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Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is why the title is Advice for Ambitious 19 Year Olds, not Advice for 19 Year Olds Looking for Security
I don't see how the two are mutually exclusive. Having a solid foundation for a life-long career with real-world experience is definitely ambitious.
This is how I feel about my post secondary education. I regret being herded into it and wasting all of those years parroting and memorizing so that I could learn "critical thinking"
Even if the startup fails, she can probably eke a couple of years of professional experience and a reference out of the deal - enough to get her on the path to a nice career. And if the startup succeeds, she has the career and could make enough in options to pay for art school.
Because she's smart and ambitious, she sees the logic of the situation. I have no doubt I'll get great work from her.
That quote drips so much of elitism its disgusting. MS still has many brilliant engineers and is building alot of really complex stuff, probably more than your average startup ever will. This is the kind of talk i find really off putting about the whole startup-scene...
Incidentally, don’t let salary be a factor. I just watched someone turn down one of these breakout companies because Microsoft offered him $30k per year more in salary—that was a terrible decision. He will not build interesting things and may not work with smart people. This article is making the implication that big corporations and job security are bad; go risk your life for an endeavor with a less-than-5% of succe…
But sure, if all that you care about is success and you happen to define success like most other Americans (i.e. by making the most money) then go ahead and work as hard as you can and make that million. But please don't complain about your burnout when you're 30-40.
There is way more than money and work in this live. Don't work too hard especially when you're young. If you waste a year or two, nothing will run away and your opportunities will still be there when you're 25.
This is awful advice. I'm sorry but when you're 19 you should go out into the _world_ (not the US) and discover it. Go book a cheap flight to South America and go backpacking for a few months. Live on $300 a month, meet interesting people. Techies, nerds and entrepreneurs aren't _that_ interesting. But sure, if all that you care about is success and you happen to define success like most other Americans (i.e. by maki…
Something tells me this is an aspirational claim rather than a statement with empirical support. On the other hand, there is a lot of data to support the view that being out of work for years is very bad for finding a job when you finally do want one.
"Incidentally, don’t let salary be a factor. I just watched someone turn down one of these breakout companies because Microsoft offered him $30k per year more in salary—that was a terrible decision. He will not build interesting things and may not work with smart people." That quote drips so much of elitism its disgusting. MS still has many brilliant engineers and is building alot of really complex stuff, probably mo…
Incidentally, don’t let salary be a factor. I just watched someone turn down one of these breakout companies because Microsoft offered him $30k per year more in salary—that was a terrible decision. He will not build interesting things and may not work with smart people. This article is making the implication that big corporations and job security are bad; go risk your life for an endeavor with a less-than-5% of succe…
I'm not entirely sure that I'd agree that you learn less at a big company than a startup, though. I learned a lot more in my first year and a half at Google than I did in my 1-2 years at each of the two startups I'd worked at previously. It does level out after your first 2 years, but that's the time to practice soft skills like leadership, mentorship, influence, estimation, decision-making, and so on as you gain trust and get put into positions that don't exist in a startup.