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Comment by burnte | Hacker News Reader

The vast majority of people I know who can do four 10s love it, and find the 10 hour days aren't really much different then the 8s. I'd love it if I could do four 10s, but in a company that does 24/7 healthcare, that's not an option for support staff like IT, not even at my level.

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The issue with 4x10s is those days are exhausting - they leave me with no energy to do anything else that day. At least with 5x8, most days I can get out for a bike ride after work, or take my dog for a long walk. 10 hours? It doesn't happen, I go home and flop on the sofa.

Right, but that's you, lots of other folks like them, so we should have the choice.

There's nothing magical about other folks. They either have lots of slack time during the 10 hour days or their jobs aren't really that challenging.

Why would there be no folks that simply have higher mental endurance?

There are large differences between people regarding their strength, physical endurance and intelligence. Why not mental endurance?

Yeah, in my experience the difference between 8 and 10 hour workdays were negligible (except certain times of year where I'd get to my desk before sunrise and leave well after sunset). Anything I'd do with my "extra" 2 hours per day I'd happily batch into my free Friday.

I completely see where you're coming from, but having kids changes the calculus completely.

Great point. I hadn’t considered that at all.

Not necessarily. Most folks have kids, most folks I know that prefer four 10s have kids, and like having that fifth day off.

I barely see/interact with my kids on an 8 hour day. On a 10 hour day, I'd probably miss them completely.

I would like one day a week when I'm not working OR looking after the kids, however. That would be amazing. It would be great to give it a try and see how it worked out. Unfortunately my employer is a hardass and doesn't even allow work from home, let alone fewer days a week.

Young kids need 10-12 hours of sleep. 10 hours working, plus 1 hour lunch, and a 30 minute each way commute means your kids likely should literally be sleeping the whole time you're at home during a work day.

I don't know any parents that do that - literally never interact with their kids 4 days out of the week. What actually happens is parents sacrifice their kids' sleep schedule.

I do find there's a lot of benefit to flexibility though. If I'm in the zone at the end of day, and don't have anything else to do that night, I'll often work an extra ~2 hours (or until I feel like I've lost it.) But on the flip side, I will also leave early on a night where I have a lot to do outside work.

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