That's because I have coworkers who are already at 50. When I refuse, I am told to quit. That I am lazy. That's how the industry works. We don't even have overtime
Problem is upper management are incentivised to take as many projects as possible. It has minimalimpactonthem. Maybe spend 1-2 hrs per project. So the number doesn't make a big difference to them.
Middle management agrees to what the client wants to keep the client happy. They agree to outrageous deadlines and crazy last minute requests. Crazy requests and deadlines don't matter to them because they don't have to do anything. Middle management are just the introduction person for the project. Us grunts have to communicate with them after.
Grunts and support teams. Aka the people who actually do the work. We can't say no to client. I was once given a talking to for being rude to a client because I told them “I will check if the support team was available to process their request” which was sent at 6pm on Friday. The clients complain was why couldn't I do it, when I was available. They made us learn the software so that we would now have to do it.
This has lead to crazy work hours. Of course the point of diminished returns never occurs to them. Quantity over quality and when something goes wrong, us grunts are thrown under the bus
I'm tired, weak and burnt-out. Not to mention depressed and anxious. But I'm not lazy