Pause Social Life While Onboarding?

Question

While onboarding to my first Big Tech company which represents a huge boost for me in terms of comp, learning, and company prestige, does it make sense to put my social life on pause for a few months?

I'm single and have few other responsibilities.

The logic here is to put myself in the best position to succeed by working extra on weeknights and weekends and not getting distracted.

The argument against doing this it could lead to burnout and be counterproductive.

I figure there's a balance here. Maybe focus hard on my job for 3 - 6 months and after that relax a little? I.e. be more proactive about having fun on weekends and dating.

Collaborative Tarodactyl · Accepted Answer

I'm not sure whether this working extra thing works. Here's the biggest reason why: your team might just expect you to work these hours as a baseline.  The larger problem is not leaving room for slack. There will be days when you're not 100%. There will be weeks where you only push 2 diffs instead of your usual 10. Despite all this, you'll need to set yourself up to succeed. Leave some wiggle room please.  Personal Anecdote  In my first quarter at university, I ignored what everyone else said and signed up for 4 upper-level Math classes (think Real Analysis, Combinatorics, Abstract Algebra). Each class takes about 15-20 hours of study per week to get an A. It was hell. Almost every waking hour was spent studying, and by Week 3 I was already getting burnt out. My GPA that quarter was 2.02/4.  I had so much brain fog that I scheduled a date on the day of an exam. Needless to say, I flaked on the date (which they had dressed really nice for) and got a 11/100 on the exam.  Had I taken half the Math classes and put in 60% of the effort, my GPA would have been well over 3.0/4. And probably done okay on both the date and the exam.

Pause Social Life While Onboarding?

Discussion

Personal Anecdote