What's the regular working hour in programmers world? [closed]

Question

I know people work from 8 to 10 and also people work from 9 to 5. I wonder what is the regular working hour for most programmers. Would you take it into consideration when you look for a job?

Answer 1

I wonder what is the regular working hour for most programmers.

For most most of the business world an 8h day is still centered on 9 to 5. Some more progressive companies might let you pick a start time between say 6am and 10am, or the like, and your day ends 8hrs later...these companies are few and managers are usually given veto power over their group.

Would you take it into consideration when you look for a job?

Absolutely... I spent 12 years working 5pm to 1am...yes it was a very interesting software gig...best 12 years of my professional life. I always arrived at work feeling refreshed and on my game....That was followed by 6 horrid years of 8am to 5pm. I always arrived at work feeling tired and rushed and it would usually take 2 or 3 hours before I could get in a groove. When I left I vowed to never take a job with a required start time before 11am. Not an easy task, but I poked around for companies that embrace the telecommute and found several good choices...I currently live 1800 miles from my place of employment and typically work from noon to 10pm.

That is the exception...at most companies there is always pressure from the people that believe getting up a 5am somehow makes you a better person...an idea with no basis in fact...unless you are a farmer. Allowing people to work the hours that they are most productive in would be a better idea.

Sorry if I got off on a rant.

Answer 2

In our company you can select working hours as you wish, but in such a way that the whole team works together from 12pm (midday) to 5pm. When you arrive and leave is up to you. You should just be in the office in the "common hours", and work at least 8 hours a day.

This make schedules flexible and more comfortable to developers with specific preferences about when they want to start their work. It also makes the whole team present in the office for a significant time together, so they can perform common activities.

These aims contradict each other, and the company should reach balance between them. I think that the way described above is a good measure for that.

Answer 3

I see a lot of companies offering flexible work arrangements along side telecommuting. From the company stand point it's a "perk" that doesn't really cost them much money and from the employee stand point it makes for happier working conditions.

Right now I work from 5am to 2pm which are really counter to most stereotypical programmer's hours. I know its weird but I've got kids and this allows me to be home just before they get home from school and I get to spend a lot more time with them then if I were to work unitl 5pm or 6pm. The downside is I go to bed at 8pm and get up at 3:30am.

Answer 4

I think it depends on two factors:

1) Your employer's work policy

Some employers allow flexible working which means as long as you do at least e.g. 40 hours per week, it doesn't matter if they're 8->5, 9->6, 10->7, etc.

A progressive employer would gauge this by your work output/quality metrics rather than how many hours you work. I've seen Japanese companies that establish a culture of "be in before and leave after the boss" - where the boss works 7am->9pm. Not very productive and the spouses and children never see their partners/parents. I've also seen amazing startups that have a core of 25-30 hours a week as long as you check email regularly and are contactable by phone.

2) The stage of life you're at.

If you're fresh out of college/uni and/or have no particular dependencies, you can work lots of hours and will likely assimilate lots more knowledge and develop skills proportional to the hours you put in. It's not uncommon for new hires at, e.g. computer games companies, to work well into the night and the management will order in food and drinks

If you have a vibrant social life, you may have to juggle late nights out with late nights working. And Alka-Seltzer mornings :-)

If you have a partner and/or children, your priorities will likely change as you may have to help with childcare arrangements, and daycare/school starts and ends at a fixed time, so you end up aligning to that somewhat.

Answer 5

Depends mostly on the company. Startups will want you 24/7 while established companies will most likely do 9 to 5. I personally like structure so a 9 to 5 works for me.

Answer 6

For the last two years I've been working 6.30am to 4pm. Miss the worse of the traffic, in the summer you almost have a whole extra day after work. Fortunately my employer offers this flexibility, and most of my department work pretty much the same hours.

Also great if you have small kids (I do).

You have to be (or become) a 'morning' person though.

Answer 7

My working hours revolve around the simple idea of AVOIDING RUSH-HOUR. I've been lucky to have flexible hours since I started working. So for the first week, I leave home at different times to see which ones are better for the route I take. Same for leaving the company. My city has atrocious traffic jams, even if I leave home at 9AM. So my working hours are usually 10:30AM to 8PM, sometimes I stay till 9PM...

Answer 8

In Australia, you'd find it hard to find a programming job that isn't approximately 9-5. Programmers generally work in offices during business hours. Of course, the actual hours you work can be variable as with any job. Some places expect extra hours, but I don't think it's common.

If you can find a job where the hours or location are flexible, there can be significant benefits.

• You can take advantage of your natural peak productivity times (mine are later than 9-5)
• Your workplace is likely to have less people in it to come and ruin your concentration.

I'm realistic when it comes to working hours - if the office is open 9-5, I'll expect to be there 9-5. I'm happy to work extra hours when the pressure is on, as long as the workplace is also flexible when I really need time off. If a workplace starts expecting 10 hour days and 6 day weeks every week of the year, then that's unreasonable.

Answer 9

Personally, I prefer programming during work hours. The key is to make sure that you get plenty of rest and don't chop and change your hours all the time (ie. don't program 9am-5pm one day then decide to do program 11pm-4am, then the next day do something else). You body and mind can't handle that type of working and you will find it hard to concentrate on the code.

Answer 10

I live in New Zealand and we work a lot with staff and customers in Asia (China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, etc) who are 4 or 5 hours behind us. Because of this I tend to start late (10am) and work late (7pm). This also means I miss the worst of the traffic!

Flexibility is the main thing I look for in a job. Some people like to start and end early. My last couple of companies have had "core hours" - if you're in the office between 10am and 4pm and work enough hours in the week then you're good.

Answer 11

I would love to have a 9 to 5 job. I'm working a solid 8:30 to 18:00. Gets a bit long sometimes

Answer 12

Being in academia, my working hours are "when I feel like it". I do put in a solid 10 hours a day, but as long as the work gets done on time, if I don't feel like coding on a particular day, no one complains.

Answer 13

You should of course take into consideration the work hours when you take a job. Only you can determine what those factors are. Most people with families prefer to be on a schedule that meshes with their kids' school times and after school activities, others (often single) prefer to come in late and stay late. We even have several married couples who seem to split the difference, one coming in early and one late because one is responsible for getting the kids off to school or daycare and the other for picking them up. I've even worked with one guy who thought coming in at 11 and leaving at 3 (with and hour for lunch) was acceptable (he didn't stay employed very long at that company).

I;ve never worked anywhere that didn't at least have core hours you had to be there. It's hard to have necessary meetings when the people on the team don't work at least some of the same hours. Further, if you work for a business whose main business is NOT programming, you are less likely to be allowed to come in later than 9:30. The other people can't do that and they resent it when programmers do.

If you don't like early mornings, be wary of working for the military or a military contractor, they love those early mornings and will have required meetings at such horrible times as 6:30 AM.

Answer 14

My working works is from 1PM to Night 1AM, it seems comfortable for me than a regular Morning shift Hours,

It depends on the work and clients you are working with ,i love my job so any hour is my golden period.

Answer 15

The place I'm at is a 4-day work week but each day is 10 hours (7:30 - 5:30) - I beat the traffic on the days I'm in and it's fantastic having an extra day to do something with.

The bonus of this is that we keep the same amount of holidays (20 days) but they stretch to 5 weeks.

Answer 16

I'm shocked to hear so many 9-5ers. IT/programming/informatics work is generally a 5-9er.