[dleslie]

_Never_ work longer hours than you would be willing to be paid hourly for given your salary. _Never_.

I've been interviewed at companies where it was evident from my questions that I would make more working half time at my current employer than the hours typically worked at the prospective employer.

Really, I don't see why overtime is so rare in our industry. Not having it is more often an excuse to over utilize and under budget than to deal with extreme situations.

[vecter]

Never is a pretty bad rule. If you want to get ahead in life and advance your career, sometimes working more is the only way to do it. Everyone should decide at the end of the day how much they want to balance work vs. life, but for many people, working hard is the right choice.

[dleslie]

There is an abundance of employment available for software developers; it is a job seeker's market. There's no need to devalue one's labour in order to get ahead.

Besides, you're only as valuable to others as you allow yourself to be treated. An employer who is accustomed to exploiting you with ease doesn't have much impetus to improve the terms of your employment.

[HelloNurse]

Far from "advancing" anything, unpaid overtime consolidates the employee's role as a slave. A company that demands unpaid overtime is a mismanaged and exploitative company.

[antisthenes]

You should appear to work hard to get ahead. You shouldn't actually be working hard - if possible - work smarter, if not, make the appearance of working hard.

[shady-lady]

> working hard is the right choice

working long != working hard

[CaptainJustin]

&& working long != more done

[bobthepanda]

The industry is largely white collar, and those jobs in America tend not to be unionized. There is also a not insignificant libertarian streak within tech. And games has the unfortunate distinction of having lots of people willing to work pittances for passion.