I have been in one of Google/Airbnb/Facebook for about a year now. I’m working on a team of overachievers who have drank all of the kool-aid and seem like they will live and die for the company. They are super passionate about the work that they do and regularly stay late to discuss alternative approaches, enhancements, speeding up velocity to meet our sprint goals, and so on. They love it. Up until now I have set good boundaries but lately I feel guilty for leaving work on time. I find it difficult to get my mind off of work because I know going into work the next day I will have some catching up to do on conversations that took place the night before. In the past I had always felt a sense of achievement through my work but lately that feels minimized by the achievements that they are making by putting in the extra time. I commend their passion but I worry it isn’t the right fit for me. Meanwhile, I really enjoy the work that I get to do. Perhaps I’m putting too much pressure on myself, but I have thought of leaving because of this. Anyone have advice?
I’m on the same boat. I’ve been stressed about work because ppl in my team works A LOT. My manager really enjoys spending extra time on work because that lines up with his passion. This type of stress is eating up my mental health and physical health. I’m already looking outside.
If your manager is encouraging this behaviour, talk to your skiplevel.
Is this young or manager who is single?
This is FB right? Move to Seattle office
I think it’s AirBnB. Otherwise, OP would have said FANG.
There will be hardworking people everywhere and this is really relative, no? You can be a rockstar in the Midwest.
I used to feel this same way. If I wasn’t the first in and last out, I worried I was falling behind. In my experience, you get to a point in your career where you realize there will always be more work, no matter how many nights and weekends you grind at it. My advice would be to put in an amount of time you can be satisfied with, and then ignore what others are doing and go home. Yes, their hard work may be rewarded, and they may move forward in their career faster than you. If you can find more enjoyable things to do once you’ve worked “enough”, does it really matter? If this jeopardizes your career, find another company. It’s the golden age of tech and jobs are a dime a dozen. As an aside, the best engineers/product managers/directors/VPs/CTOs I’ve encountered are the ones that don’t work crazy hours.
This
Is what they're doing in the extra time related to relevant deliverables? I've known plenty that work super late and seen it fail to advance their career because the extra time was on small things with no visibility that were only nice to have and non essential. I would make a priority list of deliverables and focus your time on the top items. If you sit long enough you can come up with enough work for 16hr days 7 days a week.
Unless you’re getting bad reviews because you aren’t working OT, don’t worry about. Otherwise, talk to your skip level. Don’t be one of the people who tries to condemn people for working more than 40 hours a week, for some people work is all they have.
You might find this book helpful https://www.amazon.com/Great-Work-Performers-Less-Achieve/dp/1501179519
Location? TC?