[itamarst]

Given overhead of chatting with coworkers, meetings, planning, hiring interviews, etc., I would indeed expect most programmers just write code productively for 4 to 5 hours and that longer hours don't produce any more value.

My personal experience: for past few years I have been at least as productive as most programmers, while only working 28-35 hours a week. And not all those work hours were spent coding, obviously.

I'd take it a step further: I believe enforcing a shorter workweek makes you more productive. It forces you to prioritize, instead of going off on yak shaving expeditions, it forces you to spend more time thinking upfront, since you can't (badly) compensate by working longer hours. More here: https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/11/10/work-life-balance-so...