About two men
I'll be writing stories about my experience from various work places -- this is to share (my experience) with other people and may be for some relatively new in this field. This is my personal experience -- you may think differently or have different experience....or similar. I don't know.
Again, please keep in mind that this is highly personal experience. Ok? So don't get upset, mad or anything.
When I was a rookie and I knew these two guys at a big company I worked at.
I considered one of them as my role model and mentor. The reason is that he's very knowledgeable, skilled and he was smart, working hard dude...and most of all, he seemed like me as well and gave me great advice. I'll address him as "guy A" from here on.
The other guy -- I never really had much chance to talk to him. He seemed extremely busy all the time, always in the office when I come in early morning, and always in the office when I worked late. He was a workaholic, and enjoying it. Let me call this dude, "guy B."
Guy A enjoys life. Many kids, lovely wife, great house, he works out -- well built, no smoking, no drinking (only on occasions). But, he "only" works 8am-6pm, unless things got behind.
Guy B, yeah, workaholic. That's all I know about him.
Guy A said this Guy B got divorced -- and people think it was because this guy is a workaholic. The company loves him, probably. But unfortunately, his family was in pain. Guy A said, guy B makes twice much of guy A, even though they have the same title. Wow, twice? That's freaking a lot! But guy A didn't mind. His priority is his family and his life. I totally freaking agreed. I liked him even more after hearing that.
Then years passed. I left the company, and worked for a few more. And I haven't heard from him since. And one day, I bumped into him in the street! He looked....old. Yes, years have passed. When I bumped into him -- at that time I just became a senior developer and was full of confident.
And....this guy A told me what's been happening. Guy B got big promotions after promotions, and he's now a senior management guy.
Guy A on the other hand, when there was a economy down turn (yeah, this seems like happening every 10 years), he got laid off, and he's been working as a contractor here and there for some years.
Holy sh!t. Wait a minute, bro. What the hell? I thought having the family as a top priority is the right thing to do? It's not like he was a slacker. He's a working-hard dude.
The reality is -- all the companies say about "work-life balance", but, well, they don't fire someone who goes home on time any more, but they do promote someone dedicate their lives to work.
Think about it. If you own a small software shop, and both A and B being equal in everything else (skill, knowledge, personality, etc), but A works 9-5, and B works late every god damn day and do extra. Who the hell are you going to promote?
Yeah, that's the truth.
...but that's not the only ingredient to move up the ladder, or get divorced.