“In order to be better for our constituents… Put the company first, then your team, then yourself”
Hol’ up. What?
I remember being in a company meeting, hearing these words of “inspiration”, and just thinking to myself… “Yeah I’m pretty sure that’s NOT what you’re supposed to do. Why would anyone think that’s right? I’m glad I know better”. Well turns out I didn’t.
I lucked out with software development. Not only do I do it for a living but also as a hobby. 60-80 hour work weeks weren’t really too much of a problem, especially starting out. There were many months where I spent hours on end just learning technologies, patterns, etc. to help solve company problems. I remember coworkers and friends telling me, “You’ll burn out. It’s not worth it.” but I always justified it with, “Oh well since it makes me better it’s ok.” For the longest time I thought this meant I was putting myself first. Turns out that was a lie. Almost everything I did was because I put the company first.
It wasn’t until I wanted to find another job when I REALLY realized what putting yourself first meant. I wanted to leave because the company’s technical direction didn’t align with what I wanted. No big deal. I thought to myself, “ Well it’s a good thing I spent a lot of time learning how to solve all these problems. Now I know a ton!” I opened up google and started looking up job positions. “Nope. Can’t do that. Nope. Never done that. WAIT YOU CAN DO THAT?” It became abundantly clear to me that I DID NOT put myself first. Most of my knowledge was company related and not really much else. On top of that, a lot of what I knew was subpar at best. Shit. I knew I had to do something, something drastic and inconceivable. After deep thought, spirit quests, and meditation I came to the solution. I started working only 35 hours a week.
Let me tell you, it has worked wonders. Since I wasn’t pouring extra time into the company, I had a lot more time to myself. I spent it working on other projects and getting more involved with the development community. Sure, some of it would coincide with work. No problem, I would just note it and go, “Oh cool, I can do this when I get back to work”. The key difference here was that work was an afterthought, not the driver. I saw results immediately. Within a week I learned more than I did spending months on the company project. On top of that, my mentality improved. I wasn’t as anxious or stressed because I could tell that I was getting better.
So there you have it. Your company/team improves when you put yourself first and get better. And putting yourself first means working less, getting involved in the dev community, and doing your own projects. Right? I wish. There are going to be cases where working an 80 hour week is the best thing to do. Sometimes quitting might even be the best option and that’s ok. Everyone hates hearing this but only you know the true answer. The only meaningful advice I can give you is this. The best thing you can do for your company and team is to be the best version of yourself. And from what I’ve seen so far, that means putting your needs first, then the team’s, and finally the company’s.
Development After Hours 