Hacker News Reader

Comment by infinii | Hacker News Reader

Startups "pivot" because they failed in some way.

Pivoting your career can be construed as having failed somewhere and needing to find something else.

In the context of a career, phrase it as evolving your skills to match market demand. The very people who "pivot" resonate with will immediately associate it with failure.

View on HN

Pivoting sin't because they've failed. It's because the path to their goal has changed or isn't what they previously thought. Basically, they're adjusting to new information (market, industry, etc) just like the rest of your definition.

Yes, it's an overused term but it's NOT a sign of failure.

I think this is bordering on a no true Scottsman argument, although maybe unintentionally. But whether that's true or not, I think lots of people take it as a euphemism for failure.

They are pivoting because they don't want to fail. They maybe made a mistake or the market changed, acknowledged it and took action based on this information.

For me this is not something negative at all

I agree with your comment except the last sentence. Negative or not, I think it's a poor choice of word to use in the context of a CV/career.

When interviewees are asked "So why are you looking to move from your present job?". Saying that you need a new challenge sounds very different than "needing to pivot".

it can be construed that way, but it can also be construed other ways. Perhaps how it is construed acts as a filter on who you want to work for.

^^^ This ^^^

Reply on news.ycombinator.com