Best way to address required overtime during an interview

Question

There are plenty of interview questions on SO so I hope this one is acceptable. At the least we can make it a wiki?

Basically during the phone interview for a software dev position it was made clear that engineers put in significantly more hours than 40/wk. I'd like to address this to see if this is a part of the company culture or if they are doing something to fix it. This is something that will affect my decision if an offer is made after the interview.

If it's not part of the company culture it's an indication of poor planning or poor engineering. I'd like to know if they are working towards providing a more reasonable work week, but I am having a hard time figuring out how to plan my approach.

And for people who have worked at places that require 60+hr work weeks, how was it possible? Didn't people speak up or are there people out there who are actually a productive dev for 12 hours per day?

Answer 1

Excessive overtimes often translated into understaffed teams and/or inept management, speaking strictly from my own experience.

Answer 2

I think this is partially a cultural thing. I assume you're going for a job in the US? Longer working hours are considered normal there, unfortunately, often with unpaid overtime. I work approx. 35 hours per week for a decent wage, in the UK.

I would ask whether the company will specify an average number of hours they expect you to work per week, and whether any overtime gets paid if you go consistently over that figure. At the end of the day, it could be bad management on behalf of the company, but from what I've heard 40hrs/wk is pretty standard fare for a software engineer in the US. You have to decide whether the wage is worth that time.

Another consideration is whether you're able to work from home at all. Saving time not having to commute in can be considered as offsetting the extra hours you're expected to work.

Answer 3

How you handle it depends on the desired outcome.

If you don't want to work somewhere where 60 hours/week is the norm you say this:

I consider it unproductive and unreasonable to work 60 hours/week on an indefinite basis. It indicates poor planning and a company culture that doesn't value programmers and the processes that require good code.

For good measure, throw in something about a healthy work/life balance, particularly if you have children.

The result? If they think it's a problem they'll respect your answer. If they think it's reasonable they'll not like your answer and you won't get the job. But that's OK, because you didn't want that job anyway.

Never forget that when an interview is taking place, the interviewer is interviewing you but you are also interviewing them. If you go in with the attitude that they have all the power then you're selling yourself short and giving them all the power. The goal isn't simply to present yourself as best as you can and hope they hire you. It's to find out if they want you to work for them and whether you want to work for them.

Now if you're in a position where you have to get a job that's a bit more unfortunate because you may have to be less picky than you'd otherwise be. A good answer along those lines is something like:

I'm interested in getting the job done, done right and done on time where possible. If you're watching the clock then you're in the wrong job since you should like what you're doing and want to do it right.

As for working hours, it varies a lot by industry. The games industry is famous for having "crunch time", which can be insane hours in the lead up to a release to get it out the door but other periods of lighter loads.

Consultancies tend to be good from the point of view of avoiding long hours because you're doing something (most of the time) because your company is being paid for it to be done. This can mean that you don't work insane hours because noone will be paying for that. This can of course vary.

Answer 4

Chronic overtime, be it intentional or not, is a red flag. At the very least, it suggests a lack of respect on the part of the employer. Remember that work is only part of your life, and should not be all consuming. If you forsee many hours of overtime and do not feel the compensation adequately covers it, look elsewhere.

Answer 5

You should ask just like you did here. It is better to find out now than after a couple of months on the job. Not fair to you, but it's not fair for your employer either. They deserve better than a temporary employee. You should both know right now if there is a culture clash.

Also, if it is a temporary problem, your asking shows some good business insight and also that you have the stones to ask a tough question. Both are pluses.

If they're offended, then they're probably not the company you want to work for long term.

"Look, I just want to make sure I can serve you the best I can and be on your team for the long haul. I don't mind putting in overtime; I'll do whatever it takes to make us both successful. But if this is a permanent chronic problem, we have a culture mismatch that will make the situation untenable in the long term. What are you doing to get the hours required back in line with the industry norm."

Answer 6

lol that's why engineers are totally "non-exempt salaried" employees or else if the company had to pay our "overtime" hours it would drive the company into bankruptcy. I worked for a small private company which was bought out by a huge public company -- at at the end of the day it's about getting the job done ALWAYS! There is no way that it's going to be a problem if you hit your deliverables within the time allotted for the algorithm/feature/bug-fix you are working on.

On the other hand if the time deliverable is much too short for the quantum of work you have then that's another issue, but usually agile methodologies like Scrum rectify such in quicktime. So this time issue should really be of little concern right from the start -- I think you're engaging in "premature optimization"; if and when time becomes and issue you can address it. By the way the only companies I know that require xxhrs/wk is the front office at financial institutions.

Answer 7

You can explain them that Quality of Software does not depend on Quantity of time taken to develop the Software.

Also you could explain that Three Virtues of Programmers as Larry Wall points them out as Laziness, Impatience and Hubris and all of this qualities are not in synch with 60 hrs work week approach.

Answer 8

this is really two questions:

• do you expect overtime all the time
• do you pay for hours over 40/week

if the answers are "yes" and "no", it's a "Sweat Shop", and may be in violation of the labor laws [IANAL,YMMV]; do not take this job unless you want to have no life and burn out early and often