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Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee

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Re: Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee

#481

Post by w1ntermute »

leeoniya wrote: post #263
w1ntermute wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this context, wealth doesn’t necessarily have to start out as financial wealth. You came from an educated family, so even if your parents were materially poor, they created an environment that ensured you would be on an upward trajectory compared to them. This is a common story among educated immigrants from poor countries. But then there are those who are both materially and educationally impoverished - those who…

> In this context, wealth doesn’t necessarily have to start out as financial wealth i'm fairly certain the comment i was replying to was using 'wealth' in the literal, financial sense. nevertheless, breaking the cycle of being disadvantaged by taking drastic measures and risks is something that's required in all cases. for us it was leaving everything behind and coming to the US with nothing. for someone who does not…

Just as people who didn’t immigrate from a poor country might not completely understand your circumstances, I don’t think you fully grasp the circumstances of those who have failed to succeed despite being in the US for generations. If it were so simple for those people to just delay having children and invest more in education, they would have already done it.

Re: Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee

#482

Post by srtjstjsj »

btilly wrote: post #465
mwseibel wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the note - I’m going to think about this.

Here is a twist on this to think about. Careers are made or broken on whether you get to be an idea person or an implementer. If you're an idea person you get the lion's share of the credit for anything that goes right, and can always blame your failures on the implementor. Plus ideas are easier to come up with than implementations. If you're an implementor you work hard, and then don't get much of the credit. But wi…

Can you implement your own ideas?

Re: Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee

#483

Post by srtjstjsj »

mehrdada wrote: post #426
slg wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If your product is software, literally it is impossible that sales add more value than the engineering organization that builds the product. Without engineering organization, you don't have anything to sell. Without sales and marketing, you will also have a hard time. It is collaboration what brings success. The distinction is that product development, sales and marketing can act as multipliers in a way that enginee…

> sales and marketing can act as multipliers in a way that engineering seldom does (I cannot distinguish product development from engineering as cleanly as you do, but on sales and marketing...) Can't disagree more. At least with the definitions I have in my head, this sentence is logically inconsistent with such definitions. Engineering is the way you get non-linear leverages. Sales and marketing, almost always give…

One of the most common fallacies you hear voiced by software people is that polynomial/exponential is bigger than linear, because they ignore the constant factors that matter in the concrete cases in the real world. The same fallacy leads to bad engineering choices and bad business choices.

Re: Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee

#484

Post by harryh »

JimboOmega wrote: post #114

My experience has been that jumping from employee to any level of executive is the absolute hardest step, at least for me. I think once you are a team lead and have some number of direct reports, you can then start jumping your way up that ladder. But going from 0 to 5 direct reports has often seemed impossible. I'd be open to tips on how to do it.

> I'd be open to tips on how to do it.

Some things that can help (in no particular order):

- excel in your role as an IC

- Take on leadership responsibilities in your role as an IC. Don't just do stuff, own things

- Work in a growing organization in constant need of new leadership

- Take the initiative to start something new that succeeds to the point that you need additional help to keep it going

- Mentor an intern

- Ask your manager for leadership responsibilities

- Be connected enough to the wider organization that you know when opportunities arise on adjacent teams and leaders of those teams know you well enough to think of you when filling them

Re: Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee

#485

Post by crazy5sheep »

sidlls wrote: post #102
ryandrake wrote: post #7

> Often times there are hard barriers preventing people from starting a company. In these cases my best advice is to move to a tech hub (preferably the Bay Area) and work for a tech company until you can save the money I had to laugh there. Moving to the Bay Area will reduce your ability to save money, not increase it. I was probably saving 40-50% of my salary when I worked in Nowhereville, Florida. With the housing…

On the other hand I was only saving around 10% of my income in. Nowhereville, Midwest (similar cost of living to Nowhereville, FL). I moved to the Bay Area. I'm still saving about the same rate, but it's a percentage of more than double the income. I doubt 40% of Nowhereville, FL salary is as much as 20% of Bay Area salary for a large number of cases. Developer compensation in Nowhereville caps out much lower than it…

It really depends on what kind of apartment you live in. for a luxury one, it can easily burn you 3k+ for a 1b1b, however, if you are ok with sharing space with the landlord and other roommates, for one bedroom, it's usually around 800 including utilities and internet in south bay. And you probably don't need to pay for food or gym, most big companies provide that.

Re: Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee

#486

Post by arthurjj »

eradicatethots wrote: post #477
jedberg wrote: post #271

The advice I always give to a new college grad is try and get a job at one of the big tech companies. The work and the mission may not be exciting, but there is huge room for growth and often the large companies have programs especially designed for career growth for new college grads. But don’t get stuck. The job will comfortable. After a few years it’s time to move on. Maybe you’ve found a few folks to cofound with…

It sounds very stressful to work at a major company

Eh. Having worked at a Defense Company, a unicorn and then a Big 5 tech company I can honestly say the work life balance is probably the best at the the Big 5.

At Defense companies you're both clearly a cost center and a cog in an unfathomably large machine. Imagine a combination of Kafkaesque and Chtulhu.

At a Unicorn. You learn a lot but only because you work insane hours. Also you're paid under market wages because your job is sexy.

Re: Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee

#487

Post by open_bear »

speby wrote: post #235
ryandrake wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a good philosophical question: A company creates a great product. What person actually created the value? The product visionary who thought of the idea? The developer who implemented it? The manager who approved the budget allowing the work to happen in the first place?

You're implicitly making a common mistake confusing value creation and value capture. Yes, it is true that developers writing the software for Google's search engine and Gmail and other products, particularly the early developers who were writing core functionality before it even existed yet, are creating value. But are/were they capturing the full value created? In general, no. To the extent they "captured value" on…

> This is in part because the risk was not shared equally.

Developer joining a startup risks almost as much as a founder. He leaves his existing job for a promise of a salary, and if this startup fails - is left without a job, and possibly, without a salary either. This happened to me, and I was paid for first 2 months out of 6 I worked there.

> The investors and others who put in money or time and energy for little or not pay

Investors still have most of their money, I am left without a job, unable to pay my mortgage and possibly buy food.

Imagine this: I put $X, you put $Y into an investment. If investment is successful, I get a 100$, you get $Y+$X-$100. If it is not, we both get nothing. Would you consider this investment fair? No sane person would put a money into an investment fund, expecting a fixed value in return, but employer-employee relations are exactly that.

Re: Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee

#488

Post by danenania »

defined wrote: post #373
koolba wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The usual generic financial advice I give is: - Maximize every retirement vehicle offered to you (max 401k, HSA, etc). - Pretend that any money you sock away for retirement doesn't exist. This is best done with automated withdrawals so you never even consider it money in your checking account. - Learn to cook. This doesn't actually save much money at the individual level but is huge for families. - Set up separate ac…

> - Never buy a new car. They're for chumps. > - Never lease a new car. That's for the biggest chumps. Disagree on the leasing if you have your own company. The lease payments are all interest and deductible from your income. Sure, you don't end up with a car but if you do a 36 month lease, your new car is under warranty the whole time. I've seen too many people suffer from the false economy of used cars. If you are…

Seems like you're asking for trouble from the IRS if you lease a car for personal use and call it a business expense no?

Re: Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee

#489

Post by [deleted] »

krat0sprakhar wrote: post #95
koolba wrote: post #51

Regardless of which path you'd like to go down, learn some basic financial planning, frugality, and learn to live like a miser. It'll pay dividends, both figuratively and literally. Regarding the executive path, or more generally any management role, learn early on if it's for you. If you're the type that gets caught up in human interest stories, considers it inhumane to fire low performers, or generally believes in…

For someone who recently graduated and quite clueless about financial planning, do you have some resources to get started?

[deleted]

Re: Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee

#490

Post by Cymen »

krat0sprakhar wrote: post #95
koolba wrote: post #51

Regardless of which path you'd like to go down, learn some basic financial planning, frugality, and learn to live like a miser. It'll pay dividends, both figuratively and literally. Regarding the executive path, or more generally any management role, learn early on if it's for you. If you're the type that gets caught up in human interest stories, considers it inhumane to fire low performers, or generally believes in…

For someone who recently graduated and quite clueless about financial planning, do you have some resources to get started?

Consider reading "Early Retirement Extreme" but s/Retirement/Financial Independence/g. Working towards financial independence can bring a wealth of benefits even before you reach it. There is also an active forum for the book.
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