Work/Life Balance in Development
Just started FT analyst stint at large office developer. The older analysts made it seem like I'm working weekends and long weekdays. Is that the norm? I assumed it was on busy weeks but not every week. Its not IB hours but its closer than I'd thought.
Just like everything, it depends on the firm. I have a friend at huge institutional developer and people who 60-80 hours per week from what he says. At my firm, which I just got to, but from why I’m told, it’s like 45-60. Depends on culture and expectations.
Not at all. I'm at a large regional MF developer and have never worked a weekend. On average probably 40-50 hours a week. It's a pretty consistent 9 - 5/6.
Depends on the firm. If you go to a developer that has a lot of ex bankers or a smaller office filled with guys who are all about the long hours, then you'll have to work the long hours. But to be clear, by no means is development an industry where those hours are REQUIRED if your team isn't understaffed. If you have sufficient manpower, weekend hours are few and far between at most companies.
I'd say more typical is 50-60 hours a week. At my current job I vary from 40-45 hours at slow times to probably 70'ish when it's crunch time (new deals happening, multiple projects have big changes going on, etc.). Probably 50-55 average.
if it makes you feel better, you could have great exit opps by telling people "i worked 70 hrs/week for a huge office developer." not joking.
Second this. I can’t tell you how many interviews I’ve had where people asked me: how many hours per week do you work. And it was a legit filtering question. If my number was too low, I was out of the process.
Wow. They aren't fuckin around. Was this 'opportunity fund' type jobs?
if someone asked me that filtering question i’d be filtering them right back. fuck outta here
Echo everyone above. If the firm is more integrated with asset management, construction, and accounting for pre development and stabilized projects should be more manageable. If not assume you'll be working more extended hours.
Development manager here, I work 35-45 hours pretty consistently. Obviously longer when I have a closing or a big event of the like, or if I have to put together a complicated model that my analysts can't do on their own. I certainly check my email on weekends but pretty much never open my laptop. Work is across all asset classes but mostly multifamily, big entitlement deals, and value-add acquisitions.
How many years of experience do you have?
5
This is insanely low - are you accounting for time spent networking, traveling, doing property tours, dinner/drinks with investors, etc.?
Why would you count them
because all those items are "work"
Property tours and travelling, sure, but I wouldn’t classify drinks, dinners and networking as working
I guess I can maybe see why it seems like that at the analyst level, as it is not likely to be part of more formal duties nor as necessary to carry out the job.
Trust me, it is very much working, and something you HAVE to do at more senior levels. By all universal terms, if you are doing drinks, dinners, and networking with people in the industry, prospective/current clients/investors/suppliers/tenants/whatever, or just business events in general.... it is work. This is a well understood definition.
Its time you HAVE to put in and don't have the flexibility to be doing what you want, spending time with family, etc.
idk man, that seems like a pretty low bar to what classifies as work. are we going to start counting commuting time as work too?
Maybe because I'm excluding my lunch break? My typical day is something like 9-6 or 10-7. That's 40 hours.
If I'm visiting site or touring properties or whatever it's during the work day. So inclusive of that. I am not counting networking or business dinners, no.
I'm a Development analyst at a mid-sized firm. Never worked on the weekends. Work 8-5 everyday (45 hours/week). Rarely go over that. At my company, the senior guys work longer hours, 55 hours on average I would say. Construction not happening on weekends is a huge reason why I don't work weekends.
hyper firm specific, some devcos look/act like "finance shops" as they are founded by people from i-banking/private equity type backgrounds. You will see a lot of amongst some of the big NYC centric real estate firms. Reports of 80+ hr weeks are not uncommon.
Overall, I think most major developers nationwide are more traditional structures with 40-50 hrs the norm and the occasional 60-70 hrs during closings (which should only happen a few times a year per team). This is true for my firm and we do major projects in tier 1 cities.
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