Let’s talk about working ridiculous numbers of hours a week in grad school. First, don’t do it. You will burn out. You won’t succeed if you burn out. Most of the folks saying you have to work 70-80 hours to succeed either didn’t or wouldn’t do it if they had to do it again.

Second, if you work 80 hours/week without burning out, it won’t guarantee a job. The job market is awful. But even in good years, it’s fickle. Some folks with tenurable records don’t get jobs and some folks with 0 pubs do. Don’t kill yourself when it might not change the outcome.

Third, try to tune this out when you hear it. This is especially hard for #FirstGen folks who don’t know the unwritten rules, see this, and think it’s normal. Work a reasonable number of hours. Take days off. Do things unrelated to work. You can’t succeed if you aren’t ok.