This week’s readings on company culture were encouraging for me. Particularly how many companies are now focusing on maintaining a healthy work-life balance. As an older new grad employee and coming from my current industry, work-life balance will be an important factor in starting a new career as a software engineer.
I currently work in technical theatre—I work behind the scenes on Broadway both getting new shows up and running and working on already running shows. It is a fast-paced and exciting industry to work in. It is also a very demanding industry. When we are putting up a new show there are stretches of two or more months where we are at work from 8am to 10pm or midnight six days a week. Then when shows are running the schedule relaxes to putting in four to five hours per performance for eight shows every week. This relaxation into running mode is a welcome relief in terms of hours worked, but Broadway is on when everybody is off—nights and weekends. As a younger person, these sort of hours and odd schedule did not bother me. I had no obligations outside of work. Now that I am older and have a partner and a baby on the way, the schedule is incompatible with the time I would rather be spending with my family. That is why it is encouraging to hear that many software companies these days are emphasizing family values, flexible work hours, and work-life balance. For example, the Basecamp “Work Can Wait” policy where work notifications are turned off outside of work hours, is appealing to me. In my current career, people are expected to be available all the time and forever digitally connected. Leaving work at the office is something I value and am looking for in my new career. Remote work is not a deal-breaker for me at the beginning of my career because I feel like it would be helpful to be in the same room with more experienced engineers and help me grow as a developer. However, some day I do hope to be able to live abroad, and at that point remote work will be important to me.
Although there are still many companies that expect employees to work 60–70-hour weeks and to be on call outside of working hours, the trend seems to be toward a better work-life balance. And this is encouraging to me as I set forth in this new world that I have entered.
