All the top devs I know have had to put the hours in. Same as all the top lawyers and all the top engineers.
If you can be in the top 5-10% of your field while never working more than a 40 hour week and no side projects or out of hours study then more power to you.
But that's rare.
When I was, arguably, in the top 5% I was working 45-50 hours a week at a great job and doing 2 hours a day self study on top.
I have reservations to take my wife out on Valentines Day. Should I instead divorce her so I can spend more time balancing binary trees? Would that get me hired, sir?
All the top devs I know have had to put the hours in. Same as all the top lawyers and all the top engineers.
If you can be in the top 5-10% of your field while never working more than a 40 hour week and no side projects or out of hours study then more power to you.
But that's rare.
When I was, arguably, in the top 5% I was working 45-50 hours a week at a great job and doing 2 hours a day self study on top.