Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Startup Side Project Bubble

davidhauser.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–56 of 56 posts

Re: The Startup Side Project Bubble

#51

Post by vijayr »

api wrote: post #8

A major reason that people do only what's required to get by in their "day job" and tool away on startups is that the promotion is dead. You don't advance in the workplace by any means except changing jobs or doing your own thing. Companies don't promote on merit anymore. So if you pour your heart into your job, you get nothing for it. You're better off pouring your heart into side projects-- even if they don't turn…

Totally. One more to add to this list (for tech employees) - even if an employee writes awesome code at work, there is no way he/she can show it to future prospective employers, as it doesn't belong to them (at max, they can show their employer's website/product and say "I worked on this"). All this makes side projects very attractive

Re: The Startup Side Project Bubble

#52

Post by heliodor »

rocky1138 wrote: post #26

"This means their productivity suffers at their full-time job, an expense the employer ends up paying." Incorrect. My side projects have made me a better developer in every way, which actually saves my employers money over the long-term. I learn new techniques, skills, and tools off-the-clock. The kind of training that used to be the responsibility of the employer is now on the employee.

This one goes both ways. Yes, your employer will benefit from what you learn from your side project, but at the same time, if your side project's server crashes at 2pm while you're at work, you're going to be very inclined to fix it right then and there on your employer's dime.

Re: The Startup Side Project Bubble

#53

Post by ry0ohki »

jdbernard wrote: post #46
ry0ohki wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the converse hard to believe, why would someone who is happy at work create a side project (unless they are just a tinkerer or are scratching a personal itch)?

You just listed two reasons that arguably apply to most hackers. 90% of my career I have been happy at work, but I have always had multiple side projects going on as well.

Agree, but the author's point was you shouldn't work on a side project unless it's a "real business".

Re: The Startup Side Project Bubble

#54

Post by ghein »

api wrote: post #8

A major reason that people do only what's required to get by in their "day job" and tool away on startups is that the promotion is dead. You don't advance in the workplace by any means except changing jobs or doing your own thing. Companies don't promote on merit anymore. So if you pour your heart into your job, you get nothing for it. You're better off pouring your heart into side projects-- even if they don't turn…

If your employees/co-founders have a side gig, it's a sign that your company isn't paying them enough and doesn't offer them enough opportunity. If you were truly a great company, they'd see that you really were the next $10-100B firm and they'd be doing 16x7+++. Or that you were such a huge branding exercise that without immediate equity prospect that the 16x7 was worth it for them.

Oh, your segment isn't that interesting? Oh you're actually probably not going to make payroll on Friday? Actually, your employees "side-gig" is called a lifeline: something to talk about in interviews that's rather more pleasant than your crash and burn and a project that has a rather longer life expectancy.

If you want your employees FULL attention, EARN IT.

Re: The Startup Side Project Bubble

#55

Post by waps »

thetrumanshow wrote: post #14
api wrote: post #8

A major reason that people do only what's required to get by in their "day job" and tool away on startups is that the promotion is dead. You don't advance in the workplace by any means except changing jobs or doing your own thing. Companies don't promote on merit anymore. So if you pour your heart into your job, you get nothing for it. You're better off pouring your heart into side projects-- even if they don't turn…

I clicked the up-arrow soooo hard. Businesses MUST focus on incentivizing their capable employees correctly. If they did, there would be far less of these side-projects which double as portfolio support. I know a few people who are very well-incentivized inside of the company they work for. They are very entrepreneurial, but they've been bought-off by very smart managers. When they retire, they will have done very we…

I'm pretty sure everyone will read this as

"Help ! My little wage slaves are not giving their maximum effort to me and instead putting it towards an effort that might at some point make them independent from me. This means I have less absolute control over them and they only do as good as I can reasonably expect them to do, instead of working their ass of to get me more money without any advantage to themselves."

Dear employers, you pay your people $x to do at least effort. If y => y' does not translate into $x => $x' in a predictable and fair manner, you have no cause for complaints.

Re: The Startup Side Project Bubble

#56

Post by acturbo »

Your blog post is really lousy overall. I can't believe you thought it would be a good idea to not only vent your thoughts on your personal blog, but then share that post on this forum, which is filled with the very people you critique. Your arguments are flat out wrong for claiming that side projects are a "problem". Besides the lousy points offered, the article came off as whiny. I suspect that the people you work with would be embarrassed to read it. I would be.

Other people have already made great comments here. I just wanted to point out that side projects are how people learn new things and new technologies. Most side projects are never finished, nor do they make it to market. However, the process of working on the project was in itself beneficial as a learning tool. New technologies and new techniques get explored and tested, all during off hours. And guess who benefits from that?

Employers could consider these options ... - hire people that find the day time work to be interesting enough (i.e. don't hire superstars thinking they will bring sparkle to boring work) - provide good incentives to keep people focused on their day job - openly support side projects, people will respect that and give back to you (don't make people stress about working on a side project) - get involved with side projects and offer whatever you can to help - partner with people in their ventures, their idea may be better than yours - directly sponsor internal side projects that people can work on and vent their need to create/explore etc.

Post reply on HN