In my opinion, no-one should need to work an absurd number of hours on a regular basis. I'm a software programmer, and I don't.

If a programmer (or an EE person!) finds him/herself working more than 40 hours a week on a regular basis, I think one of two things is happening: 1) You're not producing efficiently in the 40 hours you're expected to be there. 2) The company is asking you to do more than you reasonably can and must hire more people.

If you are truly working efficiently in your 40 hours and the company refuses to hire more people, find another job. I again stress, at least in the United States, there is absolutely no shortage of jobs for programmers, and quite a few companies pamper their programmers precisely so they won't go looking.

As for programmers being a dime a dozen, I just don't think that jives with the current demand for programmers and the salaries that are currently going through the roof.

... Perhaps it's sales talk: I've heard salesmen often call a thousand dollars "a buck." Perhaps now a "dollar" is 10 million dollars and a dime is a million, thus 12 programmers for a "dime" would be just about right...

Again, I'd be curious about current demand for EE. I honestly don't know what it is--all I know is that my EE friends are now programmers. I don't know if that is the norm or the exception, and I don't know if it means they had bad luck in their initial EE job search or the opportunities in software were more appealing to them, or what...

Craig Stenier