Quant finance companies expect employees to work 60-80 hours per week.
But then again, they pay 400-500K USD to 22 year old new grads.
10 years of experience in Cpp, Java, Javascript, Python, SQL, the last 5 of which as a lead (aka designing the data model and optimizing slow parts of the code base through better ds and algo implementations).
Only catch is I won't show up physically in NY or Philly or Chicago, etc.
It makes sense: they value people doing high-quality work and avoiding mistakes. Everybody there was also clearly very productive—it was one of my first experiences that convinced me that long hours are actively counterproductive.
I understand other firms in the space (like Citadel) have pretty different cultures, so it's not going to be true for the entire field.
Of course, the only reason you'd ask such a question in the interview is that you have already decided you don't want the job. But the response can still be illuminating/entertaining. :)
Would probably end the interview right then and there but so worth it to see their reaction.
A good response is "there s no hour limit: as long as there s work and the client isnt satisfied, we work. I think it's important to sleep a bit between work day sto stay coherent, otherwise as long as I can".
Doesnt matter true or not :D
"Work is variable. If we are on a super tight deadline with real implications, then people should put in extra hours if they can. Like, if we need to deliver for a major client, let's just do that.
And then other times, you can back off and work at a sustainable pace. It really depends on what makes sense in the situation"
This answer may not please everyone but I think it would resonate with reasonable people. It's worked well for me.
I'm 43 years old, been programming all of my life, and have a Master degree. I've never seen a person do concentrated work or study for more than 6 hours a day. I've met plenty of people who claimed to do double. But they were either lying to me or to themselves.
If you think people can do 50 hours per week of highly concentrated work, you still have a lot to learn. Once you understand developers have around 0 to 6 hours of productive work in a day, you can start to optimize it.
Best of luck to you!
I had a similar situation interviewing with one of Musk’s companies a while back. Who would want to work 80 hour weeks to make a 40 hour a week salary? The answer should be no one. You did great.
They were filtering out people who were not willing to work 50 hours a week
You were filtering out companies who expected over 40 hours of work a week.
The only complaint I have is they should have put hour requirements it in the job posting so you both filtered each other out before it got to the interview stage.