Anyone ever walk away from a job opportunity?

Question

I had an interview for a iOS developer position. I decided to not pursue it because it was salaried 40hrs/week plus various nights and weekends. I got the feeling the extra hours were 10-20hrs past 40 hours.

I figured at $45K/year, that was $21.63/hr for 40 hours. If I were to work salary and hit 60 hours a week, my actual hourly rate would be $14.42 hr. That's way less than what I was making in my previous career that had a high technical demand.

When the interviewer starts saying he's done jobs and not charged the clients because he loves coding so much and then tells me the hours expected of the position, I immediately knew where he was going with the hours. In a sense his words meant, "We pay for 40 hours, we expect 60 from you every week, you gotta love coding to deal with giving 20 hours of work for free every week or not work here."

My buddy said to avoid places that can't stick to a 40 hour schedule and regularly expect late nights and weekends. I wanted to know when they actually sleep at that place. You have to have a clear mind for programming. Sounds like bad management, poor time skills, cheap budget, or unrealistic expectations to me.

Anyone had similar experiences?

Answer 1 · 2014-10-03T04:21:04Z

October 3, 2014 4:21am

I'm very curious about this as well.

I really enjoy web development but I've been working 55+ hours per week recently, on top of trying to go through courses here, networking, building a portfolio of work and developing an online presence for myself. I have a wife and 5 month old daughter and I want to spend time with them—I'm working extra now so that I can find a 40 hr/week position in web development that we can live on. I just can't afford anything else.

I suspect there are a lot of positions like this out there and I think some concessions will need to be made. The organization I work for now has hired a marketing company to help with branding, web design and social media. Well, there must have been some miscommunication (I'm not really sure) but now the marketing company's developers are having to work overtime to meet a deadline that was probably 3 weeks shorter than they were prepared for.

If I could do what they do, I would absolutely be OK with working overtime occasionally. But if I'm forced to work overtime for more than 3 months out of the year, then I'm not really interested.

Answer 2 · 2014-10-03T04:59:21Z

October 3, 2014 4:59am

Bradley;

Ooof! Sounds like a good decision on your part to look for opportunities elsewhere. While every company has different expectations, there are companies like the one you mentioned in almost every field. Further, managers often times use the work you death approach on new-hires/entry level positions to see who is willing to stick it out. For many of us, like Nicholas mentioned, work is not the only thing we have going on in our lives. It makes it very difficult to switch careers knowing that it often comes with a large pay cut to start out.

If a job opportunity doesn't seem like a good fit during the interview, it seldom will be better if you decide to take it. Walking away can be the right move. On the upside, there are many more opportunities out there, many of which don't require sacrificing the rest of your life to your job. A great example is Treehouse. Take a look at some of the information about their work culture and what the CEO Ryan Carson has implemented. Makes the 40 paid/20 donated a week seem crazy.

Best of luck,

Ken

Answer 3 · 2014-10-04T19:41:22Z

October 4, 2014 7:41pm

I'm still a novice, not anywhere near ready enough to get a job in web development, but I have similar experience. I think its good for society to turn down an obvious rip off like that. Too many people think they only have the few options, or time constraints get in the way of looking for better opportunity. I recently turned down two job offers, and then secured an awesome position with a company that really supports its staff with regular pay increases. Totally worth being poor for a little longer if you ask me.

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Bradley White

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Anyone ever walk away from a job opportunity?

3 Answers

Nicholas Olsen

Nicholas Olsen

Ken Alger

Ken Alger

Richard McCormick

Richard McCormick