Without disclosing personal details I would like to say this post spoke to me as it very much fits with what I've been through. Dropping out, the highs, the lows. I'm now 26, have worked at a startup for just over 4 years and we just sold to google. I found the freedom of a startup to be exactly what I needed.
Mental Illness and Startups
31–40 of 64 posts
Re: Mental Illness and Startups
#32While I don't disagree with this statement: There are people who think that depression means 'feeling low', and that if you try hard enough, you can 'snap out of it'. These people are idiots. It's not a matter of being strong enough or dedicated enough. For me, like most people with depressive illnesses, there will be times when I just plain can't. In my worst states I can barely remember what a for loop does, let al…
That's basically what he's saying in the very next sentence, isn't it?
That said, if I can write code, I find that work is sometimes one of the most effective ways to stop the depression from worsening
Re: Mental Illness and Startups
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hope this is sarcasm. People have been getting flamed online for saying this exact thing for a while now. The issues of "doing something awesome" and depression are totally orthogonal. Most people already are trying to do whatever they think is really awesome. For example, raise a family and have a steady income; or create a startup; or be an artist; or move to Europe. In fact, the depressed person is probably alre…
I got sent to field training, that cured my depression.
I don't get your point. Feel free to clarify. But, good for you.
Re: Mental Illness and Startups
#34Speaking as someone who has a family member with mental illness: if you have such an illness then please seek professional help right away. If you suspect that someone you care about might have a mental illness then you should urge them to seek professional help right away. Sometimes it is all manageable or heals on its own, but sometimes the illness progresses and the results are tragic, so it needs to be viewed ser…
Eh, psychology and psychiatry are still fairly young sciences. I'd say it's worth a shot, but people put too much faith in it. I've had family members in professional help forever with no noticeable improvements. They'll even admit to it. My personal opinion is that, while sometimes useful, we just don't know enough about how humans work to really fix a large number of issues. People tend to go to psychiatrists persi…
True. I think the best way to approach it is to acknowledge that there is no certain outcome, and that the best you can do is to maximise the probability of success. If it doesn't work then it doesn't, but that doesn't mean that you don't try at all.
Re: Mental Illness and Startups
#35Works great until the startup is successful enough to hire an executive who things that office hours are a more importamt measure of productivity than peer respect or checkins. It's easier if you're a founder.
The moment an executive thinks that, it's no longer a startup, pretty much by definition.
I've seen it happen twice - once just after a series A, and once after a company made it incrementally to good profitability. Both had headcounts in the 20-30 range, and still considered themselves to be startups.
Re: Mental Illness and Startups
#36"you don't have to be mad to work here but ...." i've found smaller companies are much more tolerant & flexible with nutters (like me). there seems to be more focus on results than politics. in larger places I've felt more pressure not to rock the boat, and produce the illusion of work, rather than actually delivering things on time. it doesn't seem to matter if you actually do anything as long as you look like you'r…
I've worked for Microsoft for over a year now, and they've been exceptionally supportive of my peculiarities. I've suffered massively from depression and sleep disorders, and everyone's pretty willing to reschedule meetings, allow for an altered work schedule, or just let me work from home when it gets bad. As long as I deliver what I'm supposed to, when I'm supposed to, they're very reasonable.
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Re: Mental Illness and Startups
#37"you don't have to be mad to work here but ...." i've found smaller companies are much more tolerant & flexible with nutters (like me). there seems to be more focus on results than politics. in larger places I've felt more pressure not to rock the boat, and produce the illusion of work, rather than actually delivering things on time. it doesn't seem to matter if you actually do anything as long as you look like you'r…
I've worked for Microsoft for over a year now, and they've been exceptionally supportive of my peculiarities. I've suffered massively from depression and sleep disorders, and everyone's pretty willing to reschedule meetings, allow for an altered work schedule, or just let me work from home when it gets bad. As long as I deliver what I'm supposed to, when I'm supposed to, they're very reasonable.
it's nice to see a larger company not being so terrible :-)
Re: Mental Illness and Startups
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Re: Mental Illness and Startups
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Re: Mental Illness and Startups
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