who here actually programs for a fulltime job

Do companies that hire programmers expect them to work overtime, like even when they're at home?

I'm about to send my resume to a bunch of companies but I'm afraid once I get a job I'll have no time for myself anymore.  I really want to beat Earthbound but responsibilities are already taking up enough time as it is.

Will I have more free time, or less free time, when I get out of college at the end of this semester and have a programming job?

Does it depend on -what- you're programming?

Continuing from my post 17...
Large companies survey each other's salaries and cap the salaries for certain positions like Programmer I/II/III. To get beyond those caps you have to get into management or self-employment.

For management, prepare by volunteering for administrative assignments. The manager will need to go around twice a week and check on all the programmers' progress. He might delegate that task. Volunteer for it. (It's tricky, though. Old programmers don't appreciate some kid grilling them on their work status.) Meetings are the managers stock in trade. Attend all of them and have answers to the questions that come up. Those questions will usually be "We need job X done. Who can do it?" So you should know everyone's skill set and how busy/available they are. They #1 plum management track is sales. If you close some new deals with customers, you're gold. You can look for the old manager who seems to be doing that and get cozy with him. Help him out with his tech questions and learn his ways and contacts. The customers will start calling you directly if you a) know the answers, b) don't have an irritating personality, and c) can accurately estimate if a given deal will be accepted by your company.

The best thing I ever did in sales was go to meetings with customers where I was the programmer on the app they were discussing. The customer would ask for a function, I'd tell him I could do it. No middle man. They got to know me by name and call me for support. Then I quit and started my own company.

Speaking of that, read you're intellectual property contract carefully. Some of them are really pushy giving the company ownership of every idea you have during employment and for some time afterward. If you were an experienced specialist instead of a scrub, you'd be in a position to re-negotiate the IP contract.

Most of us eventually get fed up with employment and try to strike out on our own. Ease into that. Write your app for a couple hours each evening. Advertise it on a prefessionl looking web site AND GET GOOGLE TO LIST THAT SITE by puttig links to your site in other places like blogs and forums. Give away free demos with restricted functions. Use EXECryptor for anti-piracy. Get some cash flow on 2 or 3 apps before you quit your day job. Or start a contracting company where you supply programmer labor to big companies. I've known guys who did VERY well at that.

(Tired of typing. Bye.)