I personally can't even work 8 hours a day. And I mean really work. Even if including lunch and coffee breaks, that's still a lot. With meetings, answering to mails & other stuff, it might be doable.<p>I doubt that I get more than 4 productive hours most day (and I have almost no meeting to attend or mails to answer). I'm seriously curious about where I stand compared to the average of programmers. I'm guessing below average, but not that much; I'm also guessing nearly no one can code productively 8 whole hours.
<i>> You can’t keep up the pace of a sprint and finish a marathon.</i><p>I used to think this too. In reality, distance runners can keep up what we'd consider a sprinting speed (10+ mph) for the duration of a marathon. Sprinting forces your body to run more efficiently.
I was surprised not to see anything about the importance of breaks. I find I get more done in a day when I take a 10-20 minute break about every 90 minutes than if I try and "power through" it. In a 9-hour day with a 1-hour lunch, that means I'm taking 2 or 3 of these breaks (meaning my total time-at-desk working might be only 7 hours), but I'm feeling better and still getting good work done at the end of the day.<p>I also turn off as many notifications as I can get away with. Email? Check it 2 or 3 times a day. Phone? I turn the volume off or way down unless I'm expecting an important call/text.<p>I'm looking for a work environment right now that will let me maintain my 8 hour burn and not brand me as a slacker.
8 hours is legal, this is something our ancestors earned hard. Why are we even discussing this as if it was acceptable to work 8+ hours _for_someone_else_ unless you are really-really enjoying it? I say it's reasonable to ask for 6 hours giving the present day commute times.