Don't let your day job consume you.
That's what I've been telling myself lately. Crazy deadlines driven by poorly thought out software requirements working for an employer that doesn't fully understand how to deliver software.
My company is currently demanding 50-60 hours of my time a week. Because more work equates to more success.
How have you all dealt with a job that seems to want to consume your personal life and indie hacker aspirations?
When on the clock, give 100% and earn every penny of your paycheck. When your "workday" ends, turn off your work thoughts (easier said than done) and only allow your brain to spend time on things important to you personally.
I know from experience that this is easier with some jobs than with others, but the sweet spot is to find a good job that pays the bills and requires not much more than 40-45 hrs a week (bonus points for personal/professional satisfaction!). By working a job that requires a "normal" work week of you, you're free to invest your spare time and energy on pursuing things that will generate a return for you personally (whether in terms of money, skill development, personal fulfillment, etc...)
I also apply the well-known financial adage, "pay yourself first" to my time: I devote the first 1-1.5 hours of the day (early morning, before my family is up) to myself and my personal pursuits, and it's worked for me. Ymmv.
Maybe look for something elsewhere? If you're a developer then there's no shortage of jobs at companies that value productivity over counting hours. Are you working for a digital agency? Because I had a similar experience with too many projects/poorly managed deadlines - I moved to a small startup building a tech product and so had much more say over unrealistic deadlines!
Not an agency, but a client driven business none the less. I am a developer, but this has been my first full time industry job out of college(2 years in). I know making the hop from one company to another is essentially the standard for developers. I have not done it yet myself however so there is some I'm having some difficultly pushing my self over that edge.
Yeah, go for some interviews! It's all good experience. This might seem daunting but will be worth it when you find something that fits better, like I did - you may find somewhere where you feel more valued which works wonders for morale and motivation
When I've been in those situations, I've gotten a new job. Abuse of salaried employees is a fairly common thing, mainly because people let it happen.
unfortunately its your life..so its your responsibility to set boundaries regardless of demands and understanding the consequences.
This comment was deleted 4 years ago
This is perfectly put as well as the other 2 responses.
Your place sounds like mine (also a web agency developer) and in the last few weeks I'd been getting those thoughts of dread having to go into work the next day, or at the end of the weekend. It was at a tricky point of an ongoing complex project which has passed by somewhat now but I am still not all that happy here.
The boss is a decent guy and doesn't put loads of pressure on, but I can envision all large projects kind of following the same kind of chaos and unrealistic time scales.
One thing I don't do is stay any longer than I am paid for. If projects are requiring you to work an additional 20 hours per week then you need to be paid!
As also mentioned previously you have a good skill and should be easily employable so start to look elsewhere for jobs. All the while you can still have indie hacker aspirations, but you're much more likely to accomplish this if you have a full time job that only actually takes up 40 hours of your week, rather than 60+!