I was willing to accept the "we have a small budget and need 80 hour weeks", but they still preferred to hire a younger person and gave him a decent salary
They don't need 80 hour weeks. That just underscores the irrationality of these employers.
If developers honestly track their time, I'd be surprised if many who claim to be doing 60-80 hours a week are doing more than 8 hours a day of productive work. I'm not talking about coding. I'm just talking about doing work related things that aren't watching Youtube and writing on HN.
I got kind of annoyed at a buddy of mine would humble-brag about staying until midnight to get things done. Of course, he arrived at 11, made coffee and surfed until lunch, and then got down to work around 1:30 or so. While working, he'd have a Youtube window open continuously on a second monitor, and be bidding on penny auctions, etc.
He's a great guy, and got a lot of stuff done. But he basically worked an 8 hour day.
If developers honestly track their time, I'd be surprised if many who claim to be doing 60-80 hours a week are doing more than 8 hours a day of productive work. I'm not talking about coding. I'm just talking about doing work related things that aren't watching Youtube and writing on HN.
I got kind of annoyed at a buddy of mine would humble-brag about staying until midnight to get things done. Of course, he arrived at 11, made coffee and surfed until lunch, and then got down to work around 1:30 or so. While working, he'd have a Youtube window open continuously on a second monitor, and be bidding on penny auctions, etc.
He's a great guy, and got a lot of stuff done. But he basically worked an 8 hour day.