Mind-Blowing: Gen Z Google software engineer reveals the shocking secret behind his 1-hour workday!

Devon, a pseudonym Assets uses to protect his privacy says he starts his week writing code for “a decent chunk” of a given task before sending it to his manager. This basically “guarantees” him a smooth flow for the rest of the week. He says he usually gets up around 9am to shower and make breakfast before working until 11am or 12pm and then working on his start-up until 9pm or 10pm (Assets verified time-stamped screenshots showing the amount of startup work Devon undertook during his workday.)

When Assets Speaking to Devon just after 10am Pacific time, he admitted he still hadn’t opened his laptop. When asked if he worried about missing a message from his manager, he replied that if he did, “it’s not the end of the world — I’ll just get back to that later tonight.”

Devon counts himself among the thousands of tech workers who say they get paid to do nothing. During a business boom early in the pandemic, companies like Meta, GoogleAnd Foreclosure “We were hiring ahead of demand,” said Vijay Govindarajan, a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business Wall Street Journal. The trend has been synchronized “Write,“Where companies, desperate to hoard workers ahead of the expected extended period of growth, made lucrative offers for jobs that weren’t needed. Many new hires were waiting for jobs that never came; A Survey 2021 In the anonymous workplace forum Blind revealed that a third of technicians only worked less than half of the working day.

That’s exactly what happened at Google, says Devon, who, according to his offer letter, earns nearly $150,000 a year Assets checked. The executives “just bought up everything they could so they wouldn’t go to another company … and built a product that competes with Google,” he says. When Google was fired 12,000 people In January, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai wrote that the company was “hiring for a different economic reality than the one we face today” and would only focus on hiring.critical roles” in the future. (Google declined Fortune’s Please comment on this story.)

Now, in the midst of rounds intense layoffs And declining sales Across the tech industry, many new hires persist There was little left to do. This freedom has led some, like Devon, to expand the outer limits. “I wanted to do something that would give me a lot more time to myself, so I went to Google,” explains the 20-year-old.

In that sense, Devon embodies the stereotypical Generation Zer by doing so the absolute essentials at work and keeps his true brain power for the things that fuel his passion. In his case, that means enjoying his free time and spending a legitimate full eight-hour workday at the company he’s building with a techie friend.

Work hard – and hardly work

97 percent of Google employees call the technology giant a Good place to work– Only 57% of the workforce at a typical US company say the same. Google is known for its numerous advantages; a quirky campus with bikes, gyms, and free meals; and high salaries. In addition to his six-figure salary, Devon received an entry-level bonus and, according to his offer letter, is expecting a year-end bonus.

When he took the job, Devon knew he wouldn’t work very hard – probably because of his experience as an intern there. For over $2,000 a week, he worked “probably less than two hours” a day and rarely went into the office (which was mandatory). He wasn’t slacking off so much as carefully underestimating how fast he was working; He says he completed all the code for his internship early on, which allowed him to ship the code all summer to his supervisor, who he says had no idea. He even managed a week-long trip to Hawaii while still on duty.

“If I wanted to work long hours, I would work at a startup,” he says. “Most people choose Google for the work-life balance and benefits. You could work at Apple, but Apple has great appeal for software engineers. They work long hours…but at Google, most people know that what they’re doing is a job.”

Devon says he “didn’t really bother deciding on a hedge fund or quant stuff because they pay you like $300,000, but the thing is, you actually have to work well over 40 hours a week,” he added. “If I can work a few hours a day — an hour a day — I think the base is a lot smaller [salary] works.”

Bosses at the tech giant did it extolled virtue Efficiency, but Devon doesn’t think they “actually value it”. Google’s Code of Conduct requires employees to log full-time work hours and leave personal projects that do not pose a conflict of interest after hours. But He says no one noticed his five-hour workweek because he could produce enough in short bursts to avoid scrutiny — or take on extra responsibilities. When someone gets suspicious, they submit a line of code they’ve tucked away and pretend they’ve been working on it all week.

“It’s not like going above and beyond really gets you promoted,” says Devon, explaining that he’s observed colleagues working hard for years without getting promoted (as part of a development program that Google recently announced year revised). Gives employees formal performance reviews once a year and promotions happen two times a year). On the other hand, he says that with his reduced schedule, he’s living up to expectations and his arrangement is “essentially the same as busting your ass off.”

The reward of polyworking

Devon’s constellation is less rare than it appears. While some people are cutting corners at work to increase their rest time, the introduction of remote work has also given more leeway to workers like Devon who hope to double their jobs to maximize profits. Almost half of workers have more than one full-time job, a current monster report found, although for most of these workers it is a matter of making ends meet.

Devon is a different case. He earns more than enough money to support himself, but he is waiting for the time when he can start his own business, a second job is not necessary. Ideally, he plans to leave Google to start his startup company, but plans a boomerang downturn if the company fails. He says Google attaches great importance to the reinstatement of former Google employees.

He says he too disregards Google’s return-to-office policywhere most employees are expected to work in the office three days a week, although each department is free to set its own rules (it fully accommodates remote work in exceptions). It “doesn’t work for him,” he says, because it makes him feel like managers are a “watchtower.”

But his manager thinks it’s “cool” that he doesn’t come in, adds Devon. “I’m sure Google will eventually send me emails advising me that I haven’t signed up, but I won’t worry about it until I get a warning.” And if they decide to punish him by letting him go, Devon says he still has peace of mind because they will give him a generous settlement.

He admits that his way of life “wouldn’t work 100%” at a start-up with fewer people to manage, and that he’s not blind to the privileges of his circumstances. “I’m very fortunate to be in the position I’m in,” he says. “If I were laid off, I’d still have enough runway for about a year’s rent, which is really enough to find something else.” Not everyone has that, he notes, so he can hardly recommend his way of life. “You have to be lucky,” he says.