[itamarst]

My experience is mostly tied to programmers, but this isn't necessarily that different.

1. I have heard rumors that in Germany you can pretty much force your existing employer to to give you part time job: https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7oye95/how_to_...

2. Best place to negotiate different working conditions is your current job. They know you and you have credibility, and you're more valuable and harder to replace since you have lots of job-specific knowledge. So I'd start with just trying to negotiate at your current job.

3. Once you have 32 hours/week, negotiating your next job is easier, since you can say "and look I did just fine." Trick is to apply without mentioning your extra conditions, get offer, and then say "I only want 32 hours /week."

Programmer-specific resources which probably are still helpful:

* Interview with someone who hasn't worked full time in 15 years: https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-programmer...

* My book, The Programmer's Guide to a Sane Workweek: https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/

Just got a reader write in to say he'd negotiated a 32 hour workweek at a new job; it's definitely possible!

[sokoloff]

> Trick is to apply without mentioning your extra conditions, get offer, and then say "I only want 32 hours /week."

This will often result in a big waste of time for both sides. You might not care about the company waste (fair enough), but as someone who values their own time, you might prefer to find out up-front in 15 minutes that your requirements cannot be met rather than after spending a day or more on it.

Same with salary. I don’t go 15 minutes into a call with a headhunter without understanding whether we’re in the same zip code on comp. I’d rather not waste my time.

[itamarst]

Definitely want to do some research up front to rule out places where it will never fly. But- negotiating shorter workweek is different than negotiating salary (in most countries, anyway).

My experience, as well as others I've heard from, is that if you say upfront "I want fewer hours" companies will just say "no". This is not as much an issue with salary, because there's diversity of salaries, but pretty much no companies will hire you for 4 days without extra negotiation. So: if you ask for 4 day workweek upfront the vast majority of companies will just walk away.

On the other hand, if you keep your mouth shut, once you have an offer already you're in a different situation. Worked for me, as well as person I interviewed who has done this way more than I have. The company has decided they like you, you've impressed them, now they're in "what do we do to hire this person" mode. So if you ask at that point they're much more likely to say "yes".

[thriveaway]

regarding 1.: This is a real surprise to me and I'd of course have to carefully communicate such step before taking it, but that's indeed very interesting!

regarding 2.: Sadly I don't see the option to find a new offer and than ask for less hours or leave, this company is sloooow acting on such things...

regarding 3.: luckily I have some remote and part time experience in my vita already :)

I'll definitely consider buying your book! Even though it seems quite programmer-focused. Thank you for your advice!

[tmaly]

my neighbor from Germany was doing just this with part-time project management work. However over the last few months they have steadily increased his hours. So now he is up to full time.