[johnnyRose]

You're right - in my experience, most programmers have it pretty good.

What I've noticed is that stress/overworking comes when the team is pressured for time. As a mental, as opposed to physical laborer, sometimes less is more, and sometimes that means leaving an hour early just to figure out the solution to your problems on the drive home.

Managers who think "butts in seats, hands on keyboards" equals "more productivity" can't effectively manage programmers.