Hire me: a story of developer burnout and how I want to turn it around
tanepiper.com
tanepiper.com
A word to all the other devs out there being courted by co-founders. This is from a guy who learned from experience (ie. the hard way) and wants to pass along some learnings.
Only get in if
A. Everyone has skin in the game equal to their share (if you are doing 200% of the work for 5% of the company...) B. There is plan for either bootstrapping, funding or some revenue model well thought out (if they aren't developing, they are selling or raising money...if they aren't selling or raising money they are doing nothing). C. You trust your co-founders and they trust you, implicitly. Things are going to get worse before they get better and if you don't trust each other about everything, it is going to be a nightmare ride.
On C. At the first sign of trouble, give benefit of the doubt but don't forget it. On second, think about getting out, don't wait for a third sign. There are too many people willing to ride someone else to their victory. I've seen it over and over again from people who can't "do" themselves.
And D. Get everything in writing, upfront.
On D. Personal story. I trusted a co-founder in the past. We went and started to build something. We had an agreement on roles, equity, strategy...all that good stuff. Once MVP got to angel funding stage, all of the sudden the "we started" and "we built" became "I built" and "I started" (my co-founder saying that, not me). That was the beginning of the end.
My $.02
If you're looking for work, you aren't really burned out. I had to take a year off at one point, and I thought I'd never work as a developer again after failing a couple of job interviews for jobs that I REALLY wanted (google, I'm still bitter). It turns out I'm just fine, there's nothing wrong with me or my skills and I can make a real difference at the place I'm at now. It's just that those particular jobs sucked a lot and I took it all too personally. I resolved to never do that kind of thing again. I don't work for equity or promises or for people who make unreasonable demands any more, and I try not to get too wrapped up in work.
It sounds like you got burned, that's a different thing. And it will probably happen again. The same thing happened to me oh... 5 or 6 times until I wised up. Eventually I decided to work at stable, grown up companies and I've been much happier. I still get to work on fun stuff. You don't have to kill yourself over-working or neglect your loved ones to have a solid career.
Also, it sounds like you were trying to work two jobs at one point. Don't do that.
Anyway, good luck to you and yours, it sounds like you'll do okay!
Best of luck, from one hacker to another.