Am I missing something, or was the authors lack of free time due entirely to the fact that he was commuting 4 hours, and not at all related to working at a startup like the title suggests?
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Why I quit working at a startup
21–28 of 28 posts
Re: Why I quit working at a startup
#22My takeaway from this was "don't take a job with a 4 hour commute".
"don't take a job where you're the smartest person in the room" is probably more important. a four hour commute can be mitigated (eg: work from home 3 days a week, or a mobile hotspot and pre-tax public transport commute programs, or if they want you enough a driver/moving bonus). not having a peer to bounce ideas off of or review your code can't be mitigated.
You are absolutely right. Having a peer wih whom you can talk about what you are working on getting your code reviewed is very important and helps you improve your knowledge. This was exactly my issue.
Also I do have a hotspot, I travel by train and work during those commute hours. But because I work long hours (4+7) this leads to the second issue that I mentioned - not having enough energy to work on side projects and not being able to learn new things apart from the normal work.
Re: Why I quit working at a startup
#23Am I missing something, or was the authors lack of free time due entirely to the fact that he was commuting 4 hours, and not at all related to working at a startup like the title suggests?
Yes 4 hours contributed significantly to the fact that I didn't have time to work on side projects. But I would have been equally happy if I had peers with whom I could discuss stuff and learn new things. The source or learning is not important. It can be side projects, it can be your peers. Learning is what matters. And working at an early stage startup meant I was the only one working on iOS stuff. Hence the title.
Re: Why I quit working at a startup
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
"don't take a job where you're the smartest person in the room" is probably more important. a four hour commute can be mitigated (eg: work from home 3 days a week, or a mobile hotspot and pre-tax public transport commute programs, or if they want you enough a driver/moving bonus). not having a peer to bounce ideas off of or review your code can't be mitigated.
You are absolutely right. Having a peer wih whom you can talk about what you are working on getting your code reviewed is very important and helps you improve your knowledge. This was exactly my issue. Also I do have a hotspot, I travel by train and work during those commute hours. But because I work long hours (4+7) this leads to the second issue that I mentioned - not having enough energy to work on side projects a…
Man, 4+7 is rough. If I were in your situation, I probably wouldn't have taken the job unless A) I knew I could do my own work on the commute (ie drag another laptop along, or get them to amend my employment contract so that all work done during my commute, regardless of whether it uses company equipment belongs to me), B) I negotiated to count some amount of commute time as productive hours and do some amount of work for them during the commute (eg 4+3, or if you both know that the commute time isn't as productive 4+range(3,6)), or C) I worked form home an average of at least 2.5 days/week.
btw, try Rio Adobe on de anza for lunch if you like mexican food.
Re: Why I quit working at a startup
#25My takeaway from this was "don't take a job with a 4 hour commute".
"don't take a job where you're the smartest person in the room" is probably more important. a four hour commute can be mitigated (eg: work from home 3 days a week, or a mobile hotspot and pre-tax public transport commute programs, or if they want you enough a driver/moving bonus). not having a peer to bounce ideas off of or review your code can't be mitigated.
There is a huge difference between "smartest person in the room" and "best in the room at platform X". I'd be curious to see if the author is making the former claim or the latter.
The reality is that any "lead" role at a startup requires you to be the best in the room at your specialty.
Re: Why I quit working at a startup
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
"don't take a job where you're the smartest person in the room" is probably more important. a four hour commute can be mitigated (eg: work from home 3 days a week, or a mobile hotspot and pre-tax public transport commute programs, or if they want you enough a driver/moving bonus). not having a peer to bounce ideas off of or review your code can't be mitigated.
There is a huge difference between "smartest person in the room" and "best in the room at platform X". I'd be curious to see if the author is making the former claim or the latter. The reality is that any "lead" role at a startup requires you to be the best in the room at your specialty.
To be clear I meant "Smartest person in the room at platform X". Didn't mean to leave out that detail.
> The reality is that any "lead" role at a startup requires you to be the best in the room at your specialty.
Yes, it requires you to be the best in the room, but before joining I didn't honestly know what it would be like to be a lead (and only) developer for that platform x. After working for a few months I realized that being a lead so early in my career is not what I want. I still have to learn a lot things before I cab be an effective lead and lead a team of developers.
Re: Why I quit working at a startup
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a huge difference between "smartest person in the room" and "best in the room at platform X". I'd be curious to see if the author is making the former claim or the latter. The reality is that any "lead" role at a startup requires you to be the best in the room at your specialty.
To be clear I meant "Smartest person in the room at platform X". Didn't mean to leave out that detail. > The reality is that any "lead" role at a startup requires you to be the best in the room at your specialty. Yes, it requires you to be the best in the room, but before joining I didn't honestly know what it would be like to be a lead (and only) developer for that platform x. After working for a few months I realiz…
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Re: Why I quit working at a startup
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a huge difference between "smartest person in the room" and "best in the room at platform X". I'd be curious to see if the author is making the former claim or the latter. The reality is that any "lead" role at a startup requires you to be the best in the room at your specialty.
To be clear I meant "Smartest person in the room at platform X". Didn't mean to leave out that detail. > The reality is that any "lead" role at a startup requires you to be the best in the room at your specialty. Yes, it requires you to be the best in the room, but before joining I didn't honestly know what it would be like to be a lead (and only) developer for that platform x. After working for a few months I realiz…
> before joining I didn't honestly know what it would be like to be a lead (and only) developer for that platform x. After working for a few months I realized that being a lead so early in my career is not what I want.
Yes, it's not unusual to have that kind of realization and having had that realization, it is logical to pursue the course of action you did.