How many hours a week do you do?

evilhomer

I have being working for a consultancy firm for about 6 months now and I am supposed to be in development (but they stuck me in a test team).

But I was just wondering in the IT industry what sort of hours people do on a regular basis?

Because most days I go in early, take only 30 minutes lunch, go home on time and the people there look at you funny and make you feel guilty for going home on time!
I have an hours commute(each way) by train everyday and not too many trains stop at my station in the evening. So the days start to get real long if I stay later.

just wondering If it's the norm in the IT industry to do 40+ hours a week on a regular basis (no paid overtime) or is it just in consultancy?

damnyanks

From looking at where I work now (London) it is the norm for just about every industry there.

My work load goes up and down week by week. One week I'll be in at 9AM out at 10 - 11 getting a 10 min lunch at my desk (I.e replying to the less important e-mails while I stuff the sambo down my gob).

Other weeks I'll have little to do in those cases I'll get in at 9 take a 30 min lunch and get out between 6 & 7pm

Depends on who you work with as well. My manager will make me feel bad for leaving early but **** it I'm leaving late enough in my opinion

What consulting company are you working for ? Hear the likes of Mckenzie and Accenture are meant to be vicious.

evilhomer

I would rather not say in the thread but it's neither of those two, it is another of the big US ones.

TempestSabre

Depends where you work. Some places (especially in IT) develop a culture of working out of hours, often unpaid. Its unprofessional way to manage people and a project. Its leads to sloppy practise. I admit I used to do it, but quickly caught on that its almost never worth doing. It only devalues your worth, and once people know you'll do it, you'll never get paid for it. If something is worth doing, its worth getting paid for. If someone won't pay you, they obviously don't think your that good, or that your time is worth paying for.

evilhomer

What about yourself TempestSabre? how many hours a week do you do?

TempestSabre

37.5 However I'm on a flexi clock so if I work an extra 10mins today, thats 10mins less tomorrow. Or work up hours as it suits. Over a month an extra 15-30 mins here and there can add up to an extra day or two a month. All managed and tracked by computer. The disadvantage is if you lose 15mins here and there by being late it has the opposite effect.

That said after working in many places where hours are not tracked, I much prefer being tracked. It eliminates all arguments about timekeeping and extra hours. Once you make people and managers responsible for "time" their own, and their team, and their project. Everything is a lot more professional.

One place I worked as a contractor, used your entry onsite through an electronic gate as the time keeping trigger. All linked back to an intranet system where you could request holidays, see your timesheets, get them approved for payment etc.

evilhomer

I could live with that very easily. are you in IT?

Rabies

I'm not in IT,but do from 35-80+hr weeks. Really depends on the time of the year.

Summer time I will do a few 24hr days. At gigs it ranges from 16hr days to 24 hr days. After a 24hr shift I might get 3-4hrs sleep before I 'm back on again for another 8 or so hrs.

Normal workings day for me outside of the office usualy consist of:
leaving home about 6am.
arrive at work about 8-8:30am
finish work about 5-6-pm
get home about 8-8:30-pm

If I'm in the office then it isn't so bad. Arrive in at about 9am, leave about 5-6pm.
Only live about 10miles from work.

I'm not Dublin based (Tipperary)but yet most work consists of travelling around the Dublin area

TempestSabre

evilhomer wrote:

I could live with that very easily. are you in IT?

Yes programmer/analyst. But not in an IT company.

From my experience, the best place to be in IT is in larger non IT companies. Such as banking, Pharmaceutical, finance etc. Then you get the same conditions as all the other staff. Whereas in IT companies they seem to think normal working conditions don't apply. Same in creative industry too. They think they are special for some odd reason. However good working practise is the same across all industries. Of course a good manager can make all the difference. A poor manager can make your life hell no matter where you work.

If someone asks you to work unpaid or extra hours. Ask them to see the project plans to see how this fits into the project, and how its handled moving forward. Theres a difference in meeting an special deadline once in a blue moon. But if its an on going culture then theres a deeper problem.

Cake Fiend

evilhomer wrote:

the people there look at you funny and make you feel guilty for going home on time!

Their problem, not yours. As long as you're as productive as you're supposed to be during your regular work hours, you have nothing to feel guilty about - if other people are dumb enough to stay an extra two hours a day for free, don't let it impact your life.

As mentioned above, an occasional need for extra work (deadlines, etc) is reasonable, but the IT sector in particular seems to have a collective bad habit of staying in the office too long. I put it down to techies preferring a more relaxed attitude to timekeeping in their relative youth, and this propogating into their adult professional lives I know I used to be awful for it (although I was only as productive over 12 hours as I should have been over 8 hours due to my casual attitude, hence the free overtime).

evilhomer

So, Sico you are in IT too and do regular hours (37.5hrs)?

I agree with you I don't mind doing extra hours if a deadline is looming but my company seem to be under the impression that 50 hour weeks are the norm.

Personally I think it has more to do with the fact that they are always involved in tenders and are in competition with other large IT companies, they seem to come up with crazy deadlines that have no facts to support them.
So they make the staff work crazy hours to keep the promise they made to the client based on some Project managers guesstimate. (end rant )

damnyanks

evilhomer wrote:

So, Sico you are in IT too and do regular hours (37.5hrs)?

I agree with you I don't mind doing extra hours if a deadline is looming but my company seem to be under the impression that 50 hour weeks are the norm.

Personally I think it has more to do with the fact that they are always involved in tenders and are in competition with other large IT companies, they seem to come up with crazy deadlines that have no facts to support them.
So they make the staff work crazy hours to keep the promise they made to the client based on some Project managers guesstimate. (end rant )

Depends on the company at the end of the day. Consulting is always going to be longer hours then normal as you are being rented out to do a job. Finance sector is hit and miss, check stories for investment banks you work long hours.

I know the likes of RBS pay you over time (Clock in and out). Quality of life is important. Doing something you enjoy is even better so you may tend to work longer hours.

Civilian_Target

Yeah - when I was working in IT last year, it was 30-60+ hours a week. If it was quiet, I'd happily turn up at 10 and leave before half 4 (ignoring any possible dirty looks) but if there was work to be done, I'd be in earlier and stay as long as necessary.

The point is: you're on flexitime in IT. If there's no work to be done, there's no shame in ****ing off early, but if it's busy, you pull your weight if you value your job. Be aware that your hours are going to be flexible, and don't be afraid to flex them!

Litcagral

I was talking to a former general manager of a large organisation recently and he informed me that he never promoted anyone who worked through lunch or after normal finishing time. He said that such practices, in his opinion, indicated that the employee was lacking in time-management skills, something which he considered to be very important.

Lump

I work on Average 72 hours a week.

TempestSabre

If seen companies go under trying to meet their own unrealistic deadlines and tenders. If they don't go under its a horrible place to work and they have a high turn over of staff. Which is also a horrible atmosphere to work in.

Really life is hard enough without working in pressure cooker, and dreading everyday.

evilhomer

Lump wrote:

I work on Average 72 hours a week.

:eek:
omg!
What do you do Lump?