[9rx]

1. Will you survive to see a new manager if you don't work on the weekend? Without that, under the given scenario you are either:

- Forcing yourself to work on Monday. Burnout ensues. Will you be able to continue while burnt out?

- Skipping Monday too, seeing you only work four days a week. Will you be able to continue under performance expectations?

2. Do you really need to worry about this hypothetical future? If the bad manager shows up, are you going to stick around even if working hours remain the same? He is still going to express his badness in many other ways. He wouldn't be bad otherwise.

[pavel_lishin]

> Without that, under the given scenario you are either:

I reject the false dichotomy that my options are "work on the weekend when I'm excited to write code, or suffer and burn out during the week". Maybe that works for you, but I have to show up on Monday regardless of whether I wrote something inspired on Saturday.

> 2. Do you really need to worry about this hypothetical future? If the bad manager shows up, are you going to stick around even if working hours remain the same?

Weirdly, the bank expects monthly mortgage payments regardless of whether my manager is bad or not.

[9rx]

> I have to show up on Monday

For what, exactly? If it is simply to appease the whims of your manager, you already have the bad manager. Another hypothetical future bad manager is the least of your concerns at that point. Chances are the hypothetical future bad manager will be less bad than the horror show you are already in.

> the bank expects monthly mortgage payments regardless of whether my manager is bad or not.

There is some risk there, but most tech people already price in that risk by demanding much higher than normal compensation at their job, allowing them to have their mortgages discharged before the bad manager arrives. You might get caught in the unlucky case, but on balance the good managers don't disappear that quickly.

[roguecoder]

Do you not have coworkers?

There are more people involved in software creation than just you and your manager.

[9rx]

I don't have coworkers who buy into mob programming. If I write code on Saturday and withhold pushing the commit until Monday afternoon or write the code Monday morning and push the commit thereafter, nobody is ever going to be able to tell the difference.

You must work in one of those cults that stand around the meeting room to recite the commit log as if nobody in the place knows how to read, exclaiming "no blockers" to signify that the metaphorical torch is being passed on to the next person?

[pavel_lishin]

If any of that cohort of most tech people has enough money left over to pay off my mortgage, I'd be open to that. But I'm not a member of that hallowed club.

[9rx]

If you are not a member of the tech club then you don't have the tech risk. So, yes, while that may mean it will take longer for you to pay off the mortgage without a high tech salary, you aren't under the pressure that necessities the high tech salary to get the mortgage paid ASAP.