Lotta dunking on this one; worth pointing out that the long term earnings boost you get is dwarfed by the monetary benefit to founders, funders, and owners who crave a workforce of young, fresh blood with no lives and no boundaries. Aspire to more than being fuel for their fire.
If you’re genuinely passionate about your craft and want to refine your skills outside tour job, that’s another thing — sometimes a movie critic watches movies off the clock, too. But the second that doesn’t bring joy, drop it and move to what does.
Overdelivering to your employer doesn’t mark you as someone to elevate; it means they’d have to pay someone else more to replace you in your current role. It’s an incentive to keep you where you’re at, and bake the assumption of your gift to them into the system.
To be clear, I’m not saying that caring about the quality of your work is bad, or that growing your skills is a waste, or that occasionl “crunches” aren’t necessary when plans don’t work out.
But “work weekends” isn’t about any of those things. It’s literally just “work longer, it will pay off.” It’s terrible advice that will rob you of the energy and joy you need to grow — even if the only growth you care about is your marketable technical skills.