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Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

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Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#51

Post by asibehar »

coned88 wrote: post #18
evo_9 wrote: post #14

So my guess is this is the first time you've been let go, or this is the first time as an adult (post-college) during your profession that you've been let go. Relax, it happens. This doesn't mean you aren't a terrific developer and person to work with. Take a little time to think about what you've worked on, what you've accomplished in the past 6-12 months I think you'll see what a great position you really are in. A…

What's the benefit of a startup? Seems like more hours for less pay while always needing to get things done. I fail to see the appeal. They just have lunches and dinners which appeal to people.

The very "needing to get things done" is the appeal - even if the pay is lower (which isn't always the case these days) think of it as investing in your own abilities and skills.

I spent all my days, nights, and weekends out of college working on a doomed startup during the first bubble and I'd still describe it as one of the best experiences of my life. It prepared me for all sorts of experiences since then. I was ideating, researching, designing, building, and even publicly presenting multiple new products for a company that didn't have the staff to specialize in any of those needs.

I've used those skills at companies big and small since then and have worked alongside those who haven't forged their abilities in the pressure-cooker of a startup - I wouldn't change a thing.

Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#52

Post by GolfyMcG »

coned88 wrote: post #18
evo_9 wrote: post #14

So my guess is this is the first time you've been let go, or this is the first time as an adult (post-college) during your profession that you've been let go. Relax, it happens. This doesn't mean you aren't a terrific developer and person to work with. Take a little time to think about what you've worked on, what you've accomplished in the past 6-12 months I think you'll see what a great position you really are in. A…

What's the benefit of a startup? Seems like more hours for less pay while always needing to get things done. I fail to see the appeal. They just have lunches and dinners which appeal to people.

The real appeal to a startup has little to do with compensation. It's about "benefits" and intangibles. Obviously these will vary depending on the degree to how "start-upy" your company is but I think you can measure it most by the size. In the extreme example, when you start your own company, you own it all. You want casual Fridays? It's done. You want a remote/results-only workplace policy? It's done. Cubicles, private offices, or wide open desk farms - you pick.

From a developer's perspective, you don't have to support someone else's code (at least for now). It's YOUR code - but it's also YOUR bug when they do come up. It's much less stressful fixing your own bugs then a "senior" developer who's worked there for 15 years and supposedly knows what he's doing but fails to take responsibility.

I previously worked at a large ad tech startup (using that term loosely, they had just gone public and had about 250 people) and it drove me nuts. Particularly, it was the strain of having to work for someone I didn't respect. I left and now run a company with some friends - all of whom I believe to be smarter than I. There is no better feeling than being the dumbest one in the room. That is a luxury rarely afforded at large companies. Invariably, you're going to end up with people at the bottom of the barrel. When you're the owner/boss/hiring manager - you get to pick the people you work with.

TL;DR: Startups aren't about compensation it's about the enjoyment of picking the workplace you want to be in. You don't have to worry about working with people you dislike, because you pick them all!

Edit: Also forgot to mention, I have learned exponentially more in the last 2 years of running my business than I feel like in the rest of my life combined. It's like software development/product management/sales special forces training - you really end up pushing yourself to do more than you thought you were capable of. Mostly because there is no one else to pick up your slack.

Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#53

Post by hn_user2 »

agilecoder wrote: post #40
pseudometa wrote: post #28

1) Sign up for unemployment. It takes a little while to start getting checks, but it will help extend your savings. 2) Relax a bit and get your head together. 3) Go on a trip (you'll be starting from scratch at a new company, so use the time for a bit of a vacation) 4) Polish your resume & LinkedIn profile 5) Broaden your horizons geographically and interview at lots of different locations around the country and choo…

Please be aware that if you do (1) and also do (3) you may be committing Unemployment Insurance Fraud. Most states require you to not only be actively searching for work, but to be "Able and Available" to work and frequently investigations and audits turn up fraudulent UI claims on this basis. Even though much of job searching is online and can be done anywhere, the assumption is that if you are out of state, you wer…

I did this. I highly recommend using the time to take a vacation. And by vacation, I mean searching for jobs in other states and countries.

I disagree with your interpretation of "able to available".

Even nolo is not 100% on this: Vacations and travel MAY mean you are "unavailable" to work.

I am not a lawyer, and this is only my non-lawyer non official, non-professional opinion of what I relied on for myself.

1) Jobs are available all over the country and all over the world. 2) If you are actively applying and interviewing and able and willing to take the next flight home in the event of an offer or unwillingness by a company to interview you over Skype.

So for me, I had a justification. If the state did not agree with me, I risked them taking the money back. I didn't exactly push it by mailing my claims in postmarked from a foreign country either. I found a way to get them mailed in from my home area as to not cause undue focus on me.

Bottom line. Go take that vacation.

Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#54

Post by khazarboy123 »

I agree with some of the others below, there are a lot of benefits to "doing" a startup. These benefits, however, are largely peripheral. You don't start a startup for lifestyle or professional benefits. You start a startup because you want some product to be a company. There is a lot of unimaginably hard work and obsessive behavior that goes into building successful products and enterprises. That drive is largely what creates the peripheral rewards everyone here seems to be describing. The language used to describe startups seems all too often to treat them like some kind of consumption product "you should consider a startup." is equivalent to saying "you should consider the new honda civic." I would figure out how to work with a small number of freelance clients and keep working on your side project. If you find yourself working on it rather obsessively and have gathered more feedback and simplified the product, then make that into a startup.

Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#56

Post by daxfohl »

coned88 wrote: post #18
evo_9 wrote: post #14

So my guess is this is the first time you've been let go, or this is the first time as an adult (post-college) during your profession that you've been let go. Relax, it happens. This doesn't mean you aren't a terrific developer and person to work with. Take a little time to think about what you've worked on, what you've accomplished in the past 6-12 months I think you'll see what a great position you really are in. A…

What's the benefit of a startup? Seems like more hours for less pay while always needing to get things done. I fail to see the appeal. They just have lunches and dinners which appeal to people.

Never getting a raise because that's not built into their budget and there's not a system around it. Having to beg for vacation time and getting maybe a week a year. And after a few years or a few ventures, your friends at big corps are already starting to talk about retirement and pensions, and you realize that's an extra million you gave up. But hey, you can wear shorts!

Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#57

Post by chris11 »

agilecoder wrote: post #40
pseudometa wrote: post #28

1) Sign up for unemployment. It takes a little while to start getting checks, but it will help extend your savings. 2) Relax a bit and get your head together. 3) Go on a trip (you'll be starting from scratch at a new company, so use the time for a bit of a vacation) 4) Polish your resume & LinkedIn profile 5) Broaden your horizons geographically and interview at lots of different locations around the country and choo…

Please be aware that if you do (1) and also do (3) you may be committing Unemployment Insurance Fraud. Most states require you to not only be actively searching for work, but to be "Able and Available" to work and frequently investigations and audits turn up fraudulent UI claims on this basis. Even though much of job searching is online and can be done anywhere, the assumption is that if you are out of state, you wer…

You can always just ask the employment office about out of state trips and work requirements. That assumption that you will be viewed as unable to work might not be valid. Like you said you can apply online, and you can always visit a place you are interested in working and then you will be available for in person interviews.

Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#60

Post by thecolorblue »

coned88 wrote: post #18
evo_9 wrote: post #14

So my guess is this is the first time you've been let go, or this is the first time as an adult (post-college) during your profession that you've been let go. Relax, it happens. This doesn't mean you aren't a terrific developer and person to work with. Take a little time to think about what you've worked on, what you've accomplished in the past 6-12 months I think you'll see what a great position you really are in. A…

What's the benefit of a startup? Seems like more hours for less pay while always needing to get things done. I fail to see the appeal. They just have lunches and dinners which appeal to people.

I think the startup/established company debate boils down to personal taste, but I do prefer startups for the control you get over your future. My experience with start ups (at least in their growth phase) was that there was no need to switch positions or leave the company to grow professional, you just grow with the company.
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