Working crazy hours worth it?

[R.D.P.]

Long story short - for the past month I've been doing double "shifts" - my normal position + filling in doing database support during the days - 74hrs a week. I'm not technically OT eligible but I'm getting paid like I am during this stretch. I'm dragging ass at this point and have to decide if I'm going to volunteer to keep at it. I know there are others that work this much a week or more and I'm sure doing more physical work, but is it really worth it? I'm not hurting for money or anything - just banking the extra funds.

Can't decide if I'm stupid if I pass on the money or stupid if I keep at and keep running myself down.

 

[Stanger00]

I don't know how others do it. Quality of life is more important to me and so is my family life.

I have a few coworkers that pull 5 16 hour shifts a true double and their 6 and 7th day are 12 hours each. One guy did it for 5 months straight! Still didn't raise enough money for a down payment on a 500k home. Our OT dried up though.

 

[STAMPEDE3]

I've averaged 84 hours a week for a while now.

When on nights I do 91
It gets old but that's life. They are finally gonna hire someone soon.
Money is good but I'm worn out. And I don't get 1.5
I only get straight time.

 

[03cobra#694]

No way in hell anymore, been there, did that. I put in about 50, but 16 would be better. Does being a Mod here count?

 

[Bdubbs]

We have mandatory ot, and I give mine away. I like my days off.

 

[jcosta79]

Temporary, yes. Permanent, no way.

 

[fulanititoo8198]

I did it for a year, hopefully never again. Health and social life went down the drain. Now doing low 30 hrs/wk and feel like I got my life back. Just tighter with money, but **** it.

 

[Zemedici]

I work 65 hours/week minimum, gotta say, I'm not a fan. But in return I'm much more financially successful than most people my age

 

[TheVikingRL]

My friend has as good saying...Nobody ever sat on their deathbed regretting that they didn't work more.

That said, I work a lot of hours but it's almost all from home. Since you're also in IT, I would say that if you can ever work remotely it's so much easier to work the long hours without getting burnt out. Assuming you actually like the job and your boss isn't a complete jerk.

 

[Planter]

I work 60 hours a week and mine is mostly driving, and I have Sundays and Mondays off. Given how i've never made $60K a year in my life before...to me it's totally worth it. wish my days off were Saturday and Sunday, but it is what it is and there's no perfect job out there, besides, having Monday off means I can go take care of stuff I can't take care of on the weekends, and I can stay up and watch SNF/MNF games.

As someone who has been behind, playing catch up on bills and finances, I suggest you do it as long as you are able to sustain it, because every chance you get to get a step ahead in life puts you in a more favorable position if say you should unexpectedly lose your job, suffer an injury that causes you to miss work, or you have a life changing injury where you can't work anymore. This is not to say you have to do this indefinitely, but stack a nice goose egg away for a rainy day. Once you've done that to your satisfaction, back off and enjoy life.

Having a good life balance is key to being happy at work. All work and no play makes a sour apple.

 

[thekanezzi]

I worked in an er and on a helicopter for 18 months averaging 100 hours a week. Before that I was er only and did 50-60 hours a week. I saved an absolute ton of money and the only reason I spotted is I knocked up my wife. Thank God I did. I didn't realize how miserable I was working all those hours.

Now I work 50ish hours a week and make 70% of what I did before, sometimes I miss the cash but life is better now.

I say, do it for a while, save some cash, go back to normal hours.

 

[ford fanatic]

I work a 12 hour swing shift, I also work a lot of OT and I have for years. Going through my divorce back in 08 I averaged 80 hours a week for two years straight to pay for all of the bills that came with it.

Now being remarried, and having a two year old I have slowed down on the overtime to be home with my daughter as much as I can. All that said, I still did 91 hours last week, 3 days being 18 hour days...and I'm on my 14th day in a row...I've done 100+ hour weeks many many times.

Lots of home renovations going on right now make it worth it for me, it's nice to pick up OT and not have to budget for things that you want. My wife being an RN has the same option, she picks up extra shifts when it's not available to me.

 

[trc46]

I used to do 75+ hour weeks as a millwright for the most popular meat company. Work Wednesday through Sunday, I'll never do that for someone else again. Shit environment shit hours amazing pay though. That's why I started my own business tired of killing myself for someone else, sure they pay me 35$ an hour but they charge the company 90-100$ an hour.

 

[R.D.P.]

I agreed to two more weeks - greed > health I guess. It's a unique situation that isn't there anytime I want to do it - so figure I'll cash in while I can.

 

[Drive XR7]

If you don't have obligations or family, then work. You won't be able to work long hours later in life.

 

[Torch10th]

back in 2006-early 2008 I worked in the event marketing world. 6 days a week, generally 12 hours a day. The shortest day I ever had while employed with that company was about 9.5 hours. The money was great. The problem was that it didn't matter how great the money was. By the time I was done with work I was so exhausted that I would grab a bite on the way home, then sack out immediately.

Sundays were lounge days so that I wasn't so tired going back in on Monday.

My point here is that, at least for me, working those kind of hours weren't worth it for nearly any amount of money. It tore me up physically and emotionally to be constantly on the job and not have the time to devote to being me. I'm much happier now working at home on a 9-5 shift. I don't make as much, but I'm able to actually do things with my life.

 

[WizardsCobra]

I used to work 65+ hours a week which again the money was great but life sucked. I found a new job working no more than 45 hours a week and its great. I have time to enjoy being outside and enjoying life!

 

[Never_Enough]

No way. I used to work 70-80 hours a week. I will never do that shit again. Ruins quality of life IMO.

 

[FIVEHOE]

Do you work for the same company as I do? Sounds like you're in the exact same situation our current DBA is in. Termed off the old DBA (who essentially setup our entire db) and didn't tell anyone who needed to know until after he was gone... Now the current dba is playing catchup, trying to cover his old job duties, and the new, on top of trying to learn the things that the old DBA solely worked on.

Feel bad for the dude because I'm pretty sure he is not getting paid OT, or any raise for putting in all this extra work. (one of the reasons I requested to be on hourly was for this exact reason)

 

[Coiled03]

Not worth it.

I don't get OT if I work more than 40. So,why would I want to work for free, AND miss out on my daughter growing up?

**** that noise.