i have nothing but contempt for the industry at large, even though there are occasional companies that are not completely horseshit. its great to have the inside experience so you can speak with authority about all the ways its fucking garbage. most people here have their personalities too wrapped up in it to realize. pretty pathetic overall, but everyone's motivations and particular jobs differ, so i dont want to paint with too broad a brush. above all, im truly grateful that i feel like ive made sense of the whole thing sufficiently for my own peace of mind. its a huge part of where my politics comes from. work is not that complicated if you dont stake your entire ego on it, and recognize that money is not the be all and end all you think it is- with that realization, you can work plenty of jobs and enjoy them for their intrinsic value, while getting paid a nominal wage. pursuing money too singlemindedly can easily wreck your life, as far as i can tell. tech basically represents the pursuit of money- everyone here tries very hard to focus on science and the tech part of tech, but its pretty obvious from what gets upvoted that a primary focus is getting rich as quick as possible. i truly despise this, but again, everyone's situation is different and for some people its less egregious. at least finance bros admit what the game is. also tech companies are largely built on lies- the products they produce are often worthless, and ad sales, which prop up lots of other ones, are probably a bubble. the ads and data are ultimately of limited value, and i dont think the industry fully realizes it. i guess if i could summarize, i would say that you shouldn't underestimate the negative effect of doing worthless work, no matter how much you are getting paid. you cant connect with the people you work with because none of you are there for the right reasons that foster connection, most likely. and then every now and then, you find a tech company that does something useful well, and so i guess its just very complicated.
Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?
41–50 of 418 posts
Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?
#42I’ve worked in both big tech and startups. Startups are nothing like big tech companies. The work and needs of a small company are completely different than somewhere like Google. And here’s the bad news: going to a small startup or mission-driven company probably won’t make you happy. You often have all of the same problems, with none of the support or validation from a big company. I’ve hired and worked with many w…
Boredom was the biggest thing for me at my startup. When waiting around for the business guys to make the right partnership for 3 months while you refactor for a demo for the nth time....
I’ve lived this a couple times. I hate to be pessimistic, but it’s a really bad sign. The startups I’ve done that were successful were always running just at the edge of total meltdown because the business guys were hustling hard.
Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?
#43I left Amazon 9 months ago, after working there for 8.5 years. My total comp was over $500K when I left, which made it both easy (allowed me to save money) and hard to leave (I left about $1M of granted RSUs+Salary for 2019-2020 on the table). At one point, I realized that a career as a full-time employee in at a "high-stress" employer is not the ideal one for me. I'm working for myself right now, but if one day I ne…
Not all big tech companies are the same. My understanding is that Google is much less stressful with similar pay.
Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?
#44> First, what is the environment like for exiting high-level former-FANG employees? For most employers, it will be a positive. There may be a handful of very small startups that see it as a negative, but the reality is a very small startup is so different from a giant tech firm that the hiring team is probably correct in assuming you've never had to do something incredibly arduous without enormous support (I once had…
I've found FAANG experience typically a negative in hiring. (note: "typically" not "always"). That kind of big company experience doesn't really prepare you for the day-to-day, frantic, resource-starved environment of most startups. The consequence of most decisions is more immediate* -- and can be company-killing. Whereas at any big company there's rarely true pressure (lots of pressure, very much so, but in my gf's experience mostly due to poor planning or politics leading to "must have immediately"). I think this is why ex-FAANG folks, in particular ex-googlers for some reason, are caught out as startup CEOs and almost always (or always?) fail -- the things they've learned just don't apply. Doesn't mean they aren't smart, thoughtful, hard working etc; it's more like having to write poetry in a related but different language from the one you grew up in, and one you have never actually spoken.
Someone who's left a big company and successfully gone to some other small company can be great -- let them make their mistakes and screen themselves out on someone else's dime. Or someone who worked already at a startup, went (perhaps through purchase) to a big company and wanted back into the fray.
* I'm a startup only guy and my gf has worked at most of the big guys (FB, Goog, msft, LinkedIn, Amazon). I would hate the idea of working for any of those companies and she would not really be comfortable with the uncertainty I face all the time, even when the startup is well funded. Neither of us is wrong.
Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?
#45I’ve worked in both big tech and startups. Startups are nothing like big tech companies. The work and needs of a small company are completely different than somewhere like Google. And here’s the bad news: going to a small startup or mission-driven company probably won’t make you happy. You often have all of the same problems, with none of the support or validation from a big company. I’ve hired and worked with many w…
Boredom was the biggest thing for me at my startup. When waiting around for the business guys to make the right partnership for 3 months while you refactor for a demo for the nth time....
Found as a solo! You are the business guy making partnerships, so if you have nothing to code it is no ones fault but your own!
Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?
#46I left Amazon 9 months ago, after working there for 8.5 years. My total comp was over $500K when I left, which made it both easy (allowed me to save money) and hard to leave (I left about $1M of granted RSUs+Salary for 2019-2020 on the table). At one point, I realized that a career as a full-time employee in at a "high-stress" employer is not the ideal one for me. I'm working for myself right now, but if one day I ne…
I am guessing the 500k compensation number is due to stock growth, not something that is given as part of a promotion. I know a few SD2s that make more than SD3s because they vested back in the day at $700 a share and due to how Amazon does total comp, the final number is over 300k a year currently.
Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?
#47I just spent five years in a mature startup where I could see a tangible connection with the customers and my impact on thier lives (low fee fintech for unbanked). It was laid back and family like enough to be fun but without the drama of real family. Lots of good times. Since that ended I landed in a very good job (huge Corp) with rediculous pay but I can't see any connection to any real customer and our projects ar…
Impact on customers is the thing I love as well. I just can't imagine doing a job without it.
Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?
#48I left Amazon 9 months ago, after working there for 8.5 years. My total comp was over $500K when I left, which made it both easy (allowed me to save money) and hard to leave (I left about $1M of granted RSUs+Salary for 2019-2020 on the table). At one point, I realized that a career as a full-time employee in at a "high-stress" employer is not the ideal one for me. I'm working for myself right now, but if one day I ne…
Not all big tech companies are the same. My understanding is that Google is much less stressful with similar pay.
I’m sure they are differences, but I doubt any high-paying big tech job is going to be low-stress. I don’t mean necessarily working long hours, but you get the kind of work where you need to be figuring out ambiguous problems, always convincing other stakeholders, dealing with some level of drama, etc. Things that require expending a lot of energy.
It’s unlikely you’d be just converting Jira tasks to code at these levels. (That would be my definition of a low-stress job).
Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?
#49I’ve worked in both big tech and startups. Startups are nothing like big tech companies. The work and needs of a small company are completely different than somewhere like Google. And here’s the bad news: going to a small startup or mission-driven company probably won’t make you happy. You often have all of the same problems, with none of the support or validation from a big company. I’ve hired and worked with many w…
So this is something a lot of us have struggled with and I think it happens when your goals aren't aligned with your work.
So what are your goals right now out of work? What is your workview and your lifeview. Find the intersection between those to get a good idea of what you want to accomplish in your life.
After coming up with those, try and tabulate the things you do at work where you have the most energy and the stuff you do at work that engages you the most. Hopefully, there are things in that list that give you some energy or engagement. If there is, do more of that and tell your manager to help you move towards doing more of that work. If there isn't, ask yourself what you want to learn. If you can't learn that on your current team, switch to a position/team where you can learn that. If your company can't provide you with those opportunities, then it might be time to find something new.
Startups are super rewarding but there are many unknowns and you have to do a lot of vetting to find the right ones. Even then, you could be wrong. If your goal is to start a company, then it might be the right route to go.
TLDR: Try and understand your goals in life and what you enjoy doing day to day before jumping ship to a startup. Your safety net will allow you to do that :)
Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?
#50What exactly is boring about it?
Not /s, I'm interested to know.