The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5) - Curious about Fog Creek Software work hours...

Curious about Fog Creek Software work hours...

I know you give 6 weeks vacation, I know you like it when people want to work all night, but

What is the expected hours per week at Fog Creek?
What is the expected hours per day?
Does everyone have to come in during a certain time range (8-9, or 8-10)?

Just curious,
-michael.

Michael Sica
Wednesday, November 12, 2003

I would point out that there's a big difference between wanting to having employees that want to work all night and depending on it.

I wonder where the desire to know how other shops work their employees comes from? I mean doesn't it all boil down to whether or not you are the type of person that thinks that software gets better the more hours per week people work.

anon
Wednesday, November 12, 2003

I defintely don't think the more hours worked, the better the software is.

Fog Creek seems to treat their empolyees very well, and seems like the kind of place that caters to their developers, which should produce a better product. But I'm curious if there is any "expected" hours that should be worked?

Having people come and go as they please might be very difficult when it comes to scheduling meetings or predicting when a part of the software is going to be finished (not that that can ever be easy or extremely accurate). I would imagine it is rather difficult to end up in a situation like, "bob went nuts last week coding and did some great stuff, but he hasn't been heard of for 3 days".

I'm just curious as to what a typical work month is like for the developers and employees at Fog Creek.

Michael Sica
Wednesday, November 12, 2003

It's probably similar to Microsoft. You get in around 9-10 AM. Most employees are young and don't have families, so you work til about 8PM on the average day. When ship time gets close they stay later. On average they're probably in the office around 10 hours a day.

chris
Wednesday, November 12, 2003

I thought FC was a 9-5 shop.

Murkin (from Murka)
Wednesday, November 12, 2003

I remember a topic when Fog Creek was hiring a Support staff member for FogBugs asking this sort of question and I remember Joel saying something along the lines of programming coming in at around 11 and working till about 8.

Ben Richardson
Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Coming in at 8 and leaving at 11 would be better.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

...not if everyone did it. Those 3 hours are only productive because nobody's around to pop into your office and distract you. ;>

Sam Livingston-Gray
Thursday, November 13, 2003

I wonder how Joel's employees feel about being inspected under a fishbowl/magnifying glass?

I'm just waiting for topics here like:

"How many dumps does FC Allow Coders in One Day?"

"Can Fog Creekers surf porn sites?"

"What is the average incentive bonus at FC?"

etc.

Anti-Voyeur
Thursday, November 13, 2003