This is probably an extremely unpopular opinion but in my personal experience:
Putting in extra hours day and not being paid for those extra hours? (Which might sound weird but that's how it's been going with me for the past year and a half)
I hate this so i clock in and out at the exact minute (give or take a few minutes to get to the punch clock). idk about extra hours but i've experience not being paid 45 min to an hour because "40 hours is standard, anything over must be approved" but in our line of work, we usually need to stay after to clean up some code, tickets, emails etc. It could only be 10 min extra per day but doing that for 5 days straight is nearly an hour of not being paid. Some people don't mind this and that's fine but I have a kid at home and would much rather be with him then working for free at an employers. I clock in and out on the dot. If they don't like it they can fire me. I know what my time is worth and if they won't pay me for it then they can't have it. Maybe i will change this opinion as I get older but for now this is my world view. If i was an employer I would expect the same from my employees. We are not slaves. Working for free at any level is not ok.
I've talked about this issue with other developers and they disagree so my opinions are my own.
Unrealistic timelines (like build a freaking lib in a half day and don't say a word)?
no not all companies are like this. It depends on where they are in their product lifecycle. If they are in a maintaining role then it will be more lenient on deadlines. If they are smack in the middle of product development then yes there may be some pretty harsh deadlines. Unrealistic deadlines need to be vocalized to your employer though. If he says "I need X done by the end of today" but you know for a fact it will take you a week then just say no. Again, we are not slaves. Being vocal about deadlines you cannot achieve is ok. The last thing you want is to be a "yes-man" and then never hit your expected deadlines. It's better to say something like "yeah that's not possible, can we set this deadline to 5 days from now? It will allow much more reliable code since nothing will be rushed and I can properly do QA testing on surrounding features."
Not-so-competitive salary?
find a new job. Not much to say here. The pay raises in any field do not come from staying at a job for 40 years. They come from finding new jobs that pay better with better positions. Strategically done I wouldn't be surprised if you got a job at year 1 at $40,000 and could land a job by year 5 at $80,000 if done correctly.
Constant mental pressure without even a break?
take breaks. Express that you need a break. take a few 5 minute breaks as you need. If they don't like it they can fire you.
In conclusion, I mention a lot about quitting and being fired. You are not enslaved to your employer. You can quit at any time and for any reason. You don't owe your employer anything. Don't feel locked into working for your employer because you feel some kind of obligation to stay there. If your skillset is good and you are a good developer you have tremendous job mobility. It's extremely expensive to find new employees if you include the job search, the possible time without an employee and the amount of time required to get that employee up to speed and at your level.
Most employers will not fire you unless you truly fuck up or they find someone better than you and need to cut costs.
If they are going to fire you for speaking your mind about unrealistic expectations and taking a break to recuperate from developer fatigue then they are nuts and if they catch you taking a 5 minute break and threaten to fire you then they are bluffing. Call the bluff. They won't spend the thousands it takes to hire a new developer and train them because you're taking a few breaks a day.
This is really great. It feels like this is all I wanted.
I didn't even knew until know that I feel, kind-of, obligation to stay here. Every time I think of quitting, I just can't or I shouldn't. And I end up more frustrated!
I know they wouldn't fire me at all. I had a couple of problems back in the very early days and that was the time when I realized that at least, I won't be fired. I might not be a bad-ass ninja programmer, but I do know a handful things that no one else does, or at least not a single person in the company!
I guess, this is what I should consider. Quitting! Or at least speaking up! Thanks.
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This is probably an extremely unpopular opinion but in my personal experience:
I hate this so i clock in and out at the exact minute (give or take a few minutes to get to the punch clock). idk about extra hours but i've experience not being paid 45 min to an hour because "40 hours is standard, anything over must be approved" but in our line of work, we usually need to stay after to clean up some code, tickets, emails etc. It could only be 10 min extra per day but doing that for 5 days straight is nearly an hour of not being paid. Some people don't mind this and that's fine but I have a kid at home and would much rather be with him then working for free at an employers. I clock in and out on the dot. If they don't like it they can fire me. I know what my time is worth and if they won't pay me for it then they can't have it. Maybe i will change this opinion as I get older but for now this is my world view. If i was an employer I would expect the same from my employees. We are not slaves. Working for free at any level is not ok.
I've talked about this issue with other developers and they disagree so my opinions are my own.
no not all companies are like this. It depends on where they are in their product lifecycle. If they are in a maintaining role then it will be more lenient on deadlines. If they are smack in the middle of product development then yes there may be some pretty harsh deadlines. Unrealistic deadlines need to be vocalized to your employer though. If he says "I need X done by the end of today" but you know for a fact it will take you a week then just say no. Again, we are not slaves. Being vocal about deadlines you cannot achieve is ok. The last thing you want is to be a "yes-man" and then never hit your expected deadlines. It's better to say something like "yeah that's not possible, can we set this deadline to 5 days from now? It will allow much more reliable code since nothing will be rushed and I can properly do QA testing on surrounding features."
find a new job. Not much to say here. The pay raises in any field do not come from staying at a job for 40 years. They come from finding new jobs that pay better with better positions. Strategically done I wouldn't be surprised if you got a job at year 1 at $40,000 and could land a job by year 5 at $80,000 if done correctly.
take breaks. Express that you need a break. take a few 5 minute breaks as you need. If they don't like it they can fire you.
In conclusion, I mention a lot about quitting and being fired. You are not enslaved to your employer. You can quit at any time and for any reason. You don't owe your employer anything. Don't feel locked into working for your employer because you feel some kind of obligation to stay there. If your skillset is good and you are a good developer you have tremendous job mobility. It's extremely expensive to find new employees if you include the job search, the possible time without an employee and the amount of time required to get that employee up to speed and at your level.
Most employers will not fire you unless you truly fuck up or they find someone better than you and need to cut costs.
If they are going to fire you for speaking your mind about unrealistic expectations and taking a break to recuperate from developer fatigue then they are nuts and if they catch you taking a 5 minute break and threaten to fire you then they are bluffing. Call the bluff. They won't spend the thousands it takes to hire a new developer and train them because you're taking a few breaks a day.
This is really great. It feels like this is all I wanted.
I didn't even knew until know that I feel, kind-of, obligation to stay here. Every time I think of quitting, I just can't or I shouldn't. And I end up more frustrated!
I know they wouldn't fire me at all. I had a couple of problems back in the very early days and that was the time when I realized that at least, I won't be fired. I might not be a bad-ass ninja programmer, but I do know a handful things that no one else does, or at least not a single person in the company!
I guess, this is what I should consider. Quitting! Or at least speaking up! Thanks.