I don't see how smart it is to work 10-12 hour days and for sure you are underpaid. Think a bit , you work 3000 hours a year as opposing to 1800-2000 , which turns your 250K/year salary to 160K and you don't have life. Sure it works for single under 30 kids , but how that would fit in 40+ group with regular family ?
Don't get me wrong I was working in startups (and I was over 40 at the time with regular family) insane times (100+ hr weeks) but just for year stretch ant that barley makes sense because of gold rush to the pushing product out of door.
Otherwise I prefer "work smarter not harder" way and seems google has "if you work hard it will seem smart"
I don't think I work 3000 hours a year, or if I do, it's probably time I would've otherwise spent surfing Reddit or Hacker News.
Not all hours are created equal. In past jobs where I've worked set hours (whether 9-5 or 10:30-6:30 or whatever), I've found I spent half the workday surfing the Internet and then didn't have time for a life anyway because of the commute and set schedule.
I value being able to duck out of work for 2-3 hours mid-afternoon because a friend of mine who I haven't seen in 7 years is passing through on her way from Marin to San Diego. I value it a whole lot more than the actual 2-3 hours of work time that I'll presumably be making up later. I'll happily work 2-3 more hours in the evening if it means I can go out for dinner & a movie with my friends at the normal time and still sleep in until noon.
I don't have kids, but my teammates that do take similar advantage of this. If their kid is sick, they'll work from home instead of needing to scramble to find childcare. If their kid pukes all over their teacher in day care, they can duck out in the middle of the afternoon to pick him up. If their kid has a school play in the morning, they can come in late, no problem.
You're responsible for your work product. If you feel you need to spend extra hours to achieve it, then do that. If you feel you can do it by working smarter (which is absolutely possible and encouraged with some problems, and not really possible with others), do that.
