.
Now suddenly you will find yourself in a corner as he will grow(in comparison) inevitably
I completely fail to see the inevitability. People don't fall into a coma the minute they leave the office. If he's grinding away 5-6 hours extra hours alone in the office every day, while you're spending those 5-6 hours meeting new people, hanging out with friends and colleagues, learning new things and playing around with fun hobbies and projects, why should he grow more than you.
It's just as likely that two-three years down the road he'll be completely burnt out with a stagnant skill-set while you have a great network, varied skill-set, plenty of energy and are ready and able to use those to move onto bigger and better things.
Unless he's a machine, his 5-6 hours will be producing shitty, sloppy code that others will have to fix later. This is not a net-positive.
Knowing when to work, when and how to rest is the key.
Besides you can train your biological cycle to do wonders.
I would just think this imaginary guy is an idiot. Unless he's working for himself but I don't think that's what you're talking about. You'd be pretty stupid to effectively work for free, or do you assume that this overtime gets paid? In any case, if the guy has no life and is happy to work all day that's just fine by me, I wouldn't care at all. And if he gets paid for that, that's great, he deserves it if he really works that hard and actually delivers quality results (which I doubt). You talk as if it would be a competition on who can work the most hours. I don't think it is.
Edit: If it's the money you're after I think you should try to work smarter not harder :-) i.e. if you're only way to get more money is to work more hours maybe you should find another job or change career.
Perhaps I'm just fortunate, but in my current situation, I don't think this would matter much. Sure, my co-worker may get a larger raise, but I'm pretty comfortable with my current salary, and the fact that I can average 40-45 hours a week with a lot of flexibility in when I work those hours. Perhaps one day, my boss will turn evil, and tell me I'm not producing enough, but, at that point, I'll find other work, because I have no interest in working for company that expects 60 hour weeks to be the "norm."
This is the best answer I have heard so far.
So as long as you are happy with whatever you do, you are the happiest man in the universe.
And I have no problems with this.
I have problems with people who stop other people from working hard, just because they don't want to.