I really enjoyed this article for its frankness in addressing some of the pitfalls of pursuing a career in a technology startup. I think the author does a good job of countering the glorification of these careers without demeaning their importance. Innovation and entrepreneurship are clearly values that should be encouraged, but their costs, too, must be understood. In general, I think this is a valuable read for anyone who thinks introspectively about direction to follow for a career, and obviously it is even more well-suited for someone in the technology field.
"Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup" by Alex Payne
Published on http://al3x.net/, May 23, 2013
Eric
I began at Echo 4 years ago just as it was starting to leave start up phase and have seen it grow into the type of large culture any other organization was. I've listened to people complain about how the atmosphere isn't the same. Interestingly enough i've also gotten to see the start up culture very clearly as the people that own Echo also founded Groupon and currently run their VC tech firm on the same floor as Echo. I've seen plenty of people leave Echo to go work at these new start ups and the majority of the time it doesn't go so well. This article seems to be quite accurate in the fact that start ups aren't some rebellious amazing thing, they are just like any other business. If you can get in on the ground floor then you have made a great start of it but most of the time it doesn't work out. And it all leads back to the two rich guys at the top creating business after business to continue gaining wealth.
ReplyDeleteI really like this quote: When the company-provided keg runs dry, the free lunches are making you fat, and playing the Xbox in the break room is no longer as fun as it used to be, what then? When you find that you now report to a politicking middle manager and not the inspiring CEO who interviewed you, will you still want to be there? Is a supposedly novel working environment enough to sustain you? When everywhere you might consider working looks more or less the same, is the novelty even there?
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