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Game Programmer Quits Job To Sell Street Food, Doubles Salary

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Re: Game Programmer Quits Job To Sell Street Food, Doubles Salary

#11

Post by potatolicious »

freyr wrote: post #6
Spooky23 wrote: post #4

This is just the upside of running your own business. Summer food trucks have been a fixture in my city for decades around the state capitol. Some folks make a great living doing it. My favorite was an older couple operating a small hotdog stand... they made a ridiculously delicious meatsauce and basically worked a 35 hour week in the summer in the Northeast, and a similar schedule for a couple of months down South.…

> But... they faced all of the downside risks of small business owners. Rain == slow or no sales. Big vacation weeks for the workforce == slow sales. Get sick? No pay. That said, it's probably still a better gig than being a game programmer. Small business owners should be able to plan ahead for rainy days and the slow season. Squirrels can do it. Humans can too.

Normal weather you can plan for, but there are outlier events that can still wipe you out that's basically impossible to predict or prepare for.

Sandy in NYC flooded a great deal of infrastructure and left buildings without power or communications for a long time. Large parts of downtown were completely depopulated for weeks on end - that sort of event takes out independent business owners, and you can't effectively plan for it.

For the most part food vending isn't so profitable that you can build up a thick cushion for longer-term outages.

Re: Game Programmer Quits Job To Sell Street Food, Doubles Salary

#12

Post by dubcanada »

suyash wrote: post #8

The guy should open more street food stalls and scale this business if it is so profitable.

Or! He could save his company and start a video game company!

All jokes aside, unless you have a very good knack or special offering, scaling might not work so well. You have to train people to be just as good as you are, some people go to specific food trucks for the people.

Re: Game Programmer Quits Job To Sell Street Food, Doubles Salary

#13

Post by nodata »

untog wrote: post #9
freyr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But... they faced all of the downside risks of small business owners. Rain == slow or no sales. Big vacation weeks for the workforce == slow sales. Get sick? No pay. That said, it's probably still a better gig than being a game programmer. Small business owners should be able to plan ahead for rainy days and the slow season. Squirrels can do it. Humans can too.

Unexpected health issues? That's a little more tricky.

And what does an American employee do about unexpected (long term) health issues?

(For short term issues there is insurance, whether in the form of savings or actual insurance.)

Re: Game Programmer Quits Job To Sell Street Food, Doubles Salary

#14

Post by lrobb »

suyash wrote: post #8

The guy should open more street food stalls and scale this business if it is so profitable.

Sounds like the parable of the mexican fisherman:

An executive from America was standing at the pier of a Mexican village, taking a much needed vacation. It was his first in more than 10 years. He noticed a small boat docked with just one fisherman on board. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The executive complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, “only a little while.”

The executive then asked, “why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?”

The fisherman replied, “I have enough to support my family for a little while.”

The executive then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, and stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life.”

The executive scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then?”

The American laughed and said that’s the best part. “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions.. Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

Re: Game Programmer Quits Job To Sell Street Food, Doubles Salary

#15

Post by ziko »

Strangely enough, this idea has gone through my mind a couple of times, for a completely different reasons though.

Mortality is closely connected with the hours we spend sitting each day. So that's one reason.

The other one is that after working so hard and saving up enough for the rest of your life, you need something that is much more stress-free. And selling something so basic as food is exactly that.

Re: Game Programmer Quits Job To Sell Street Food, Doubles Salary

#18

Post by Ygg2 »

Spooky23 wrote: post #4

This is just the upside of running your own business. Summer food trucks have been a fixture in my city for decades around the state capitol. Some folks make a great living doing it. My favorite was an older couple operating a small hotdog stand... they made a ridiculously delicious meatsauce and basically worked a 35 hour week in the summer in the Northeast, and a similar schedule for a couple of months down South.…

The fact that even with all that they are better than a game programmer is really sad.

Game programmers are the equivalent of children workers in a sweatshop.

Re: Game Programmer Quits Job To Sell Street Food, Doubles Salary

#19

Post by Fargren »

ziko wrote: post #15

Strangely enough, this idea has gone through my mind a couple of times, for a completely different reasons though. Mortality is closely connected with the hours we spend sitting each day. So that's one reason. The other one is that after working so hard and saving up enough for the rest of your life, you need something that is much more stress-free. And selling something so basic as food is exactly that.

While sitting is correlated with mortality, I don't think it's been proved that it causes it. I suspect the relation between the two is more complicated than that.

As far as stress free... Interacting directly with many customers can be a trying experience. I think it can be a lot more stressful than an office job for many people.

Re: Game Programmer Quits Job To Sell Street Food, Doubles Salary

#20

Post by lazyjones »

The title is slightly inaccurate / misleading. He quit his job and now runs his own business together with his girlfriend (i.e. they both work). Her part in this is not negligible, perhaps she is the main asset of the company.

(I don't know why this gets modded down, but let me clarify: his old salary is his personal income. The "doubled" salary is the income from his business, apparently the combined salary of both of them - so it's misleading to say that he "doubled his salary")

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