It varies a bit by field. It's more common in software to have irregular working hours with periodic "crunch time". I suspect part of this is just down to tech companies not being all that well managed on average, so they often mispredict staffing needs. Some of it may also be a culture that considers that the norm, or at least acceptable, so it's self-reinforcing. It's particularly prevalent in videogame companies.

At large engineering firms outside of software it's less typical. If you're an engineer at Lockheed, Exxon, or Dupont, the expectation is that you'll work a regular 40-hour week, barring really unusual situations. Many people even carpool to & from work, so you have relatively little flexibility in staying late even if you were tempted to: if your carpool leaves at 4pm each day, you leave at 4pm.

I think there is a perception of working all the time in the US that isn't entirely true. For one thing people overstate that they're "working like a dog" because it implies some kind of importance.

But, as far as actual working hours, most people I know in IT work a pretty standard 40 hour week. Occasionally they might log in from home for an hour or two, here and there, if they need to catch up. Infrequently (like once or twice per year max) there may be a major release or update that required a week or two of working long hours. That can sometimes be due to slacking off at the beginning of the release phase, or just overly optimistic planning. Generally after a big push like that everybody will take a break and coast for a while or take a few days off.

That's my personal observation of my own team and about 5 or 10 others that I know.

When freelancing though, I felt like I never stopped working!

I should add, these are mostly stable companies - not startups fighting for their survival. Generally the larger the company the more stable the hours is my observation.

I'm not sure I'd agree with that. With the exception of the one job I had in the games industry, the mid sized startups I've worked for gave me the best work/life balance and stable hours. The crazy hours of a young, small startup are well documented, but I also have a friend who works for IBM who has survived several layoffs over the last decade. He managed that because as they downsize his group, he picks up the slack. That often means working 80-100 hour weeks. He does this for years at a time, until he moves departments. Then he repeats the process all over again.

Maybe the sweet spot is mid-sized startups before they grow out of control and large companies who never seem to downsize? Those two situations never seem to last for more than a few years.

Yes, it seems pretty normal here; at least in the consultancies and businesses I've worked in, I've never seen hours or weekdays listed anywhere in an employment contract, and I can't imagine any of the employers I've gone through agreeing that sort of commitment.

Yes.

I run the IT ops of a startup. Pay is good, no equity though. Nights? If necessary. Weekends? If necessary. I was working on a federal holiday (July 4th) for no additional pay because we rolled our app out the night before.

The US has a long way to go with regards to labor rights.

What country do you work in?

UK (London). I have some friends (particularly financial industry) who work lots of overtime, but it doesn't feel like it's a "normal" thing, at least IME.