Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass
People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours
I want to thank Kevin Drum from Mother Jones for surfacing a 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics study [PDF] that confirms something I've long suspected: Virtually anyone you know who claims to be working more than 60 hours a week is not telling the truth.
Bureau of Labor Statistics researchers reached this conclusion by comparing regular survey data to diary data from the American Time Use Survey, a Census project that asks Americans to track, diary style, how their weekly time is divided among 163 different activity categories, from sleeping to shopping to pet care.
[...] Again, this sort of misreporting is not limited to work hours. People overestimate how often they do all sorts of things they "ought" to be doing, often by even larger margins than with work for pay. One study from the 1980s found swim and tennis club members provided estimates of their frequency of use of recreation facilities that was double what was reflected in their clubs' logbooks.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Booga1 on Saturday April 27 2019, @07:48AM
A lawyer died and arrived at the pearly gates.
St. Peter greeted him warmly, but the lawyer seemed a bit confused.
The lawyer greets St. Peter and says, "Glad to be up here instead of the alternative, but to be honest, I didn't expect to be here so soon. Surely there must be some mistake. I'm only 43!"
St. Peter replied, “Well, I’ve added up all the hours for which you billed your clients, and by my calculation you must be about 193 years old!”
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 27 2019, @07:52AM (14 children)
But, I work so much harder than all those lazy poor people. I deserve my insanely high salary because I work double the hours of those 37 hour work week plebs.
I’m so deserving with my massive ego and tireless work ethic.
(Score: 2, Informative) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday April 27 2019, @08:23AM (9 children)
Do you keep youre Salary? Possibly you keep it -- so lucky for you. I have to give mine away. Big donation every Quarter. The Fake News Media leave me little choice!!! pic.twitter.com/xqIGUOwh4x [t.co]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 27 2019, @11:52AM (1 child)
I remember you saying you wouldn't take a paycheck as POTUS during your campaign.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @03:26PM
New rule: we should only have Billionaires for President. They get the Ultimate Experience and we get... uhh, what do we get?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Saturday April 27 2019, @01:19PM (6 children)
Unlike the Gates who are pledging (and apparently delivering) 99.9% of their wealth to charity, much more often is the case like, say, Larry Ellison, where less than 0.1% is donated to charity but highly publicized about the impressive millions "given away for pure altruism."
I still resent the system that created Gates from luck and position, rather than skill and merit, but I do respect the man for listening to his wife and actually trying to do good for others.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 27 2019, @03:06PM
Haven't you heard the term 'you make your own luck', it's not like Microsoft landed square in his lap, he had to hustle and use intelligence to get it all to fall into place. But yeah, some events are key
https://web.archive.org/web/20060404211733/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_43/b3905109_mz063.htm [archive.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday April 27 2019, @03:32PM (2 children)
Maybe you have a point - but I will obstinately characterize the man as a fekkin criminal who should have gone to prison.
Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 27 2019, @05:44PM (1 child)
yes. he's a shit weasel.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday April 28 2019, @01:30AM
Steve Ballmer is a supreme shit weasel, and there are plenty more where he came from.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Sunday April 28 2019, @11:05AM (1 child)
Except it is arguable, whether he does any good. All the vaccination research does more harm than good IMO, MS software requirements in funded projects are plain evil. Plus he has ruined a lot of people and has not made any attempts to pay back.
When I read his TIME interview ~20 yrs back I got convinced of his pure incompetence and egoism (IIRC it was actually titled: "all mine"). Information on MS proper confirmed that impression again and again.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday April 28 2019, @04:14PM
It is, of course, always arguable...
I may come off as an anti-vaxxer at times, and indeed my children have skipped most of theirs, but research isn't bad, and especially research that has reduction of disease burden as its goal, instead of blockbuster drug launches for profit.
Are they paying MS for the software? If so, that would be plain evil - if not, it's just a choice. I've lived with Apollo, various DOS, Windows 3.1, 95/98, 7, 10, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, CentOS+LXDE, and MacOS as long-term daily drivers, and they all had their downsides, particularly Apollo... If the MS software is being gifted as part of the project, that could just be a form of standardization that brings technical support and a degree of harmony to the projects. Grant recipients (aka beggars) rarely get to choose much beyond who they apply to for grants, and if you're applying to the Gates foundation...
While I hold the same opinions of Billy and his steno-pool wife, in the greater picture of all the other incompetent egomaniacs and sociopaths of the world, particularly in C-level positions of the Fortune 500, I rate post-Melinda Bill as above average in terms of positive impact on the future.
Could I, personally, do more good for the future of the world if given control of $60B or whatever the current estimate of the foundation's net wealth is? Maybe if I had started 15-20 years ago, yes. At this point, I'm in my 50s, and there's probably not enough time left for me to orchestrate that kind of operation - and put it on a better course than the one they've already set.
One thing that I would set forth as relatively inarguable: attempting to do good with the wealth accumulated is more beneficial for the masses than construction of mega-yachts, private island development, propping up the luxury goods industry, and all the other more typical acts of the super wealthy.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 27 2019, @09:15AM (3 children)
Silly goose... Worker smarter, not harder with this one trick the other job candidates don't want you to know!
What's that, you say? You cannot satisfy a quota because you had the misfortune to lose the genetic lottery by being born as a white male? No Problem!
Then you, too, can enjoy compensation for a skilled position without having to work for it -- unlike all those suckers spouting useless platitudes like "taking pride in one's work", "pulling one's own weight", "integrity", or "accountability".
(Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Saturday April 27 2019, @10:18AM (1 child)
This guy seems to have it made !! I can't confirm whether this is true, but, it made for entertaining reading:
Due to a screw up with my “employer” I earn money to do nothing. [reddit.com]
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @02:15PM
This is not new.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/9200054/German-civil-servant-says-he-did-nothing-for-14-years.html [telegraph.co.uk]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday April 27 2019, @03:35PM
That's some funny schitzls, man. Let's see if we can make you +5Troll with this!
Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 27 2019, @11:42AM
And retired when I was 45.
But wait... There's only 168 hours in a week.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Rupert Pupnick on Saturday April 27 2019, @03:10PM
One of the best ways to signal status in modern society is to claim that you’re always busy. If you can get paid for it, it becomes even more attractive.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday April 27 2019, @03:44PM
If either of them tell you they work more than 70 hours per week, you can probably believe them. Of course, the truck driver probably isn't going to tell you, because it is explicitly against the law for him to do so. The farmer? If he's telling you this in mid-winter, he's probably pulling your leg.
Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.
(Score: 4, Informative) by HiThere on Saturday April 27 2019, @04:35PM (3 children)
When I started out in computers it was common for programmers to work 70-80 hours a week. Once I worked 96. Mind you, toward the end of the week you aren't thinking very coherently, but you take time off afterwards to recover. You can't AVERAGE that kind of stupid work hours. Part of the reason was that we rented time on a computer about 60 miles away, and there was no remote access. So when crunch time came we'd go over there submit jobs, wait for the result, fix the bugs, and try again. You really learn to admire structured programming after spending a bunch of time like that untangling "go to" statements.
I can imagine that kind of access problem today, but only where there are strong security considerations.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 27 2019, @07:21PM (2 children)
As a self-employed software developer, and a professional insomniac, I have worked many (too many) 100+ hour weeks. It's not uncommon for me to start working around 4am, and to work past 8pm most days. There are even a few all nighters per month.
The key is to do your hardest stuff (that which requires the most concentration) a couple hours after you start your workday (this gives the coffee and momentum a chance to work their magic). Since lunch can break your rhythm try doing your planning for the next 24 hours after you eat. That gives you a chance to ease back into work and let's you plan the more mindless stuff for late afternoon and early evening. Screen layouts, flowcharts, documentation, etc are all things to do when you're less than 100%.
Finding good stopping points is critical, as is leaving yourself a "this is where I stopped, and this is what I was thinking" comment in your code. That makes getting back up to speed much easier, especially when you have to switch gears unexpectedly (client calls, bug reports, server issues, etc).
As a workaholic this method works well for me. Obviously working from home enables this type of schedule, and not everybody has that option (or desire). The hours go by quick when you're in a groove, and solid productivity fuels things. On days I can't get any traction I take care of all the little things (filing, organizing email, reviewing project notes, etc). There's always something to do.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday April 28 2019, @05:20AM
Yes, but you're doing it in a VERY different environment, where it doesn't really make as much sense. (It can still make some sense...but not usually.) The difference is the local access to the computer. Also editors are a lot more forgiving (and give better warnings) than key punch machines did.
The language changes are important, but they just change where the stress points are. But the easy access to the compiler is a real game-changer.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @02:21PM
I have put in 10 to 11 hour days 5 days a week for 4 months. It sucked. Badly. That was a project. I'm not ever doing it again. I'm too old for that crap.
I'll work extra hours here and there and will put in time to get things done. But not that. Never again.
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Saturday April 27 2019, @11:58PM (2 children)
Tech firm increases revenue by a third after giving staff Wednesdays off work [abc.net.au]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @07:42AM
Long work hours are about keeping plebs incarcerated. That way the rich can roam freely.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @02:26PM
A friend of mine does this. Every Wednesday off. Works from home using his Surface. It works really well for him.