I'm not sure that where I work would constitute working for "the man." I have considerable equity, and was a very early hire. I'm not a "founder", but this job is a damn far sight from something like my previous work at, say, Lockheed Martin.
Poll: Do you work for "the Man"?
41–50 of 90 posts
Re: Poll: Do you work for "the Man"?
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ever dealt with the IRS? Or even a city business licensing authority?
Oh, totally.. but they don't care about me browsing HN.. ... the IRS might be interested in a LOC count... :(
You can be employed by someone else and still not work for a short-sighted middle manager type. My boss knows I post on HN, he doesn't care as long as I get my work done, and he doesn't tell me what to do.
I think your comparison is more along the lines of "Do you work with shitty managers or good managers?"
Re: Poll: Do you work for "the Man"?
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would say that's a reasonable way to make that distinction.
What if my employees are freelancers? :)
so you are a freelancer and your employees are freelancers as well, and you're wondering if that makes you owner of a company?
well in that case i wouldn't consider you a company just because you hire freelancers. if you are a person who gets gigs here and there and then passes parts of it to someone else for a cut, i doubt that would be called company. however, if your projects come in at a steady and reasonable rate and you pass parts of them to others to do, also at a steady and reasonable rate, then i think you have a company, good sir!
but of course there are other factors as well: 401K, benefits, etc.
Re: Poll: Do you work for "the Man"?
#44I own a company, contract for my old employer, and work for a company. I work for Kiva though, and my boss passed me on a skateboard coming in to work this morning, so it's about as far from working from the man as I can get.
Similar but different. I work for Akvo.org, a software/online services foundation for development aid, which i co-founded. But technically I am a freelancer, and own my own company. Similar in many ways to my previous startups and very different in others.
Re: Poll: Do you work for "the Man"?
#45Where does grad student fit in this schema? :-)
Re: Poll: Do you work for "the Man"?
#46Hmmm... On the one hand I own my own company. On the other I have various things on the side in various states of progress. Some of this I contribute to, some of this (most notably minklinks) has stalled, some of which is yet to come (but of course, there is no 44 conspiracy).
Can I be employed by me and have one or more things on the side?
Re: Poll: Do you work for "the Man"?
#47I think "employed on a startup" and "employed on a large company" should be separate options. A tiny startup is hardly "The Man" isn't it?
Re: Poll: Do you work for "the Man"?
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh, totally.. but they don't care about me browsing HN.. ... the IRS might be interested in a LOC count... :(
You can be employed by someone else and still not work for a short-sighted middle manager type. My boss knows I post on HN, he doesn't care as long as I get my work done, and he doesn't tell me what to do. I think your comparison is more along the lines of "Do you work with shitty managers or good managers?"
Exactly! I think that's what I was more interested in learning when I proposed this poll... Essentially what level of autonomy people have over how they spend and manage their time and energy.
Re: Poll: Do you work for "the Man"?
#49What about academia? Working in a university is very different from being employed in a company as it implies more independence and freedom to pursue own research interests.
Re: Poll: Do you work for "the Man"?
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that would be "owner of your own company".
No, that's just "the man" in your own mind. You still actually work for "the man".
If you are self-employed (the situation we're discussing), and you work for the man (your assertion), then by logical deduction you are the man — which is what I said.