What is it with the overworking fetish in IT?

I mean, I certainly do like my job (working in a SOC), but I also enjoy time off work. I get paid 8 to 5, so I'll stay at work from 8 to 5 and do my job to my best capacity. Certainly, if something happens at 4:50, I won't run out at 5:00 sharp, but I also won't voluntarily stay til 7 or 8.

Somehow, several of my colleagues pride themselves in working overtime pretty much daily. At least one of them doesn't even write down the overtime 'because he enjoys his job'. I also heard similar behaviour from several friends and feel like I read about it kinda frequently on here.

Stockholm Syndrome: They love their exploiter.

My last job required going above and beyond to the point my blood pressure shot up everytime I was asked to do extra. Main reason (among many others) that I quit with explicit directions that I would not even consider a counter offer

They will learn or die trying.
Overtime is for some, a sign of being a hard worker. However when that extra 30 min a day starts winding up to 2-5 hours a day... yes days at a time with over half a day overtime... is soul destroying, if you get paid for it, then it’s a quick buck, if you don’t then you have a serious issue and end up devaluing your team members.

Eventually you are working longer then you are not, and in this field, the brain needs it’s downtime.

I work 9-5, but I’m the same, if something urgent shows up, and it’s not going to take long (20-30) I’ll stay back, otherwise it’s tomorrow’s problem, generally speaking.

I can relate. I overwork for free not only because I enjoy but to be in management's good grace - Why? Our statistics indicates non-claimers always get hefty bonuses

@sam21s but does that bonus cover the overtime?

I’m guessing not.

@C0D4 it kind of covers but not over 4 hours a week. But then again mine's a finance.. so may differ

@sam21s We get bonuses as well, but we have defined goals we nust achieve to get that bonus. The management doesnt give a crap if you achieve them with 40h or 80h a week.

@C0D4 If tjere's an incident at 4:50, the client doesnt give a fuck if it takes 20min or 2h to resolve. We operate 24/7 anyway (piket duty)

Ehh I have had both overtiming patterns. In one IT company I overtimed a lot, that was due to ridiculous management expectations. That was extremely stressful and included late nights, such as 1am, 2am, even overnight once. Led me on the verge of a mental breakdown, a colleague actually did break down.

In my current job I have a shitton of overtime that I cannot get rid off, but the pattern is different. I am not being stressed into deadlines, it's rather that I like finishing this and that and learn something. With a management that relieves me from mental stress the job is actually fun, so for the first time in my life I can really say - I am putting overtime in because I like what I do and the people I work with, not because of personal masochism or crazed management.

Huge difference mentally. Really really huge.

@gathurian same... we keep on solving jiras belonging to projects we are in then create jiras of a jira of a jira of a jira... helps with granularity of our works however simple or complex, the managements love to count these in the end while meeting goals and objectives.

I’m usually 9-5 or 10-6 or 11-7.

But I’m salaried so I can work more or less.

I feel targeted lol... worked until 11pm yesterday.

In my personal experience, staying late at work equals to something fishy in the family. Even worse - there could be no family so...

To extend on that - I've had many examples in my life where people not only in IT overstays A LOT at their job and everything is due to the fact that there were troubles in the family and working was the only way out of it. Same thing if a person has no family - they overstay a lot to earn money (assuming they are paid) and then put the overtime money to savings. When a family appears - the money spends out quickly :)

On the other hand, there are some people that just love to code. 24/7. And I mean it - they don't enjoy being with friends, don't enjoy outside and love to be sitting at the PC, especially if they are getting paid.

So all in all, everyone chooses their path... You just can't enforce the same overtime logic for everyone as that will! cause issues.

@potata Yeah, but it can end up in a visxious circle quite quick. You're always at work because you have problems at home because you're always at work...

Also, you can code at home, work on your personal projects I mean.

@gathurian Yes and no. This is very dependent. From my personal experiences with such people - working from home wasn't an option as the second they got home, their SO would start nagging/doing whatever and the person would have 0 total time for themselves. For example, one of my previous colleagues which was a great friend of mine had a wife, which was not happy with her daily job but wasn't leaving it. This continued for 3 years day after day he had to listen for 3 hours about something there. It couldn't be stopped since that would result in more fights. So, he started working, a lot... Comes back to home for 1 hour before bedtime and only has to listen for that amount. Working from home was no-go as she thought that he isn't working and just avoids to listen to her. In the end, while it wasn't great, she learned that he needs his time and eventually they sorted things out.
So, it really depends on the reasons/ways of how things are done. It is not all black/white, there is grey too

I dunno. As long as it's paid overtime, I think it can happen. Not everybody works in an environment where they can just leave when the horn goes off as if it was the Flintstones.

If I regularly leave at noon on fridays and shit hits the fan at a customer deployment, it might just be neccessary to put in overtime so their business isn't halted all weekend.

Stuff like that I feel can happen and it's reasonable to expect / put in overtime, as long as there's proper compensation.

If it's a regularity, if it's unpaid or if it's "undemocratic" (for example the lead leaves on time and the webdev is expected to do an all nighter), then I think it's totally not cool.

$0.02.

Woth no context about your work environment, it could be that they actually enjoy the work. I personally love doing software projects and if I find a project that I'm passionate about, I will voluntarily spend many hours per week working on it even without pay.