[codethatwerks]

Given you are happy to work say 60 hours a week, what is the optimal use of the extra 20.

For some it might be free work for their employer in return for something. Example might be in financial trading etc. to get a bonus or raise or promotion in a shop that is killing it.

For some it might be leetcode and reading everything on levels.io and teamblind.

For some it might be active investing for example property renovation.

For some a side business.

For some TOGAF and Scrum qualifications.

But remember 1000hours a year is a lot to bet on your company or colleagues vouching for you and being in a position where that matters.

Etc.

[antisthenes]

> But remember 1000hours a year is a lot to bet on your company or colleagues vouching for you and being in a position where that matters.

Yeah, at 50/hr that's $50,000 for a chance of someone vouching for you in the future that may never come to pass.

There's also the chance that maybe they were the manager that made you work 60hrs in the first place, so they don't see you as going above and beyond.

Whoopsie, you just wasted 1000 hours of your life.

No thanks. I'll get the job on my own merit.

[axpy]

You do you but don't complain if you end up having a harder time during economic downturn. Everything in life is about risk-reward and going the extra mile is about tipping the scale in your favor. To be fair, don't think op advocate for putting 60h every week. It's about being passionate about what you are doing and sometime just being available for your coworker outside of working hours can be enough. In my professionnal career, it was fairly obvious which colleagues was more than just clocking in and who I would be happy to recommend or hire on the spot.

[antisthenes]

> You do you but don't complain if you end up having a harder time during economic downturn.

Everyone has it hard during an economic downturn. Ugly people also have it harder, so do shorter and dumber people.

I don't find this exercise of comparing myself to others helpful. Despite having good feedback for my work, it doesn't really grow my network.

> who I would be happy to recommend or hire on the spot.

Yeah, assuming you don't have any biases and are a perfect judge of who's doing a good job. That's omegacap as the young kids say.

[ghaff]

It's really not about the hours. It's getting the job done and helping out etc. I've gotten every job in a long career post-school through my network and I've never worked more than ~40 hours except in specific situations. I agree with the other comments. I am flexible and generally available but that doesn't mean I'm working ridiculous hours. I guess that means a certain discipline in that regard.