Downsides to working at a tech giant • Hacker News Board

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#221

Post by jarjoura » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 8:44 PM UTC

For all the startup founders and VCs in this conversation, you are cheap motherf*ckers. When I read that engineers and employees prefer FAANG companies because they pay better, I want to remind you that it wasn't always like this. 10-15 years ago startups paid way better than big tech. Big Tech rewarded you by getting to specialize on problems and working at scale. The reason FB and Google pay well is because when they were startups, they were paying WELL!

Let me ask you all this, if you could make the same (or more) money working at a startup that you make working at a big tech company for 4 years, would you pick the startup? The answer should be based on what kind of working style and project you prefer, not finances.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#222

Post by mikewhy » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 8:44 PM UTC

garry wrote: post #79

S_A_P wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. On the surface Im like, oh ok yeah that is good advice. But as I pondered the situation and remembered what I was doing at that age. If someone waved my annual salary in my face to join a startup there is no doubt I would take it. But how many of us hob knob with hundred millionaires or billionaires and get approached to leave their job? maybe .01% of the folks who frequent HN. It feels a bit humble braggy.

I guess what I wanted to say was that if you are capable of building great software, you should join the .01%, because that was my experience. I started as a reader of Hacker News just out of college, and it taught me a lot. Many of the founders we back came through Y Combinator and learned about startups here.

I have a hard time not reading this as a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps".

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#223

Post by m3kw9 » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 8:47 PM UTC

Is ok bud, if we all brought MSFT early we would have all been millionaires

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#224

Post by alecbenzer » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 8:47 PM UTC

peteey wrote: post #174

alecbenzer wrote: post #113

> The real reason you should consider working at a startup or starting your own: It's not the money I think this is correct, but makes the post's title seem really click-baity. I think expected financial upside is exactly where Big Tech unequivocally wins over startups (esp. joining and not founding), so it seems weird to frame the post around money.

It doesn't seem correct at all. Money is very much a factor. To prove, How many people here would show up tomorrow if their company stopped paying them? How many people would join a startup for less pay without any stock offers? I suspect the answer to both will be equal to the number polled.

Not sure I understand the point you're trying to make...

Money is a factor but it's not the thing that should draw you to a startup -- expected money is better at Big Tech. A startup is the right choice only once you start to consider non-money factors.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#225

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 8:50 PM UTC

garry wrote: post #131

thecleaner wrote: post #12

This vlog is more of a cheap advertisement for the "oh work for a startup it's great" nonsense school. I don't really understand why I would work in an environment where the pay is shit and the issued stocks can be re-classified or diluted or just taken away by lay-offs. Makes no sense.

I started here on Hacker News as a software engineer. I learned that I could build software for others, ship it and release it. I did end up taking the venture path, and now help others on that path. The key here is that magic can be created by people, and I'm not that different than a lot of people on this site. I also got very lucky, and I'm thankful for that. Startups are hard, and most fail, and most startup stoc…

> But if you read my post, I'm trying to point people to the fact that the deeper lesson is to be able to learn to ship to real customers quickly.

The video title is "My $200M mistake" and you spend 90% of it talking about the money. In what way is the point of this learning to ship to real customers quickly?

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#226

Post by niravs » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 8:50 PM UTC

ojbyrne wrote: post #203

Another upside to working at a tech giant: you make enough to be an accredited investor. Which means you can do angel investments, which is an arguably better way (Than being an early employee) to get those “outsize” returns from startups.

good luck with getting into anything good with insane amounts of time & effort. capital is cheap.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#227

Post by spectramax » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 8:50 PM UTC

Besides the main points raised (and debated here), there a few things that are off-putting to me:

1) This whole thing smells like a PR stunt to get his name out, starting with a click-bait highly attractive title "How I lost $200M".

2) The production value of his video to get the message out. Why? Why put so much effort into that video? You know, you could just write a blog post.

3) I am cynically presuming Garry wants his name to get out there as much as possible as a VC that he is today. Besides that, this whole thing smells of humble-brag.

Really off-putting approach. Sorry, Garry, but this is how I feel.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#228

Post by Rafuino » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 8:50 PM UTC

stiray wrote: post #23

I really hate speeches like that. They are always told by one permile (or even less) of people that succeeded. The voice of all those that have lost are never heard. Same as blockchains, there are a few very loud people explaining how easy is to get rich, while those who gave them their money are rarely heard. I would laugh if it wouldnt be sad. An anecdote (just a detail, I am developer for almost 30 years, I know t…

The survival bias is real.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#229

Post by novok » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 8:51 PM UTC

ignoramous wrote: post #155

zadkey wrote: post #68

It seems like he has found the problem with companies. "Even though these companies pay a lot of money, in real terms, what software is doing in society is creating a lot more value than what they pay you. Google's pure profit per employee is actually $1.6 million per year, after all costs." "If you're in the engineering, product, design, marketing, sort of the builder's side of that organization, you've got to know…

You would love this essay by James Altucher: https://jamesaltucher.com/blog/work-prison/ Key point: Other entities may capture up to 80% of the value you create. 1. Your boss, their boss, and their boss. 2. Shareholders. 3. Vendors. 4. Other employees in the company. 5. Taxes. Better off working for your own self.

Eh. The same person can dig for oil in north dakota, or they can go dig for oil in nebraska. You'll get a lot more oil in dakota (big tech) than you would be getting at nebraska.

Go do the best thing you can do right now. Expenses don't matter, the total gross profit is what does.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#230

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 8:52 PM UTC

zadkey wrote: post #68

It seems like he has found the problem with companies. "Even though these companies pay a lot of money, in real terms, what software is doing in society is creating a lot more value than what they pay you. Google's pure profit per employee is actually $1.6 million per year, after all costs." "If you're in the engineering, product, design, marketing, sort of the builder's side of that organization, you've got to know…

[deleted]