Maximum PC

Do you guys have enough time after work to hang out with friends/girls?

Friends/Girls? What are those again?

I haven't had any problems. However, it's highly dependent on the job and the workplace. For example, game studios have historically been pretty highly demanding on personal life.

This is very true. Someone i used to work with got hired by Activision for COD4 and his personal life went byebye.

I did get to play COD4 months before release though

90% of the time .. hell yes. I choose my own hours with the following caveats: all of my work needs to be done before I leave, and I have 10am scrums (10 minute standing meetings to review objectives for the day and potential roadblocks).

So, as long as I get my work done and am in the office from 10am to 10:15, I'm free to do as I please.

In practice, this works out to a work day from 7:30 to 4 (my choice).

However, when one of my apps is getting close to release, I spend more time in the office. I have two products going RTM next week and I've been in the office until 6 most nights for the past 2 weeks. I've also come in on the occasional weekend to tie up loose ends. This kind of thing happens about 2 or 3 times a year.

I see my lady every night and have lots of social time for climbing, hitting the pub, surfing, and jeeping.

Ditto what Jip said. Every company is a little different, but so far I have found most to be pretty flexible. They don't really care as long as you hit your deadlines and work your 40 hours.

We are supposed to be here from 8-4:45. We have flex time and most of the supervisors are pretty flexible in letting us set a schedule as long as the client group we serve knows our schedule and we can still make important meetings (bi-weekly staff, quarterly safety, quarterly section, etc)

I typically work 7:30-4:30. I either take a slightly longer lunch (normal lunch is 11:30-12:15) or bank the time and leave at 3:45 on some days.

Most nights I have from 4:30-12A free (I am usually in bed by 11 and read for an hour or so).

Were I single, I would be plenty free to chase as many skirts as I felt like. I think all of my friends are the same way. In fact every other Friday or so we get together and go bowling, shoot pool, go to a brewery, whatever.

There is only one of about 6 of us that has dumb hours, but he kinda hosed himself and is letting himself get walked on (lower pay than he should be getting especially. he makes 2/3 what I do, and has been working at the company for 4 years or so now. I am just crossing my 2 year with my current employer this May)

I've got enough time, yes. I usually get in before 9:00 AM everyday and leave around 5:00 PM. If it's crunch time, then I'll pull more hours but only if it's crunch time.

I've worked in companies where I worked 16 hour days for a long time and a couple where I worked 8 hour days and no one seemed to care. It depends on the company and project.

Yeah... Game Programmers have the toughest schedules. I think it's for the 3 months pre-Release that the hours are unreasonable...

Don't know that I would consider it a healthy occupation but if you've worked under that high demand lifestyle it goes well on the resumé.

Some of my friends work in finance. Those guys have tough schedules. I got one friend working 15 hour days plus Saturdays. He loves it though, he makes bucu bucks and his bonuses are ridiculous.

I highly recommend programming for a career but only if you've got balls of steel.

oh. I asked because i was talking to a former programmer at my university and he said he used to work 13 hours, 5 days or sometimes the full 7 days. I got a little scared lol.

Yeah, like we said, that can happen. However, remember, you're in charge of whether or not you actually accept a job like that. Never put yourself in a situation where you can't afford to leave a job.

Note, never take a job like that without adequate compensation of some sort. Either through money, or the prestige of being at a job like that. Some companies try to work their entry level people like dogs (they get away with it because when you smarten up, they fire you and get someone else). Unless you are thanked through salary or prestige, you will always be a sucker and walked all over if you do it for free.

Today that is more the exception than the rule.

Hey guys,

I just switched from business economics to informatics (which is like comp sci) at my school. Right now I'm learning JAVA and software development. Hopefully, I made the right choice. What's a normal day for you guys like? Are any of you guys consultants?

We described our 'normal' days above.

Informatics is not like Computer Science, though. It is a subset of CS ... you could call it applied CS, I guess. You certainly aren't going to be doing development, though, or (to be more accurate) your degree is not a good choice if you want to do development work.

oops sorry, i kind of just skimmed the post

But for a lot of people who don't know what informatics is, I usually just say that to explain it really quick. I'm taking a seminar class right now that's meant to help you explain to people what it truly is lol.

What exactly qualifies as development work? What type of work could my major be applied to? I really see consulting as something I want to do in the future.

What do you mean by consulting?

Development is, essentially and very broadly, writing code.

@mainframe,

One of the best series of books on programming and the "behind the scenes" questions like how much do I earn, how many hours is normal, and what to expect can be found from Steve McConnell. this link will take you there

Although there is a great deal about the processes of programming and the thought processes of the logical programmer there is also a fair amount of information about who a programmer is what projects fail and why they fail as well as more mundane things like pay scales and what to expect. I highly recommend this for any budding programmer.