Also worth reading: Sick Systems: How to Keep Someone With You Forever: http://issendai.livejournal.com/572510.html
Wow, sounds like my relationship with my ex. Glad that's over.
What are red flags that signal you should walk away from a startup job?
41–50 of 72 posts
Re: What are red flags that signal you should walk away from a startup job?
#42One thing that really turns me off is when people talk really negatively about former employees. I met a CTO of a company in Toronto who told me how his predecessor had set up MySQL all wrong. I pressed him for details, and it was not setup any differently to how I would have. This was not in the context of an interview, but it left a very lasting negative impression.
One of the things I eventually realized was that -- maybe not for everyone, for all programs, but certainly for a lot of people -- the programs we write are very incomplete. There's a portion that we write down, that the machine runs, and then there's a portion that's only in our head. When you've got both portions, everything is awesome. I'd worth with a guy for years, and never had a problem with them. If I was wor…
So absolutely true. But I think the best programmers strive to minimize the portion of the program that resides in their heads, and maximize the ease with which it can be recreated in someone else's.
Re: What are red flags that signal you should walk away from a startup job?
#43Red flag? When the owner drops their pants and says "all the equity you want!"
Re: What are red flags that signal you should walk away from a startup job?
#44[deleted]
Re: What are red flags that signal you should walk away from a startup job?
#45The biggest red flag of all is that it is a startup!
Re: What are red flags that signal you should walk away from a startup job?
#46I'd like to offer a simple red flag that I haven't seen mentioned enough: deception. If management is hiding information or providing misleading information to employees - even on small issues - it's a huge red flag. First, it says they're not confident in the reality of the situation. Second, people who are deceptive about small issues will also be deceptive about big issues that really matter to you. Deceptive people usually start their deceptions small and then increase them as they lead you down a long, annoying path to failure.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of deceptive people in business, so avoiding them entirely is not always possible. If you're forced to deal with them, my best advice is to be on guard. Be aware of what you have at steak if they turn on you and only work with them as much as required.
Re: What are red flags that signal you should walk away from a startup job?
#47"But ALWAYS trust your gut on NOT to do something. If your gut tells you to not work at a particular company (or to stop dating someone), trust it implicitly as your gut is much better at saving your life than it is at figuring up upside opportunities." The problem with this is that we have no data on people who had a gut feeling that something was not right but were wrong about that gut feeling. People would tend to…
That doesn't really contradict his point. It's all about probabilistic expectation. Presumably you have a myriad of options to choose from. If you have a bad gut feeling about one, move on. Obviously there will be counter examples to where this was not the optimal choice, but it is a valid heuristic. Generally in most peoples lives, there is more to lose than there is to gain. You want to skew decision making to mini…
Ok that is fine but where is the correlation between what someone feels in their gut and what ends up being true in the end?
Plus, what is the downside risk of being overly cautious since that has to be factored in.
If the gut is based on things that you have observed in the past, or your personal experiences, then it is also possible that you will jump the gun by being overly sensitive and matching a pattern incorrectly. [1] In that case you could be wrong. I guess what I am saying is "it's not that simple" as trite advice typically makes it sound.
"minimize potential loss" also means "avoid potential gain".
[1] This actually happened to me and although this is just a single example which I highlight and where I choose to ignore the gut and plug on, in my particular case I am glad that I had done so. (Was with a relationship..).
Re: What are red flags that signal you should walk away from a startup job?
#48I think one red flag that people often miss, or make excuses for, is this: management not treating a coworker fairly. When you're not treated fairly, that's clearly a red flag. But many people see coworkers treated poorly while they themselves aren't, grab a beer after work and talk about it, commiserate etc. but don't consider the possibility that maybe they themselves are next.
This is one of the reasons I left a startup. As an example, bonuses were promised to the hourly employees if a specific deadline was met. Deadline was met, backpedaling ensued and no bonus awarded after the fact. (I was full-time, so not eligible in any case, but I didn't want to work for someone I couldn't trust)
Re: What are red flags that signal you should walk away from a startup job?
#49I think one red flag that people often miss, or make excuses for, is this: management not treating a coworker fairly. When you're not treated fairly, that's clearly a red flag. But many people see coworkers treated poorly while they themselves aren't, grab a beer after work and talk about it, commiserate etc. but don't consider the possibility that maybe they themselves are next.
This is one of the reasons I left a startup. As an example, bonuses were promised to the hourly employees if a specific deadline was met. Deadline was met, backpedaling ensued and no bonus awarded after the fact. (I was full-time, so not eligible in any case, but I didn't want to work for someone I couldn't trust)
Good move, that is essentially a default.
Re: What are red flags that signal you should walk away from a startup job?
#50One thing that really turns me off is when people talk really negatively about former employees. I met a CTO of a company in Toronto who told me how his predecessor had set up MySQL all wrong. I pressed him for details, and it was not setup any differently to how I would have. This was not in the context of an interview, but it left a very lasting negative impression.
I agree completely. Bitterness or negativity toward people who leave for normal reasons is a common sign of a bad company. Also, when people speak negatively of the person who's in some way my predecessor in a role, I tend to wonder if they're going to say the same things about me in the future.
I went through this recently and was very put off by it. A team member left for a (dramatically better paying) position elsewhere. The day after that team member left, our manager was making it very clear that they had left us to work on something trivial (and maybe they did, but it's no one else's business) while we were left behind working on Things That Really Matter (medical devices). It wasn't the first time that a Senior Manager at this place was trying to convince the team that "...what we do is making a difference."