If you’re new to software development or looking to hire developers for your next project, you might be wondering how many hours a day developers work and what a typical day in the life of a software engineer looks like. Well, it really depends, and today we’re going to take a look at how much time developers spend on their projects.
There are many misconceptions about developer workloads and the life of a software developer, with some people mistakenly believing that developers are always working non-stop.
There’s a stereotype of the geeky developer who spends most of their time in front of their laptop, often forgetting to eat or shower. There may be people who work 60 to 80 hours a week, but generally, this is a huge exaggeration.
Some even go so far as to say that developers don’t do anything all day. Apparently, for some, sitting in front of a computer isn’t a real job. Whatever your opinion, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. We’ll analyze real-world data on the average working hours of software developers to determine exactly how much they spend on their projects.
What Labor Laws Say About Software Developers
There are laws that regulate the number of weekly working hours for different types of employees in different sectors. These rules can vary from country to country; according to International Labor Standards on working time, the average weekly working time in most countries ranges between 35 and 45 hours. Most high-income countries enjoy shorter working hours, while low-income countries seem to spend longer working hours.
So, do software developers work long hours? Well, it depends on many factors, so let’s take a closer look.
Cultural Differences
Some nations are known for their perseverance and the effort they put into everything they undertake. For example, the Japanese are known for their willingness to work overtime, often without pay, to the point of putting in up to 80 hours of overtime per month. Well, it’s unhealthy, to say the least, and the Japanese even coined the macabre term “karoshi,” which literally means “death by overwork.”
Of course, no one wants their developers to die of overwork, but it’s clear that some nations are willing to put in more hours to get the job done.
There are countries at the opposite extreme that seem to work fewer hours. According to a 2020 OECD study, Germans spend the fewest hours working, with an average of 27.7 hours, followed by the Danes, who work 28 hours, and the British, who work 28.4 hours. At the same time, these three countries are among the richest on the planet, so they may be right.
Type of Company and Service
According to a Stack Overflow study, approximately 51% of developers work between 40 and 44 hours per week, shedding light on typical software engineer hours and answering questions like, ‘how many hours do engineers work’ in a standard setting. About 13% work just under 40 hours per week, and some work as little as 30 hours per week. Of course, there is a small percentage of people who work much longer. It all depends on the type of work they do and the type of company they work for.
We have thus established that most developers work around 40 hours per week, which is in line with labor laws in different countries. However, this can also vary depending on the type of service provided by the developers. Web developers may work fewer hours than, say, game developers, simply because their workload is not as heavy.
Most developers have a constant workload: they work on their tasks and have certain goals to achieve, and they progress from one goal to the next at a steady pace. This is why the average working hours of software developers remain the same for months, even years. There are also developers whose workload is less stable. For example, if the developer works in a support role and is responsible for fixing bugs as they arise, they may have several days of unbridled productivity working 10 or more hours a day, followed by a few weeks off while things run smoothly.
Every company has a different attitude toward employee overwork—some pay overtime while others don’t—mirroring the varied expectations seen in freelance software developer salaries and typical developer hourly rates. Some encourage self-management and allow their employees to work as many hours as they like as long as the work gets done; others have a strict 9-to-5 schedule.
The Real Work
Let’s face it, working 9 to 5 doesn’t mean people work all the time. Unless you’re monitoring every employee all day, everyone will have a coffee or a smoke from time to time, chat with colleagues in the office kitchen, watch YouTube videos, and so on.
The work schedules of software developers, especially those working remotely, aren’t set in stone—much like the daily life of a web developer, which often involves flexible hours and varied routines. They might dedicate an hour or two to their actual work, then an hour to their own business, and then get back to work. The important thing here is to finish the work on time. People aren’t machines; they can’t work 9 to 5 without distractions or have a few minutes to stretch their muscles after sitting for hours.
According to statistics from the World Health Organization, a lack of physical activity is quite common worldwide. WHO data shows that the most active countries in terms of adequate working time are the United States, Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland. Although these are high-income countries where people tend to work fewer hours on average, the hours they do spend working are mostly actual hours.
So, if you hire software engineers in one of the high-sufficiency countries, you can be sure you’re paying for actual work, not hours.
Tips for an Effective Work Schedule
Let’s be clear: your employees aren’t robots: they’ll take breaks, relax occasionally, and won’t work the hours you’ve assigned them. How do you get the most out of every hour of your job? Let’s say a web developer works an average of 40 hours per week, of which 8 hours are spent in a time crunch; that’s a full day. How do you compensate for that?
Reduce Exhausting Meetings
How many hours do you spend in meetings per week? Whatever the answer, you can probably reduce it several times. Don’t overwhelm your employees with redundant calls just to check in on them. Schedule meetings only when absolutely necessary. Spending an entire hour listening to someone else’s progress reports isn’t a productive way to start the day.
Effective Communication
This brings us to the next point: make sure all communication is handled quickly and efficiently. Don’t turn a long discussion into a single email thread. Starting the day with a long, drawn-out call from a manager sets the tone for the entire day. If you can get your message across in a single message, do it and write it down instead of calling and distracting people over and over again.
Avoid Multitasking
Some people thrive on chaos and handle multiple tasks quite effectively. However, most people work more efficiently when they have a single, clear goal. You must assign clear and comprehensive tasks to each employee and provide them with all the tools they need to complete them on time.
Sense of Urgency
Set realistic deadlines for all team members. Make sure you give them ambitious but comfortable deadlines so they don’t panic, but instead work consistently and dedicate the majority of their time to completing their tasks on time.
Final Thoughts
We’ve established that most developers work around 40 hours per week, but there are a few caveats. A game developer’s schedule would be different from, say, a QA specialist’s, and that’s perfectly normal. Some developers regularly work long shifts, while others experience periods of high productivity followed by periods of low activity. All of this is perfectly normal, and it’s important to understand the specifics of working with people.
Just because you work hard doesn’t mean everyone else does. People like to relax; they always find ways to work less, and that’s normal. What you need is to find the balance between enjoying work and actually working. The goal isn’t to encourage people to work more hours, but to make those hours count. You work an average of 40 hours per week, of which approximately 32 are active hours. So you need to make those 32 hours of actual work as efficient and beneficial as possible for your business.
