You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?

I generally take this attitude - work for yourself - sure gentle plug - that was part of the motivation behind http://indieconf.com ;)

BUT... I think we see a large amount of survivorship bias in the tech porn we read daily.

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Think about the biggest websites you visit or use on a regular basis: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare, or even Google for that matter -- all of them were created by developers who created something from little more than an idea in their head. Was it easy for them? Heck no. But it could only have been done in today's day and age. So why in the world are you sitting there day after day working for someone else?

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Wow... so because some people could do it, you can too? Yeah... well... call me negative, but I don't suspect we're going to see another Google or Facebook or Apple or Microsoft any time soon, and it's not because people don't try, or it's not hard.

In fact, I'm a bit dismayed by many entrepreneurs I find that "shoot for the stars", thinking that they'll be the next Gates or Jobs or Zuck, encouraged by these sorts of articles. Many of the success stories we look at today weren't started by someone who had the goal of conquering the world - they set out to solve a problem for themselves (I'm thinking more especially of the web-based services, not so much the hardware ones).

Working on lifestyle businesses - contracting yourself out on a project basis - yeah, that's more achievable for more people. This may lead to the ability to earn more, save up a runway, and work on product - sure. But... this "swing for the fences" mentality seems like it may be causing problems for people who follow the party line, but truly aren't ready/capable to execute.

For sure - there's a trick in finding the right company.

Spot on.

This article is based a lot on sheer effort and force-of-will in order to succeed. So is this:

http://www.despair.com/incompetence.html

I agree with the author's overall message of "just try it", but recognize what that is and how far it gets you. Turns out, generally not very far.

Not to pick on the author, as he does sound a bit bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but anyone reading this who doesn't find it naive is, well, naive.

1. I'm new at this

Self taught programmer learning the ropes. Just because your title qualifies you as a 'developer' doesn't mean you shouldn't have a realistic understanding of your own abilities.

2. My team is great

I have the enviable position of working for some really talented, extremely successful entrepreneurs. There is so much I (or anyone) could learn here, that giving that up would be stupid.

3. I'm doing exactly what I want to do.

The problems we are working on (biologically inspired machine intelligence) are hard, fascinating, revolutionary, and just plain cool. Every time I think of starting something else I end up with the conclusion that my ideal startup exists and someone just happened to start it before I did. Fine with me!

Any one of these is sufficient, together they make up few really good reasons to stay.

I'm going to plug worker cooperatives here. Small agile companies fit the model perfectly. If anyone does reply to this with questions, I'll answer.