Yes, there are places where it becomes routine to pull heroic hours. But that's not most places.
Yea, I've noticed that too. I attribute it to most devs are not assertive, then add in the fetishization of anxiety, victim of micro aggressions and regular social awkwardness, they literally lack the ability to fight out of a wet paper bag of basic work dynamics. A majority dont know that you negotiate your salary when you get a job offer, you dont accept the first, obvious low ball offer. If your boss tells you to do something outside of your written job responsibilities, you have every right to say no. Same with if you say yes, you can negotiate for extra compensation. Plus, not everything glitters is gold. Its amazing when you can get if you negotiate with non-monetary requests. In the US we have laws to protect employees that are rather extensive even though the media likes telling us we are all slaves. No, you're just uneducated in your rights and legal mechanisms along with generally being an overall coward to stand up to someone. Like, it's one thing to be a coward to someone with a gun to your head. It's a whole other level when you're scared of someone with zero malicious, then in turn victimize yourself in the process.
That's myopia, really. The world is not full of psychopaths to exploit developers. It's just unreasonably well stocked up with psychopaths. And they do what they do best: exploit everyone around them.
Those with their hands on purse strings simply reward them.
This seems like yet another thinly veiled attempt to make overwork the new norm.