Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?
I&#x27;ve been a software engineer and managed software engineers for 20 years and worked in all kinds of businesses. This is both normal and mostly acceptable, in my professional opinion.<p>Doing just as much work as your employer requires and no more is way less of a problem than employees who actively steal, commit fraud, bring drama and distract other team members, or are introducing defects because they&#x27;ve faked their way into a job they don&#x27;t have the skills for. Your managers are likely dealing with those problems too, so they may be more aware of your situation than you think and are ok with it. Or maybe not, whatever. Not your problem either way. They can let you know if they&#x27;re not happy with your performance, which it sounds like they are not doing.<p>However! I will say that this way of working and living comes with some significant hazard to your mental health. Doing something you don&#x27;t like, care about, or believe in for decades long periods of time can really mess with your sense of self worth and happiness in life. You only have one life, do something with it that is satisfying. Get out of the rat race.<p>Personally, this realization has led me to switch careers. I&#x27;m now in a 2 year evenings and weekends program to get certified to do something that has nothing to do with tech. It is a huge pay cut. I also am happier than I have ever been in my adult life because I&#x27;m learning something challenging and helping people instead of coasting through 8 or 9 hours of pretending to work every day. Starting over mid-life and finding another thing that I love as much as I loved computers as a teen has been a blessing worth more than any amount of money.<p>Good luck!