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Comment by an_opabinia | Hacker News Reader

> but I am genuinely curious how you were able to work 8 hours a day on it and also work your regular job

Hacker News repeatedly rediscovers that there is no point in putting in more than the bare minimum at typical jobs over and over again. Some people pour the gained time into leetcode and succeed. Some pour it into stuff they're excited about. Some into their families. Some pour it into being at the right place at the right time. Hardly anyone has ever succeeded by pouring it into their jobs.

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> Hardly anyone has ever succeeded by pouring it into their jobs

This might be the most relevant part of the discussion

It certainly is a conundrum for startups, where after the founders, you're asking someone to commit career suicide by working hard for you.

I think if you’ve decided that there is something wrong with the employer/employee relationship where hundreds spend their professional life working at someone else’s company, pushing ahead that person’s vision, and fulfilling that person’s goals, then you shouldn’t turn around and play an integral role in the same game you once despised, all because it’s much easier to succeed in business if you have a bunch of people devoting their working lives to your vision.

I don’t know how to escape that model at a wider scale, exactly, but if I were worth millions of dollars, I think I’d have the economic luxury to invest some time to figure out how.

Well, I guess then they have the luxury to do that. I work in a critical position at a major bank and I already have to give 100% at my job. I have side projects as well though which is how my whole weekend gets used up. I guess that is not the norm...

> I work in a critical position at a major bank

You're Jerome Powell?

I'm just kidding, but surely you see how from another perspective, that sounds farcical. Like I get it, you care about the work that you do. I'm not saying you won't be rich. I'm not saying people don't think you're doing a good job. I'm saying, in a positivist measure, like, "If you vanished tomorrow, would anything happen to a major bank?" The answer is, unless you're Jerome Powell or the guy who hires the clients' kids and covers it up (1) (2), no.

(1) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2015-08-18/bny-me...

(2) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2016-11-18/jpmorg...

What type of success do you get buy pouring time into leetcode? Interview prep?

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