Congratulations You’ve Been Fired • Hacker News Board

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#21

Post by pascalo » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 10:33 PM UTC

gmantom wrote: post #13

Look startups aren't perfect. You will most certainly work harder than at a large established firm. Your life balance will be no where near as good as at a large firm. But why are you electing to work at a startup? 1) You are getting some options and have the possibility of a big upside which does not exist at a large firm. 2) You want more responsibility and you will certainly get it in the form of wearing many hats…

Would you say companies the size of Amazon, Netflix and HubSpot still fall into that bucket?

To me they are large tech companies that have kept some sort of startup canon in place, and not in a good way.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#22

Post by bduerst » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 10:34 PM UTC

hartator wrote: post #4

> She was 35, had been with the company for four years, and was told without explanation by her 28-year-old manager that she had two weeks to get out. I think that's a bit funny that the author implies you can't be good as a manager at 28. Specially when you are writing an article about bias.

I think they were trying to imply that the 28 year old was an "undertrained" manager:

>UNFORTUNATELY, working at a start-up all too often involves getting bossed around by undertrained (or untrained) managers and fired on a whim. Bias based on age, race and gender is rampant, as is sexual harassment.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#23

Post by B1FF_PSUVM » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 10:34 PM UTC

ianstormtaylor wrote: post #5

Does anyone have more context on Dan Lyons? After reading this article, and the one from Fortune[0], and his post on LinkedIn[1], it feels like he's out there scraping together blatant PR for his new book. And it makes me honestly wonder whether he went to work for HubSpot looking for a story to write in the first place... and being a writer for the "Silicon Valley" TV series doesn't really help his credibility in th…

> Does anyone have more context on Dan Lyons?

Look up "Fake Steve Jobs", it was a great read back in its day. He stopped the blog when it became apparent that Jobs was mortally ill.

Pretty good insights into the "Silicon Valley" pathological culture.

(It has long since mutated astonishingly from the simple Fairchild seed that named it.)

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#24

Post by beachstartup » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 10:36 PM UTC

ianstormtaylor wrote: post #5

Does anyone have more context on Dan Lyons? After reading this article, and the one from Fortune[0], and his post on LinkedIn[1], it feels like he's out there scraping together blatant PR for his new book. And it makes me honestly wonder whether he went to work for HubSpot looking for a story to write in the first place... and being a writer for the "Silicon Valley" TV series doesn't really help his credibility in th…

this might come as a .. surprise to you, but the entire news and media business basically exists for this purpose.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#25

Post by WalterSear » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 10:36 PM UTC

skennedy wrote: post #6

> Imagine a frat house mixed with a kindergarten mixed with Scientology, and you have an idea of what it’s like [working at a startup]. Is this an accurate description? I feel this might be more of the well funded ones but would not know.

I've interviewed at a couple like that, but never worked at one. They are present, but there isn't enough of any 'one kind of place' for any description to be representative.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#26

Post by adenverd » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 10:37 PM UTC

skennedy wrote: post #6

> Imagine a frat house mixed with a kindergarten mixed with Scientology, and you have an idea of what it’s like [working at a startup]. Is this an accurate description? I feel this might be more of the well funded ones but would not know.

No, Lyons is drastically exaggerating and overstating. Perhaps that's what it was like at HubSpot, but I've worked for four different tech startups and only one of them has exhibited even an inkling of Lyons' description. Even there, I would never compare it to a frat house, kindergarten, or Scientology. More like management makes kool-aid and a handful of people think it's wine.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#27

Post by guelo » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 10:40 PM UTC

ianstormtaylor wrote: post #5

Does anyone have more context on Dan Lyons? After reading this article, and the one from Fortune[0], and his post on LinkedIn[1], it feels like he's out there scraping together blatant PR for his new book. And it makes me honestly wonder whether he went to work for HubSpot looking for a story to write in the first place... and being a writer for the "Silicon Valley" TV series doesn't really help his credibility in th…

You're searching for a good adhominem attack, coming up empty, and asking for the startup community's help in taking him down.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#28

Post by joejev » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 10:40 PM UTC

skennedy wrote: post #6

> Imagine a frat house mixed with a kindergarten mixed with Scientology, and you have an idea of what it’s like [working at a startup]. Is this an accurate description? I feel this might be more of the well funded ones but would not know.

Not all startups are like this, the author is bitter about his experience.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#29

Post by wierdaaron » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 10:40 PM UTC

ianstormtaylor wrote: post #5

Does anyone have more context on Dan Lyons? After reading this article, and the one from Fortune[0], and his post on LinkedIn[1], it feels like he's out there scraping together blatant PR for his new book. And it makes me honestly wonder whether he went to work for HubSpot looking for a story to write in the first place... and being a writer for the "Silicon Valley" TV series doesn't really help his credibility in th…

Dan Lyons was Fake Steve Jobs, then was a gadget writer where he was a frequent doomsayer of Apple and complained endlessly about the lack of access and review units Apple gave him. When he left that job and went to an advertising startup it was assumed that he'd just burned all of his tech writing bridges and had to resort to writing ad copy, but looking back I'd say it's a fair shot that he wanted an angle to write about startups so he took a job at one.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#30

Post by BurningFrog » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 10:41 PM UTC

josh_carterPDX wrote: post #19

hartator wrote: post #4

> She was 35, had been with the company for four years, and was told without explanation by her 28-year-old manager that she had two weeks to get out. I think that's a bit funny that the author implies you can't be good as a manager at 28. Specially when you are writing an article about bias.

Having worked at a few startups I can relate to what the writer is saying (although I do agree the article is a bit slanted). It happens a lot in the tech world under the guise of "thinking differently" about management. I agree that age shouldn't matter, until you're 10-15 years older than your Manager who is completely out of their element, has no clue what they're doing, and you spend every day wondering how the f…

That sounds like it's more about the manager having no clue than their age.