Work culture
I’ve seen many people on LinkedIn saying that work-life balance is a lie. They claim that Europe, with its pro–work-life-balance culture, has been declining, while Chinese tech giants—famous for the 996 culture—are on the rise. Every time I see such posts, I block the authors, so I can’t name them, but as I recall, most of them are not from the tech industry. That’s odd to me, and I believe they’re missing some key points.
Sometimes, overwork and hard work are necessary. Most people have experienced pulling an all-nighter to study for an important exam, or staying up late to debug a critical issue. But we all need rest afterward—humans aren’t machines. People can push themselves only for short periods of time, and how long that period lasts varies by individual.
In general, most adults can sustain deep work for only 3–4 hours per day. I’m not denying that some people can occasionally get in the zone and stay focused longer. But let’s consider the average case. Since the industrial era, average work hours have steadily decreased and have now plateaued around eight hours per day. I believe there’s a reason for that.
From what I’ve observed, most professional software engineers spend about 3–4 hours a day on actual programming. The rest of the time goes into organizing tasks, attending meetings, preparing presentations, and other supporting work. Perhaps this eight-hour structure balances the limited hours of cognitively demanding work with lighter, organizational tasks.
Of course, that’s just the average. I believe there are exceptional people who can focus for more than 3–4 hours a day. It may be possible—and sometimes even desirable—for small startups to build a team composed entirely of such individuals. But most companies can’t hire on that basis. We need to source talent from a broader pool, and respecting diversity is crucial if we want to recognize and nurture real potential.
So when I see these “work-life balance is a lie” arguments, it reminds me of people who used to say, “Short sleepers are more productive, so let’s all sleep less.” That notion has been debunked by science, so no one says it anymore. Now people have just replaced it with “long work hours,” which seems like the same flawed logic to me. Very few people can actually sustain that level of output, and even then, it’s not clear whether it correlates with long-term achievement.
- Cal Newport, Deep Work — 하루 4시간 이상은 대부분 불가능하다고 설명
- Anders Ericsson 연구 — deliberate practice는 4시간을 넘기기 힘듦
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29324945/