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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

#601

Post by nfriedly »

koolba wrote: post #115
krat0sprakhar wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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…

This is an excellent comment, I want to second every single thing said here.

To follow up this point:

> - Once you've built up an 8 to 12 month nest egg of reserve cash, start allocating the rest in a diversified portfolio. Pick securities from the trading company that don't have transaction costs (large discount brokers usually have in house mirrors of popular ETFs for this).

Here are a couple of simple, low-cost all-in-one options that get you that diversified portfolio without you having to think about it. Pick one:

https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/target-retirement...

https://www.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/fidelity-fund-portfoli...

There are plenty of others, but those are two that I'd recommend in a heartbeat.

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

#602

Post by shostack »

Chiba-City wrote: post #385

I founded a company that helped many other 90-00's founders along with some legacy industries in crisis. I am a reader so I read many business books. But I missed two specific dynamics I wish I had known earlier. First, executives will routinely attempt to take the founders' roles. Industries vary widely, but they are roughly "showy spenders" and not savers. Many have no experience in new ventures. They have ridden h…

> "Be very careful to make "executive" expectations brutally clear and consequences for any and all hubris terminal."

Any examples of how to "do it right?"

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

#603

Post by shostack »

JimboOmega wrote: post #432
sshumaker wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A manager isn't an executive. In addition to new skills, there are also mental shifts necessary at various stages in your career, as you climb to increasing levels of leadership. You can see this on the IC track as well for top-tier tech companies - there is a step-function difference in mindset at certain levels. Jumping from IC to line manager, as you suggest, is one; you need to recognize you are no longer shippin…

You're saying what's necessary to do the job, not what's necessary to get it - which is my bigger problem. I don't feel that I want to remain an IC forever; become a true technical expert and honing that skill further is not a path that I personally want to focus on

The way to break free from the IC mold generally takes a combination of a few things:

1. Interest in growing which you make known to those above you.

2. Available positions (hard to grow into a manager when there is no manager role available or budget to support one)

3. Understanding the difference between "strategy" and "tactics." They mean very different things, and as a manager, depending on the size company, you may be responsible for setting the strategy while your team executes on tactics.

4. A demonstrated willingness and ability to put the company first and protect it. There is a lot of debate on this one and what it means, but generally those who do this get ahead faster than ones who don't, regardless of your viewpoints on whether that is right or not.

5. A growing focus on process and where you team fits in with the rest of the company. By focusing on this, you can find ways to improve team efficiency and performance, and better interface with other departments. As a manager, your job is literally to improve the efficiency and performance of your team and be the glue to other teams.

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

#604

Post by mrep »

peterburkimsher wrote: post #491

My dad refused promotion at CERN several times. He continued to work as a testing engineer, and would not climb the corporate ladder into management roles. That reduced his paycheck. When the company had financial trouble though, they fired all the middle managers and kept the engineers. He learned an important lesson - working at a low level with only machines below you is a safe and stable job. I want to do the sam…

> they don't want experience at the technical level.

Don't know where you are at but I work for one of the big 5 and most people are over 30 and practically all principal+ engineers/executives are over 40.

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

#605

Post by richardjennings »

biohax2015 wrote: post #355
yahna wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same just isn't true of product development, sales and marketing. Any one of those three teams, staffed well, will account for well more than the value of the entire engineering organization. Okay, slash your engineering staff and double the sales people and lets see how you do. How is any of that not done by thousands of other people as well? Especially sales.

Sales is more difficult than engineering. There, I said it.

I'm sure selling mediocre, repackaged, off the shelf tech is harder than engineering it. Standing on the shoulders of giants gets us a long way quickly (and easily). IMHO engineering is more valuable; I define value as the expansion of possibilities & opportunities (to sell).

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

#606

Post by mgkimsal »

eru wrote: post #398
mgkimsal wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting political for a moment... it's disturbing that we've had health care fundamentally tied to employment (in the US) for decades now. I don't quite know how you break this down. I wouldn't think it has to be 'single-payer' to get past this but... I don't know. > for many people, currently the climate is not one where they could go without a group plan that they'd get at their employer. It's been this way for dec…

> I wouldn't think it has to be 'single-payer' to get past this but... I don't know. For a start, eliminate the tax discrimination that makes employer paid health insurance cheaper.

From a tax standpoint, as an independent contractor, my premiums are 100% deductible. But I don't get any sort of 'group rate' discount.

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

#607

Post by DeadReckoning »

I am an ambitious employee at a large tech company and I think about this a lot.

I am living my dream life. I'm 26 and about to break 200k base salary. I have been programming for fun since I was 13 and I enjoy most of what I do every day. I feel myself growing both technically and in soft skills. I rarely work more than 40 hours a week but I still feel very productive. I'm receiving excellent feedback and am being groomed for engineering management. I walk to work, the grocery store, and the weed store. I have time outside of work to focus on self improvement, fitness, and side projects.

But then my acquintance tells me he bought a house in cash after earning XX million from their startup and I feel I'm completely off track.

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

#608

Post by kungito »

nichochar wrote: post #42

This is rather true in practice, but I find it tremendously depressing. I have found that the executive path is actually the one that most of the scumbags take, it is the one that attracts the most people, and those people are usually not likable, they're salespeople that sell themselves all day. The third group, the one that actually creates value, is accurately represented as not as successful both in terms of mone…

I think that as with everything in nature, it's not about the silver bullet. Sure, the employees create "something" because they are told to but if not for founders vision and executives execution they may not produce any actual value. You need all 3 to go from vision to reality.

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

#609

Post by dennisgorelik »

alien_at_work wrote: post #598
jh3 wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're saying is false, but what you're quoting is correct. I definitely wouldn't say "always".

I can't parse what you're saying. Are you saying the quote I replied to is correct? In any case, I think always is close enough to fit. Yes, sometimes someone gets something very cheaply but that's usually because of ignorance or urgency from the selling party, deception, etc., etc. In a natural market interaction, if you're paying bottom dollar you are not and cannot be getting the best quality (unless you are in a…

> Are you saying the quote I replied to is correct?

Yes: that is what he is saying.

> always is close enough to fit

No.

It is very unlikely to hire top talent at scale, but it is still possible to hire top talent occasionally even for below market rates.

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

#610

Post by oakswood »

arthurjj wrote: post #486
eradicatethots wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 becaus…

Very much agree here. I've done the same to a lesser extent (defense contractor, maybe a Big 15, failed startup, and then freelancing).

Freelancing is pretty good in terms of work-life balance as well, although it can feel like an endless pursuit of finding projects (interviewing, selling yourself, etc)

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