Observations on killing yourself over work

One of the things that I noticed while working at Microsoft was that a great many people there tend to kill themselves for their job. It's even worse in the program manager discipline, as I found out first hand. Some of the effort I would attribute to doing the opposite of what books like Rework suggest, some of it is the bizarre cultural notion that killing yourself somehow makes you better (for your career, God, karma, or whatever).

I would generalize that most of the people I've known, some of them very close friends, who engage in this behavior, are completely miserable. Many don't even realize it. I'm not suggesting that there aren't times when you need to roll up your sleeves and get dirty. Shit happens. However, there is a harsh reality that I think often goes unnoticed. Here's the reality that I see:

• It's rare that the e-mail you send at 6 p.m. on a Friday will have any greater impact than the same e-mail sent at 9 a.m. on Monday morning.
• Most of the shit in your inbox doesn't matter. If it did, you would have already responded to it.
• If you're really buried, you're under-staffed. If you're always buried, you're under-staffed and headed for burnout. It's not sustainable. Ask for help.
• No one is really paying attention to how much time you put in, so if you think it will advance your career, you're mistaken. Focus on results. In fact, time spent has nothing to do with results.
• Artifacts, and by that I mean e-mail and other documents, are not a measure of your ability to do your job. More is just more, not more better.
• Lunch is for eating. Dinner is for eating, too, and by then you should be done with work.

Like anyone else, my feelings and opinions are driven largely by my experience. So let me give you some context about why I feel that work is important, but not at the expense of your life.

My first real job was running a government cable TV outfit. It was kind of a lifestyle job, with some weird hours, but I enjoyed it. It helped that they did comp time, so anything over 40 hours meant time-and-a-half off, even though I was salaried. I got a lot of satisfaction from what I achieved, but after three years, wanted more pay to match my peers at other cities. This was met with a lecture about the career choices I made (and a demeaning comment from the high school principal that indicated she thought of me as one of the kids, at age 26). So the next choice I made was to go elsewhere.

Over a period of several years, I worked for a number of start-up companies, with some consulting sprinkled in between. In other words, I worked in places that were risky in terms of longevity. I watched people spend years putting time in for a reward that would never come. Through these jobs, I learned that working for someone is actually a very straight-forward contract. While you provide value, at an agreed upon rate, you get paid. It's not more complicated than that. It's not a reason to hate The Man, it's just an understanding.

My point is that killing yourself for a job tends to throw the value proposition upside down, and not in your favor. That's hard for a lot of people to stomach when unemployment is high, but I still don't think you should sell yourself short just because you get paid. The cost to the rest of your life, to family, leisure and everything else, is too high. This is especially true in technology jobs where demand for your skills are high.