'60-80 hrs per week is wild': Netizens shocked at job listing shared by Bengaluru founder

Umesh Kumar, a Bengaluru-based founder, recently wrote in a social media post that he wants candidates who can work for 60-80 hours per week. Kumar wrote that he is hiring a "full time or intern stack engineer" for his company and listed the skills needed to apply for a job there.

Kumar added that he is not looking for a beginner or an experienced developer. 

"Hiring full stack engg. (full time/intern) to join us. Requirements? - on-site, Bangalore - 6x days/week - able to pull off 60-80 hours per week - knows his/her shit around js/ts and llms. Not looking for a beginner. Not looking for a cracked dev either (if you are, then good). Someone who believes in runable, its goal to become the 'General AI Agent for Every Task' and has no commitment issues. If you fulfill these requirements, amil/dm umesh@runable.com," the post on X read. 

Soon after the job posting went viral, netizens were aghast. Some users said that 60 to 80 hours per week is simply too much, with one user comparing the founder to Infosys' Narayana Murthy. 

"Bro want to complete the whole work of the company in a quarter 80 hours work week damn (sic)," a netizen said. 

"Are you Narayana Murthy?" a second user commented. A third user wrote: "80 hrs doesn't feel healthy tbh. That's like more than 12 hours per day?"

"60 to 80 hours is wild. We did that for three months last year during launch and our entire team got sick at the same time. Now we do 40 hours and ship twice as much because people can actually think straight," a fourth user commented. 

"How much are you paying for the slavery?" another netizen asked. 

One user pointed out that the founder did not share any details related to the compensation.

A user wrote: "I think you missed 'comp' related information there." To this, the founder replied: "Deliberately left it, only revealing the comp structure to the ones who agree to these t&c."

Meanwhile, he explained the reason behind his requirements. In a statement to Hindustan Times, Kumar said that he believes that 20s is the phase when one pushes their limits, learns fast, and builds a strong foundation for their career. 

“If someone isn’t willing to put in those 60–80 hours a week to grow during that phase, it feels unfair to later blame the government or companies for a lack of opportunities.”