Earlier quoted context omitted.
Finland. "Ammattiylpeys."
How do you pronounce that?
Uh, with difficulty :D For starters, English doesn't have the /y/ vowel or the geminated /tt/ sound…
Ask HN: First hire offered to work part-time – what should I do?
81–90 of 106 posts
Re: Ask HN: First hire offered to work part-time – what should I do?
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, "passion" is a huge red flag word for me. In the same realm as "ninja" or "rockstar."
What do you all call the feeling around enjoying the work you do because of the mission and/or technical challenge and/or team? Or, the feeling of wanting to do high quality work wherever you are? Generally, I've never worried about that being called passion.
> What do you all call the feeling around enjoying the work you do because of the mission and/or technical challenge and/or team? Or, the feeling of wanting to do high quality work wherever you are?
As someone who has this - I have a dedication to solving what I think the business's needs are over what my management thinks the business's needs are. It's sometimes actually quite useful and sometimes not.
Re: Ask HN: First hire offered to work part-time – what should I do?
#83Controversial opinion but learned through experience the hard way here, repeatedly proven, anyone that you feel "like lack of commitment from him could possibly influence our culture in a negative way", just pass (at least until you have product market fit or a repeatable business running). As soon as shit hits the fan, they will either leave or drop performance, and you will have to let them go. In your case, I thin…
Fellow founder here. I think I agree with the gist of what you write, but I disagree that a part-time commitment is a good indicator of the level of emotional commitment. Passion is important, and there's a huge spectrum between "passion as an excuse to get people to work many hours without compensating them" and the bill-by-the-hour contractor attitude. You don't want your first employees to be anywhere near the rig…
> I do think that employees of small startups can be expected to have said startup at top thing on their minds, bordering family etc.
They won't be credited like founders, compensated at-the-time remotely near market, will be overworked to the bone if they don't actively fight it, and in the event of success will be hilariously undercompensated, if not actively screwed.
So--why?
Re: Ask HN: First hire offered to work part-time – what should I do?
#84> I cannot easily decide if he is the right kind of first hire.
Do you have a NEED?
Understand that you only have bright, capable, technical talent for a brief time window. They don't offer their services to every Bozo.
These people grow, their needs change, interests evolve. The challenge for every employer is keeping them engaged.
Re: Ask HN: First hire offered to work part-time – what should I do?
#85so many words! such easy answer! pass. (with reluctance)
i also want to comment on shuffling the CEO role. that’s a mistake, in the abstract. the CEO role isn’t a dart you throw. would you say, i guess i’ll be CTO or CMO because of xyz extenuating circumstance? no. the role has to be filled with someone suited for it.
i don’t even know why you mentioned it. seems irrelevant to the question.
Re: Ask HN: First hire offered to work part-time – what should I do?
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fellow founder here. I think I agree with the gist of what you write, but I disagree that a part-time commitment is a good indicator of the level of emotional commitment. Passion is important, and there's a huge spectrum between "passion as an excuse to get people to work many hours without compensating them" and the bill-by-the-hour contractor attitude. You don't want your first employees to be anywhere near the rig…
> I do think that employees of small startups can be expected to have said startup at top thing on their minds, bordering family etc. They won't be credited like founders, compensated at-the-time remotely near market, will be overworked to the bone if they don't actively fight it, and in the event of success will be hilariously undercompensated, if not actively screwed. So--why?
> will be overworked to the bone if they don't actively fight it
Says who? Srsly stop working for shitty startups.
And stop assuming all founders are exploitative psychopaths. We're not. Many of us just want to build an awesome company that's an awesome place to work at.
You don't need to overwork the team for that. But you also won't get there with a bunch of disinterested contractors who just do their assigned tasks.
Re: Ask HN: First hire offered to work part-time – what should I do?
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you all call the feeling around enjoying the work you do because of the mission and/or technical challenge and/or team? Or, the feeling of wanting to do high quality work wherever you are? Generally, I've never worried about that being called passion.
> What do you all call the feeling around enjoying the work you do because of the mission and/or technical challenge and/or team? Or, the feeling of wanting to do high quality work wherever you are? As someone who has this - I have a dedication to solving what I think the business's needs are over what my management thinks the business's needs are. It's sometimes actually quite useful and sometimes not.
This is something key that I feel most employers looking for “passion” don’t get.
I have a lot of passion for the small startup business I’m working for... I have a vision for their product, the ability to execute that vision, and a strong sense of ownership and desire to put out a great, premium product.
Problem is, my vision and the owner’s vision are not the same. He likes quick fixes and focusing on the daily grind, I want to work out big, longer term things. For as much as the owner wants people to share his passion in what he’s building, I know for certain he wants that passion to be “blindly working for whatever he says is important at the moment and not being too passionate beyond that”.
That kind of passion, IMO, is unrealistic and unfair, but I suspect it’s what most employers really want.
Re: Ask HN: First hire offered to work part-time – what should I do?
#88Meh... In most cases, talking about "passion" in this context is just a roundabout way of saying "we want people to work harder for less compensation." Expecting founders to have "passion" is fine, since they (presumably) own equity stakes that will make them wealthy if the company is successful. But unless you're giving your early hires a large stake in the company, I'd suggest dropping the "passion" verbiage and tr…
> Hire the guy (or gal) Ugh, they’re called people. “Hire the person” or “hire them” works fine. The way you’re saying this makes it sound like you expect that the candidate will most likely be male, and that a girl (never mind someone who is gender fluid or genderqueer: doesn’t exist in your sentence) is a secondary choice, relegated to a secondary option in parenthesis. I can understand if you think that I’m readin…
The original post specifies guy, so the parent commentor used guy. They added gal in an attempt to be more inclusive, presumably.
I sympathize with your position but you come across as looking for things to be offended about when you criticize reasonable language choice.
Re: Ask HN: First hire offered to work part-time – what should I do?
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am a big supporter of part time too. I can't overstate the importance of work-life balance. Work less, work better, and don't forget yourself nor your family. However reading the description, I can't tell whether the potential hire fits this category. Are they looking to have 2 jobs in parallel? What would their side thing be, is it different enough that they wouldn't be working on both concurrently? If they want t…
It is the latter. I appreciate their honesty though, which makes the call that much harder. Their side projects are bitcoin related, far more than just a hobby.
Consider that allowing this perk may enable you to hire someone you'd never be able to get otherwise.
I -- and I'm not the only founder I know who has had this experience -- had to compromise technically on early hires because they were what we could get.
Re: Ask HN: First hire offered to work part-time – what should I do?
#90Don't hire - there's nothing wrong with him, or with working part time, at all, but you already don't trust him. Unless you have the absolutely iron self-discipline to not sabotage his work by distrusting him, don't put either yourself or him through it. Unfortunately, the negative culture has already taken root.