I do. I’ve worked at two of the biggest companies in the games industry, I’ve made two independent iOS games, I’m now about to get into block chain related work and I’m the founder of a service that provides automated test results reporting that is growing in usage across the world. I do think the product matters, but also perhaps more importantly you need to have personal and professional growth. I realize that growth and product are not necessarily aligned but if you can make them align it’s the best.
Ask HN: Do you care about the product you are building?
11–20 of 32 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you care about the product you are building?
#12Yes. Also I don't care much about tools, I like my visual studio but I'm ok using anything else that does the job.
Re: Ask HN: Do you care about the product you are building?
#13I had zero emotional investment at first, but the parts I work with most grew on me. I also care a lot about the people around me. And I care a lot about the tools I am using too, I love my setup, and I'm also active in the community within the company, that's built around that toolset.
If I had to prioritize the above, I care about my team the most, the tools second and the actual product third.
To value people's care about the product, can be either very idealisic, totally misguided, or perfectly legit, very highly depending on the circumstances. Me with my team herd cattles basically, large website and infra, features come and go, tickets come from business people who themselves get orders basically. But if I were to gather people around me for the startup I'm about to start, I'd like to have them to believe that we're doing something good.
Re: Ask HN: Do you care about the product you are building?
#14Both are important. The end product has to be nice/useful for deeper motivation. The tools in use can indicate the philosophy of the business and give hints about the general ambiance of the job. Who would choose to spend 40 hours per week with tools that makes them feel underproductive?
Agreed. But if the product doesn't do any good to the world, can you have ANY motivation at all? Even if the tech is awesome
It can work well and the people further up the hierarchy can be happy about it, and could share this happiness with you with bonuses and other perks. If this would happen, I'd be more inclined to be invested in the thing, even if it were not especially the pinnacle of human altruism.
Re: Ask HN: Do you care about the product you are building?
#15I am a marketing consultant (So a little different) but I am extremely picky about clients. I only want to promote good products.
Re: Ask HN: Do you care about the product you are building?
#16Yes, I wouldn't want to work on something that in the end just tries to sell more widgets, or serve more effective ads. I currently work in water management software.
Re: Ask HN: Do you care about the product you are building?
#17Yes, I do!
When I built Caddy, I actually needed a web server that met my specific needs. It HAD to work well, and when the community jumped on board to contribute, I found out I wasn't the only one with those needs.
Now I'm writing a file backup service for consumers like my sister and brother but also developers like myself, because I want my family to be able to preserve our memories. Existing solutions just aren't satisfying for our needs. With generations of family history and photos and lifestyle potentially on the line, you bet I care that we get it right!
We're not using any flashy technologies to make them. Most of it's pretty boring. But it's SO satisfying to see it working.
Re: Ask HN: Do you care about the product you are building?
#18I don't care so much about tools, and I don't really care about the product. I do care about solving problems. Does the company have problems that I'm good at solving? Are they interesting problems? (Admittedly, somewhat tied to the product.) Do they have enough of them to keep me busy for a while? They don't make missile guidance systems or ad tech? Then I don't think I care what kind of software widget we're making, when would like my first day to be?
Oh, I don't have "passion" for the product? Who gives a shit? I have passion for doing the best work I possibly can if I hire on to your company. Whether you're making Exciting New Whatever Tech or a boring ass old CRUD app, I will you give you my best, guaranteed. Never will you hear an excuse out of me about how the product doesn't "excite" me. That's what I care about, and it's what companies ought to care about when they're hiring people.
Re: Ask HN: Do you care about the product you are building?
#19The product I'm building is a solid product and has a good market fit, but I'd be lying if I said I cared about it. We use pretty modern tools (Kube/spinnaker/opencensus, GCP/AWS/Azure/Alibaba, GRPC, redis, etc) which are interesting at first, but they all really cease to matter a few months in.
At least switching from one tool to another is a cool technical challenge and a good chance to rewrite some bad code, but the rest of the time is spent writing yet another RPC service.
Honestly I'm just here for the paycheck and location. Any company that offers me better compensation with the same work-life balance is one I'd jump ship for immediately.
Re: Ask HN: Do you care about the product you are building?
#20I could frankly care less about tools. I would not work on something i do not care about, and all tools are fun to use if you are solving fun problems with a great team of coworkers.