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Ask HN: Would You Work for Elon?

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Re: Ask HN: Would You Work for Elon?

#171

Post by dd82 »

bheadmaster wrote: post #150
dd82 wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really would want to work yourself down to nothing for the worlds richest man with extremely hand-wavy equity value? There's a difference between being in a focused envcironment and being in a shitshow. Essentially this message is saying "Hey, I want to be taken advantage of, work me as hard as you want, I want more!!!!"

> You really would want to work yourself down to nothing for the worlds richest man with extremely hand-wavy equity value? If I'm being challenged enough to have fun, I don't see why not. I like building software, it's my passion, and if I can get paid good money for doing interesting things while working for Elon, then good for him. Especially if the alternative is "do mind-dulling tasks 8 hours a day" for the world…

you can also talk with people who've worked there and are still there/left. Basically, you don't spend long at SpaceX if you find mudane things like a good WLB or enjoy being burnt out.

The disagreement here is Twitter is a shitshow under his leadership, and your words come across as you finding that interesting and place where you would like to be.

Re: Ask HN: Would You Work for Elon?

#172

Post by warner25 »

At this point in my life as a family man who just wants a predictable 40-hour per week job and isn't looking for any workplace excitement, I certainly wouldn't want to work directly for him, as something like a VP. But since I've never worked in a Big Tech company, I'll ask, do lower-level employees at places like Tesla or SpaceX (setting Twitter aside for the moment) really feel much of the impact of his shenanigans? As someone who works in the DoD, even as a mid-career officer, there are a lot of bureaucratic layers in between me and, say, the President or Secretary of Defense which buffer my day-to-day experience from their whims. Is it not similar in a big company?

Re: Ask HN: Would You Work for Elon?

#173

Post by FredPret »

AbraKdabra wrote: post #161
stephc_int13 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rockets and the cars are real. -Tunnels are BS -Hyperloop is dumb BS -TeslaBot demos are embarassingly bad -Neuralink seems to be BS -Solar Tiles are BS -The PowerWall is semi-legit but overpriced -The roadster/semi/cybertruck are suspiciously late -A lot of the Mars plans are weak/delusional

Yeah, and Gmail started as an April Fools prank, remember? You call it BS, I call it "no one is innovating as much as this fucking guy", go figure. EDIT: The guy is sending rockets to freaking space and has a fleet of satellites that provide intenet, are you not entertained??

Some people don't want to be happy

Re: Ask HN: Would You Work for Elon?

#174

Post by stephc_int13 »

AbraKdabra wrote: post #161
stephc_int13 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rockets and the cars are real. -Tunnels are BS -Hyperloop is dumb BS -TeslaBot demos are embarassingly bad -Neuralink seems to be BS -Solar Tiles are BS -The PowerWall is semi-legit but overpriced -The roadster/semi/cybertruck are suspiciously late -A lot of the Mars plans are weak/delusional

Yeah, and Gmail started as an April Fools prank, remember? You call it BS, I call it "no one is innovating as much as this fucking guy", go figure. EDIT: The guy is sending rockets to freaking space and has a fleet of satellites that provide intenet, are you not entertained??

I am not.

Everything he has done successfully relied on old/proven technology. I am not saying that this is bullshit or not impressive.

But that does not prove anything about his claims on AI, transportation or Mars colonization.

I would love to see him succeed, but at this stage I am pretty much convinced that he won't, too many red flags.

Re: Ask HN: Would You Work for Elon?

#175

Post by GrinningFool »

eric4smith wrote: post #98
groby_b wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having worked with people who built (and build) extremely large things - not true in my experience. While the corporate landscape is conducive to sociopaths, it certainly doesn't require them. So, yes, go find another job is the right answer - because we all deserve to be treated with respect.

You just don’t know them enough as yet.

So the two options here are that you're right or you're right - regardless of anyone's reported experience that runs contrary?

Re: Ask HN: Would You Work for Elon?

#176

Post by Bubble_Pop_22 »

AbraKdabra wrote: post #161
stephc_int13 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rockets and the cars are real. -Tunnels are BS -Hyperloop is dumb BS -TeslaBot demos are embarassingly bad -Neuralink seems to be BS -Solar Tiles are BS -The PowerWall is semi-legit but overpriced -The roadster/semi/cybertruck are suspiciously late -A lot of the Mars plans are weak/delusional

Yeah, and Gmail started as an April Fools prank, remember? You call it BS, I call it "no one is innovating as much as this fucking guy", go figure. EDIT: The guy is sending rockets to freaking space and has a fleet of satellites that provide intenet, are you not entertained??

> no one is innovating as much as this fucking guy

The Spruce Goose is marvelous and innovative too, the Apollo rockets, the ISS, you name it.

All those things had their plug pulled or are about to be because they are giant money sinkholes which failed to pay for themselves or provide any ROI in terms of money or quality of life.

Electric Cars and rockets have not yet graduated to a point where it's safe to say that they won't be just a fad.

If people stop caring about climate then EVs have no reason to exist. Similarly as the population becomes more and more urbanised they will rely on fiber as opposed to Sat-Internet so Starlink has no reason to exist.

All those things you are enthusiastic about are mostly overhyped fads which Musk himself is pumping and self-promoting while the real innovation which is life changing for all of us will come from some small and quiet biotech company, away from all the media fanfare. Oh wait, it already happened with Moderna and people can't even comprehend it because they are busy following the last PR stunt of this fraud.

Re: Ask HN: Would You Work for Elon?

#177

Post by bheadmaster »

dd82 wrote: post #171
bheadmaster wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You really would want to work yourself down to nothing for the worlds richest man with extremely hand-wavy equity value? If I'm being challenged enough to have fun, I don't see why not. I like building software, it's my passion, and if I can get paid good money for doing interesting things while working for Elon, then good for him. Especially if the alternative is "do mind-dulling tasks 8 hours a day" for the world…

you can also talk with people who've worked there and are still there/left. Basically, you don't spend long at SpaceX if you find mudane things like a good WLB or enjoy being burnt out. The disagreement here is Twitter is a shitshow under his leadership, and your words come across as you finding that interesting and place where you would like to be.

> The disagreement here is Twitter is a shitshow under his leadership, and your words come across as you finding that interesting and place where you would like to be.

One of the first things he did when he acquired Twitter is point out there are much more managers than engineers. He got rid of many of them. In my opinion, that's a sign of progress towards the more engineering-first environment, not regression.

Re: Ask HN: Would You Work for Elon?

#179

Post by slenk »

FredPret wrote: post #72
stephc_int13 wrote: post #18

His management style is not the worst thing about the guy. If all the legends about him were true (superhuman BS detector, genius level IQ, laser sharp focus) I'd be happy to be part of the team. Unfortunately, I think his main talent is the uncanny ability to overhype himself. He is lucky that a side effect of this ability helped him hire and motivate really good engineers. Thay might not be sufficient in the long r…

I don’t get what people mean by this. I have mixed feelings about the guy, but vaporware? Are the rockets not real? Are the cars and solar panels and tunnels and Paypal not real? Of course he didn’t single-handedly do this. Of course other engineers were invaluable in the process. But he forced Tesla and SpaceX into existence when everyone thought it was guaranteed to fail. We saw people trying with electric cars and…

He didn't invent paypal. He has one tunnel that goes a mile. What solar panels? The were never in production. Telsa? Bought from somebody else. What about my truck and semi?

All vaporware, all the time.

Re: Ask HN: Would You Work for Elon?

#180

Post by dd82 »

bheadmaster wrote: post #177
dd82 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can also talk with people who've worked there and are still there/left. Basically, you don't spend long at SpaceX if you find mudane things like a good WLB or enjoy being burnt out. The disagreement here is Twitter is a shitshow under his leadership, and your words come across as you finding that interesting and place where you would like to be.

> The disagreement here is Twitter is a shitshow under his leadership, and your words come across as you finding that interesting and place where you would like to be. One of the first things he did when he acquired Twitter is point out there are much more managers than engineers. He got rid of many of them. In my opinion, that's a sign of progress towards the more engineering-first environment, not regression.

Is that still your opinion after the past few days? His public behavior?

Interesting that you and many others see this behavior as an admirable trait and not a regression.

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