[sysreader2016]

I think that the younger workers in their 20's to 30's, especially the new tech workers, are really doing it because it's fun. So, working 12 hours a day 6-7 days a week isn't a big deal. Whereas the older crowd, the 40+'ers, want the same pay (or more) for 'work-life balance'. I've been told 'work-life balance' means up to 8 hours a day and up to 5 days a week, and after hours is for spending time with family and friends.

I've encountered plently of 40+'ers who discourage learning new skills during free time, programming on the weekends, hackathons, and the like. Simply because that stuff goes against work-life balance.

It's hard for me to believe that the 40+'ers are as ambitious as younger tech workers.

[humanrebar]

Typically when developers have to work overtime, it's due to a bad business plan or bad project management. Experienced developers insisting on a sane work/life balance (without getting into numbers) is a way to insist that management is accountable for its decisions. Otherwise, the individual contributors pay the price, typically the most talented, nicest, and most eager-to-please. And, yes, those contributors often skew younger because they haven't gone through that exact song-and-dance before.

Spending the nights and weekends learning is sort of another subject. I would rather employers spend more resources training employees during business hours, especially for enterprise and industry-specific technology, but that's an entirely different subject.

[ryandrake]

Why does ambition somehow now mean you have to WANT to do your job for 12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week? Do you think surgeons spend their days off at home practicing surgery on their pets as a hobby? Don't get me wrong--everyone should always be learning. But in what other profession is it expected that you continue doing your work "for fun" after hours?

[sysreader2016]

I'm just saying that I think a lot of young people in the tech industry don't care about work-life balance. And those same young people wouldn't have a problem working 12 hours a day to complete a project.

Secondly, highly talented professionals do spend free time practicing their skills. Idk anything about surgeons.

I'm in tech because I think the work is fun. I'm typically on my computers up to 18 hours a day. As you can imagine I would have no problem doing some r&d after hours for fun.

Who cares what other professions are doing? I'm in tech because I'm a builder and that's what I care about.

[collyw]

To be fair I guess surgeons read plenty of medical papers out of work hours. I am not working on my time off, but I am keeping up to date.

[dominotw]

>It's hard for me to believe that the 40+'ers are as ambitious as younger tech workers.

It might be true. But punishing everyone over 40 based on this stereotype is wrong.