Comment by gwbas1c | Hacker News Reader

Comment by gwbas1c | Hacker News Reader

TLDR: You assess health by if you're getting paid what you think it's worth to stay in the job. If you're okay with the pay, and you like the job, be a pro and stay as long as the pay comes in.

A big warning sign was that my employer interview great candidates, make offers, and then the candidate didn't accept. The problem was that we weren't paying competitively.

I tried to express this to upper management, and then instead of fixing the problem, they just gave me a raise. (From below market rate to below market rate but able to start putting money in the newly-offered 401k.)

Shortly afterwards, I interviewed at one of our major competitors. The next day I looked at one of the founders and said, "if there's a chance to exit via acquisition, we need to take it."

Turns out there was an acquisition deal in the works, but we couldn't know due to how US law works. One of the higher-ups asked me to investigate "a bug," and when I looked at her logs, all I saw were references to an upcoming acquisition. I then knew to stick around and give the new owners a chance.

There's a lot to be said for sticking through a few months of uncertainty when it works out to be a great job in the long run.

"There's a lot to be said for sticking through a few months of uncertainty when it works out to be a great job in the long run."

This. You have to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. It's not easy with startups to decide which way to go due to the uncertainty inherent in new businesses. I would tend toward hold if the following is true:

1.) The company is meeting a real market need even if it's not doing it very well. The tell: customers 'get' the problem you are trying to solve and want to talk to you. If they stick around but complain a lot about the product that's actually a good sign.

2.) You can afford to lose your job. Getting to a payoff involves some tolerance for risk. Investors take the same risk with their money.

> The company is meeting a real market need even if it's not doing it very well.

Excellent point. I might add, how are renewals & new customer sales? If that info isn't widely shared, take the sales guy out to a pub for lunch. A few beers can provide huge insights.

How would apply this advice to a forture 500 company where "payoff" isn't part of the equation?

It's definitely harder but I would look for your group being in a growing market that's aligned with the strategic direction of the company. That said, you have to make an effort to keep your ear to the ground.

If you hear people use the word "cash cow" when referring to your group or you can't figure out what the company strategy those are signs it might be time to look for something else.

And how did you personally make out, after taxes in said acquisition? Was it worth being underpaid for some amount of years?

I left a job where I was underpaid for $BIGCO, even after their acquisition I still came out ahead of my peers because the reality is most people just don't get much, especially after taxes.

> There's a lot to be said for sticking through a few months of uncertainty when it works out to be a great job in the long run.

Great point considering the OP is talking about startups-- where the likelihood of failure is high. If you have another great opportunity, of course weigh it, but uncertainty is a constant in startups & tech. The idiom "the devil you know vs the devil you don't". I started at a company that looked great from the outside but once I started it was clear that 70% of the people who wrote the bloody codebase had quit or been fired very recently.

You realize quickly that most people don't know what their doing; the good people admit they are learning on the fly. So totally agree with your point, and to add to it, you are weighing your insider knowledge of your firm against your perception of others-- inside those other firms people are likely doing the same thing and probably even looking at you with envy.

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