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Ask HN: How do I get over constant failure?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I get over constant failure?

#71

Post by legerdemain »

hollander wrote: post #29

Stop going for that PR. I don't even know what a PR is, but my guts tell me that you should stop pursuing that. Start making yourself useful. Do small stuff, support other people. The guidance you miss - start giving other people guidance. Ask for advice. Don't think you know it all. The new very successful startup, the many high-performing people. Is that the truth or is that appearance? Fake it until you make it. T…

PR = personal record, like when you lift a lot of weights in a gym. I think it's a very high bar to set for your first month, so it's not clear why OP is beating herself up over it.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get over constant failure?

#72

Post by rendall »

burnoutgal wrote: post #32
atmartins wrote: post #14

It sounds like you're a holistic or big picture type. I struggle with this too. I don't have all the answers but my advice would be to try and focus on a smaller thing and get a win with that. Don't propose several projects, propose one and give it enough attention and proof that it's hard to refuse. Are your proposals measurable? Are they valuable? Are they framed in business context? If more is thrown at you, push…

I'm definitely struggling with finding the one big thing I should focus on. My team has a few objectives for the coming year, but it's unclear who actually owns them or how to get involved. We have a new manager coming in to replace the one who left, but the timing is not great given how long I've already been treading water. PR approval is mostly down to not being able to get any person to actually +1 - our deploys…

> our deploys are pretty slow and high-risk right now

This could be a potential focus? Everyone loves continuous integration. What would it look like for every team and every project to deploy confidently? If you could be instrumental in getting that going, every single dev and manager would be thankful

Re: Ask HN: How do I get over constant failure?

#73

Post by noogle »

ravenstine wrote: post #43
cardosof wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to get downvoted to minus infinity but let me say this: consider also less techy firms. Or, companies that do have technology but aren't tech. I have some friends having a blast working with agriculture, there's lots of technology involved, but it's as far away from the stereotypical startup culture as you can get.

I think we overestimate the unpopularity of opinions auch as yours and the person you are responding to. Tons of HN users work for BigBoringCo after experiencing the typical startup and realizing they can't and shouldn't handle thr volatility anymore, and tons of developers work for non-techy firms because that's more problems can be solved. Most of my best times as a software engineer was when I worked at non-techy…

How does the compensation compare? Aside from finance, does any other industry pay as well as SV and startups?

Re: Ask HN: How do I get over constant failure?

#74

Post by cj »

multjoy wrote: post #67
cj wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> stop joining startups. Idiosyncratic-Culture Risk is off the charts for startups I think that's true when joining a young startup (e.g. company less than 2-3 years old). But there are plenty of 15-40 person "startups" that have been around for 5+ years and are profitable - I would say these types of companies are good to join (if they've had a stable and consistent management team) since after 5 years, the company…

Is a company that's been in business for five years with a staff really a start-up?

People were calling Uber a startup as late as their IPO.

I think the distinction has more to do with the culture / vision of the company than just company age.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get over constant failure?

#75

Post by burnoutgal »

jgwil2 wrote: post #62
burnoutgal wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Partially because it's very well compensated, and my partner has a disability so I'm the sole income for our household. Taking a pay cut to do something else would be a big life change. More importantly, I can't imagine doing anything else. The first 5 years I was in the industry I loved it and was very successful. I got to travel and learn and felt like I was on top of the world.

I think there are jobs in the industry that are both well-compensated and not a major source of stress. Google is widely known for both high comp and a relaxed work environment, for example. I think maybe you just haven't found a job that has the right balance for you yet. I would say to follow others' advice on how to adapt to your new job but also don't be too hard on yourself if you can't make it work because some…

The suggestion of going to Google seems so laughable - I really wanted this role and ground out a bunch of leetcode problems to pass their screening, and barely made it. I'm not really into memorizing algorithms and data structures, I don't think I would do well at a FAANG. Ironically, almost all of my coworkers are from FAANGs

Re: Ask HN: How do I get over constant failure?

#79

Post by andrew_eit »

vijucat wrote: post #6

Possibly unpopular advice on HN, but stop joining startups. Idiosyncratic-Culture Risk is off the charts for startups. Join more stable firms with a more "boring" but predictable culture where things get delivered every Sprint, everyone gets paid well, there is no Mountain Dew being guzzled at 8 pm in the office to meet some deadline, weekends are truly off, and your mental health actually recovers. Your dream jobs a…

+1

Honestly never understood why joining startups is meant to be so amazing unless 1) They are working on exactly the niche that YOU personally want to work in and 2) The startup's company culture is exactly your kind of weird/niche culture too. IMO unless it's a perfect match, you're going to have a bad time as there is less stability and diversity of ideas/experience in small startups.

I love large orgs because there are tons of characters, experienced professionals and frameworks designed to support and enable me. I can always move projects when I get bored or something isn't right.

I would join a startup however if there is something very very specific I want to build and I want to circumvent all the corporate barriers/rules to move fast and ship something. But so far, I've not felt that yet.

Re: Ask HN: How do I get over constant failure?

#80

Post by yangikan »

andrew_eit wrote: post #79
vijucat wrote: post #6

Possibly unpopular advice on HN, but stop joining startups. Idiosyncratic-Culture Risk is off the charts for startups. Join more stable firms with a more "boring" but predictable culture where things get delivered every Sprint, everyone gets paid well, there is no Mountain Dew being guzzled at 8 pm in the office to meet some deadline, weekends are truly off, and your mental health actually recovers. Your dream jobs a…

+1 Honestly never understood why joining startups is meant to be so amazing unless 1) They are working on exactly the niche that YOU personally want to work in and 2) The startup's company culture is exactly your kind of weird/niche culture too. IMO unless it's a perfect match, you're going to have a bad time as there is less stability and diversity of ideas/experience in small startups. I love large orgs because the…

> I can always move projects when I get bored or something isn't right.

This comment is so underrated. In most big companies, if your manager is an asshole or the project is boring, you can always move to a different role.

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