Hacker News Reader

Comment by rdtsc | Hacker News Reader

That actually undermines his main point -- that he stuck to his "morals" and forgone the "large" hush money check at the end. If he was making enough to retire by his 30s then $16k wasn't that significant of an amount. That means the didn't really lose a lot so his "moral" stance is more symbolic, and not the tough financial decision that article might imply.

View on HN

I don't think that was his main point. He had, after all, just said that he was willing to compromise his morals to the extent of continuing to work with BCG despite the dishonesty it involved -- because the amount of money potentially involved was so large. "I think I’ve come to the conclusion that having a father who can pay for a top-notch education outweighs the disadvantage of being raised by a hypocrite. Sticking with the job for the sake of a paycheck passes the children test."

So I'd say his main point wasn't "look at me, I stuck to my morals" but "I'm corruptible but not infinitely corruptible". (The reason for mentioning the $16k in the title isn't to say "look how much money I turned down" but to say "look how much money they offered me for this".)

I would tend to concur, as this was my initial reading as well.

> The reason for mentioning the $16k in the title isn't to say "look how much money I turned down" but to say "look how much money they offered me for this".

Right. It's to emphasize the fact that not only were they morally corrupt and doing horrible things, they were incompetent to the extent they though they could shut him up with a measly 16 grand.

If he gets a book deal out of this he'll be laughing pretty damn hard at a bribe attempt that, really, isn't even a house payment.

Eh, maybe. Numerologically, I think you're right, but you do have to keep in mind that a $16,000 lump sum has a lot more subjective value going out the door to an uncertain future and a zero income - at least, temporarily - than it does in the course of making six figures at a stable job.

I'm not saying he had any reason to suspect he wouldn't be able to find another job, and even quickly, but it probably wouldn't pay nearly as much and there was no guarantee of that. It's just the depressive state accompanying the sensation of having been fired, even if it's from something you hate in concrete terms.

    Numerologically

I don't think numerology means what you think it means: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerology

You're right; I meant "numerically."

The whole moral thing is questionable, if he would have taken his leave that would be one thing but the company initiated the termination, not the author.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com