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Downsides to working at a tech giant

blog.garrytan.com

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Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#51

Post by seattle_spring »

dmix wrote: post #28
wrigby wrote: post #7

There's a LOT of survivorship bias in this article. I personally worked in small companies (30 - 200 employees total) and startups (4 employees, including myself) before ending up at a big tech company, and I would have preferred to do this journey in the opposite direction - that is, work a few years at a BigCorp, and then work for a startup. Getting to see what works and what doesn't work in the context of a bigcor…

I just cringed at the thought of some BigCo software company project management tracking obsessive approach being pigeonholed onto a startup. Or the various other ‘processes’ that built up continually over the years at BigCo to minimize any sort of risk at the expense of speed and flexibility. The bigger benefit is working with really smart people. I think you’re over valuing the utility of a lot of the stuff that go…

GP comment never said "processes," so I'm not sure why you're focusing on that. They said "best practices", which is totally different.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#52

Post by OmarIsmail »

pathseeker wrote: post #41
OmarIsmail wrote: post #34

For people trying to draw false equivalencies between buying Apple stock, buying lottery tickets, etc I think it's useful to look at the difference in circumstances and how _close_ Garry was to joining. If you compare this to Apple stock it would be like if you had the cash in your bank account and your stock broker called you up and said "You should buy 1000 shares of Apple stock. In fact, I'll just give you 1000 sh…

>In fact, I'll just give you 1000 shares of Apple stock, there's no risk to you". And you said no. That's not the same. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost

In the video Garry mentioned that Thiel offered him a check for his salary. Not quite no risk, but effectively so. He'd be able to go back to MS after 6 months/1 year no problem and would have only lost out on some vesting. He probably would be able to go back to a better position which often happens.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#53

Post by ericjang »

A lot of the comments are rightly pointing out the logical fallacy of survivorship bias in the article, but I don't think Garry intended to say that "choosing to work for Palantir in 2003 was the expected-wealth maximizing career decision and that's why you should join a startup".

I think the title and lede, "working for Microsoft cost me $200M" is intended to be provocative and encourage clicks on the article, while providing an interesting example of a "road not taken" in Garry's professional life. The dollar magnitude is unusual, but the feeling of regret is relatable to us all, even if you took the opposite bet that Garry did (e.g. turning down a LinkedIn or Coinbase offer in 2016 to work at a failed startup instead).

Since this article is on the top of HN today, I'd say Garry succeeded at sharing his personal anecdote.

On the content itself (startup vs. bigco), he is right about "you only can make a fraction of the value you create if you don't own equity" and "If you don't work on your dreams, someone will put you to work on theirs." But then it follows that everyone should start their own company if they are capable, or work for a bigco if they are not. The current SV labor market reflects this reality as well.

It's possible to sell some top-tier talent on taking less than 1% equity to work on your dreams, but they must really believe in the founder's vision and the founder's ability to provide a working environment that complements what the employee is not able to de-risk by themselves.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#56

Post by senordevnyc »

seph-reed wrote: post #45
MattyMc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree. I worked for Microsoft this year. Had an amazing experience, learned a ton, built a great network, had benefits and was well compensated. I did this all while taking almost 0 risk. The idea that working for a tech giant is "maintaining the status quo," but working for a startup is "making something new," is perhaps not accurate. Working at a startup can be great. Working at a tech giant can be great…

When you work for a giant corporation of any sort, you are inherently breaking capitalism as it is. There's no foreseeable way around this , it's irresponsible, and all the suffering you're seeing it the world is the cost of many many millions of people giving themselves a pass on this. I strongly urge you to recognize that any of the life benefits you get from working at one of these places are reaped from the lives…

So all the suffering in the world is the fault of giant corporations? How giant do they have to be to go from being the building blocks of capitalism to breaking it?

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#57

Post by dang »

ogre_codes wrote: post #17

My big mistake? Not being buddies with Peter Thiel in 2003. Don't make my mistake, go back in time and be buddies with Peter Thiel in 2003. Just the fact that he had a buddy who could cut him a check for $70,000 before his startup succeeded says a whole lot about the situation he was in. If you have a buddy who tosses around this kind of cash, your options are different from the options available to the overwhelming…

This is a shallow dismissal, which the HN guidelines ask you not to do, and especially not out of indignation.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

It's obvious from early in the article that Garry wasn't "buddies" with Thiel. He had just graduated, and a college friend was the connection. That means your point reduces to: people who go to elite colleges encounter opportunities as a result. No one disagrees with that, certainly not Garry, but it's a tangential, generic and therefore a weak response to the point of this article, which is about taking the opportunities that do come your way.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#58

Post by friendlybus »

dpcan wrote: post #43
ogre_codes wrote: post #17

My big mistake? Not being buddies with Peter Thiel in 2003. Don't make my mistake, go back in time and be buddies with Peter Thiel in 2003. Just the fact that he had a buddy who could cut him a check for $70,000 before his startup succeeded says a whole lot about the situation he was in. If you have a buddy who tosses around this kind of cash, your options are different from the options available to the overwhelming…

Life is a lottery. I had the opportunity to take a job as lead programmer at a dot com that ended up becoming one of the biggest entertainment companies of the early 2000's and I passed for a job at a company that went bust in 6 months. The only lesson I got from this post is one I already know - don't regret your decisions because you can't see the damn future.

Going into the unknown can be guided by things other than luck and randomness. Did you figure out why you chose what you did?

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#59

Post by seph-reed »

senordevnyc wrote: post #56
seph-reed wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you work for a giant corporation of any sort, you are inherently breaking capitalism as it is. There's no foreseeable way around this , it's irresponsible, and all the suffering you're seeing it the world is the cost of many many millions of people giving themselves a pass on this. I strongly urge you to recognize that any of the life benefits you get from working at one of these places are reaped from the lives…

So all the suffering in the world is the fault of giant corporations? How giant do they have to be to go from being the building blocks of capitalism to breaking it?

Obviously not all. You know how english is with these words.

There's a gradient. The point at which there's no point in going up against them is definitely too far. Competition is important to a healthy capitalist economy.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#60

Post by Sanzig »

MattyMc wrote: post #32
wrigby wrote: post #7

There's a LOT of survivorship bias in this article. I personally worked in small companies (30 - 200 employees total) and startups (4 employees, including myself) before ending up at a big tech company, and I would have preferred to do this journey in the opposite direction - that is, work a few years at a BigCorp, and then work for a startup. Getting to see what works and what doesn't work in the context of a bigcor…

Completely agree. I worked for Microsoft this year. Had an amazing experience, learned a ton, built a great network, had benefits and was well compensated. I did this all while taking almost 0 risk. The idea that working for a tech giant is "maintaining the status quo," but working for a startup is "making something new," is perhaps not accurate. Working at a startup can be great. Working at a tech giant can be great…

Working for a consulting firm with a lot of startup clients can also be a great experience if you plan to go that way yourself down the road, at least in what YC would call "hard tech."

You get to see the inner workings of a bunch of startups in your field, and you get to see which ones work out and which ones don't. Of course, the pay isn't great, but you do get to work on a lot of cool stuff in a "startup-ish" environment.

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