[mtmail]

Are you saying you drove your car really 3 years instead of 5 because you haven't used it every day? Or your marriage is 25 years instead of 20 because it was so intense? Will working three part time jobs triple the number of years?

The years of experience are actual years, no subtractions, no adding. It's just a guidance and says nothing about actual technology experience.

A person who claims to work 70-90h per week without vacation for 5 years might attract some companies. Others will say the person has no private life and might burn out soon. Those extra hours work short-term, but long-term they aren't a batch of honor.

[kdamken]

I don't think that's a fair comparison here - what if they only spent 5 hours a week coding? Would they be able to say they have a year of experience after one year of that?

I think when it comes to work experience, a year of experience denotes a year of full time work.