Vjylku

After coming across this question, I started questioning my knowledge of the software development industry. The top voted answer explains how it is completely unreasonable for the company to ask a recent graduate to study the stack they are working with on their own time.

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that the original question was just the inspiration, and no details of the OP's specific situation should carry on to this one and factor into your answer.

When I was starting off as a junior, it was made clear to me in the interview that I was expected to study our stack both during business hours and on my own, so I can get up to speed quickly. Of course, any personal time spent would not be reimbursed. As far as I know from peers, or at least as I thought I knew, this is pretty standard for the software development industry.

Some things to note:

1. 
   This is not about a "bait and switch". Getting hired because you have a specific skillset and being assigned to work on something completely different without prior notice and with the expectation of spending your own time to retrain is obviously a red flag.


2. 
   Assume a non-toxic environment. A manager saying "You better study over the weekend or you're fired first thing on Monday" is, unquestionably, a reason to pack your things and go.


3. 
   This only considers recent graduates or people just starting out. At the beginning of your career in any field, you undoubtedly have a lot of learning to do. The company assigning time for you to study is well and all, but each person learns at a different rate and there are business goals and deadlines in place.

So, to summarize and properly ask: As a junior developer, is it inappropriate for my manager (or whatever supervisor) to suggest that I spend some of my own UNPAID time studying our company's stack? Should I immediately start looking for another job or should I be understanding, as long as they are reasonable? (As in, work your Mon-Fri 9-5 and maybe an hour or two over the weekend, just to catch up faster, as opposed to you have to work 9-5, and study an extra 3-4 hours per day or you're fired).

P.S. - Obviously, we are not talking about completely skipping office-hours training and expecting the junior to reach mastery on their own time.

No, it is not okay to expect that of your employees.

You say:

Assume a non-toxic environment. A manager saying "You better study over the weekend or you're fired first thing on Monday" is, unquestionably, a reason to pack your things and go.

But how is that not exactly what is implied when you tell a junior walking in the door that you expect them to spend their own personal time learning the stack. If I explicitly tell one of my employees what I expect of them I am prepared to have repercussions if they don't meet those expectations.

What you can do instead is reward people who go above and beyond and even make it explicit that you intend to reward people for just that.

As long as it's reasonable, and you're not being forced, it's okay.

Admittedly, the line is blurry. You must set a good work-life balance early on and keep it throughout your career.

For some people, "going the extra mile" (assuming said work-life balance) for a role is a must, and they well spend numerous hours of unpaid overtime to better themselves and appear more passionate and commited to their employers. Maintaining the balance is tricky, however, and the situation could get complicated if your employer "learns" to expect you to work overtime for free. I personally feel that this is okay when you are starting out and have a lot of stuff to learn, but the limits must always be clear to everyone involved.

On the other hand, when the employer (or the supervisor) asks for such unpaid overtime, you might feel pressured to spend hours studying and show results of such studying in the workplace. If at any point you feel forced to do something you normally wouldn't do without the fear of getting scolded or fired, you might be a victim of toxic management and should probably seek employment elsewhere.

BUT a lighthearted suggestion from a "mentor" that you could read up on this article or watch this tutorial over the weekend as you might find it helpful, is entirely appropriate, and if you are a junior eager to learn the ins and outs of software development you should take advantage of any chance to improve your knowledge! Again, without compromising your work-life balance. Only commit time you're willing to invest.

I think the issue is more nuanced than the question you refer to might indicate, and the question contains confounding factors. It may also depend on local custom and labor law.

In the US jobs are divided into exempt and non-exempt. Roughly, exempt employees are paid an annual salary, and routinely exercise their professional judgement in their work duties. This may include making their own judgment about how many hours they will work in a given week. Non-exempt employees are generally more closely supervised, and work for an hourly wage. The exempt worker is expected to work enough hours to accomplish their duties. If that means putting in 80 hours in a week, so be it. A non-exempt worker may be required to work overtime, but they absolutely must be paid for it.

So the question arises: why would anyone take an exempt job over a non-exempt job? Well, the primary attraction is the greater scope for exercising professional judgment. It also usually includes a salary that is higher than the expected annual earnings for the hourly worker. However, the unpaid overtime for the exempt worker may result in a lower "effective" hourly wage than the non-exempt worker. To sweeten the pot, employers may throw in 'upside' for the exempt worker: bonuses and stock options. They may also get more flexibility in their working hours. For example, I don't have to go off the clock if I have a dentist appointment in the middle of the day. If all my tasks are in order and I feel like leaving early on a Friday I can do so.

The problem comes because some employers view exempt employees simply as a way to get free overtime. Bad employers may require the long work weeks, but not really come through with the financial upside, flexibility, or professional autonomy. The worst employers will try to bully their exempt employees into making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Demanding that a very junior software developer convert an even more junior Java developer into a full-stack web developer on their own time without some sort of generous compensation is an example of the later approach.

I would expect a computer science graduate in a salaried position to be willing to put in some study time at home to pick up a new technology for their job. I'd even expect them to put in very long hours (say 60-80 hours in a week) for short periods to accomplish some business critical task, but I'd also expect the employer to make it worth their while with salary, bonuses, or stock options.

TLDR: Expecting employees to do regular work (incl. self-training) in their spare-time is not okay. Expecting employees to do emergency tasks outside of work hours in a reasonable amount, taking the wishes of the employee into account, and compensating that with money/time off is okay as long as it's officially communicated early or not enforced (clearly voluntary).

There are some different aspects that might be mixed up in what you are asking and that might be conflated in what you perceive as the norm:

1. A general view by developers that part of their profession is keeping up with new technology.


2. A general expectation from an employer that developers study the stack used at work in their spare time without payment.


3. A general expectation from an employer that developers do extra time when there is a deadline or otherwise critical issue with a time constraint (e.g. emergency on a live system).


4. Developers putting in more work than required.

As for 1), yes if you want to retain or improve your market value you better keep up with technological developments. How you do that, i.e. during work time or in your spare time does not matter. This is nothing you absolutely have to do to stay employed, but it's a good helpful attitude to help shape a successful career. If you value your free time and prefer to spend it with non-coding things, you make sure you can do the bulk of this keeping up with technology on the clock. Otherwise you might do part of it for fun in your spare time. And if you don't care, you just don't do it, but it will likely limit your options regarding jobs and projects.

As for 2), this is absolutely not the norm in any decent company! However, especially in startup culture and companies that manage to attract many people who want to prove themselves and/or are unexperienced enough it may be widespread enough to appear like the norm. But a one-sided expectation to work unpaid is not a healthy work relationship and I would quit any such job in the long run.
Suggestions from superiors to learn something or do some other low relevance work related task over the weekend would irk me, likely be countered with a sarcastic remark and I would very likely simply not do it (unless I really need the job for now, but that would trigger the job hunting really fast).
Again, if a developer feels he wants to spend time learning something by himself on the weekend, that's totally fine, any pressure from the employer is not.

As for 3) as long as any emergency extra time is compensated with extra time off at another time, i.e. as long as there is a give and take relationship, that is totally fine. In particular, the employer needs to do proper planning, and respect time commitments of the employees outside of work, i.e. approved vacancy should stay approved unless absolutely necessary to cancel it. If an employee needs to leave early sometimes, that should be part of the give and take and not require much hoops. In such a relationship, there's typically "official" over-time, that is lawfully requested (in European countries this might require a certain notification time in advance) and can be enforced and unofficial over-time that is done by the team knowing the deadline/problem without any pressure by the employer. I.e. the relationship needs to be so healthy that the team does this out of their professional ambition.

2) is different from 3) as there is a mutual benefit and a mutual understanding that both give and take and that each partner only takes when it's necessary. Learning a new framework is part of the daily business and thus is something that the employer needs to factor in when doing the planning for a project. If all hell breaks loose and learning a new stack is part of trouble shooting or emergency deadline run-up (perhaps because the relevant developer with that skill got hit by a bus), that's okay (again, if properly compensated), but it cannot be a standard expectation.

4) is also okay, if this isn't based on any fear that people who don't do this get fired. However, it is typically also in the interest of an employer to make sure his employees take time off to relax, as more time spent working does not necessarily mean more work being done and burn outs etc. are also damaging the company as it may loose a valuable worker for quite some time. So such voluntary work should be limited in general.