I worked 14-hour days at a startup. A stage 3 cancer diagnosis changed how I succeeded at Netflix and Meta.

Courtesy David Ronca

• David Ronca was a software engineer at a small startup before joining Netflix and then Meta.
• Ronca said he used to work 14-hour days before cancer forced work-life balance on him.
• He said he didn't stop working hard but rather started to work intentionally.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with David Ronca, a retired video systems engineer. He spent 12 years at Netflix and six years at Meta. This story has been edited for length and clarity.