Ask HN: Is working under pressure important? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is working under pressure important?

I've become a little discouraged after talking to several startups about positions. The problem I seem to have is working through a problem under pressure. For the majority of my programming career, I have always known that I would not work well on a project if I felt pressured. It makes it hard for me to think and usually results in a sub-optimal product. For this reason I always started on project the day they were assigned to give myself plenty of time and to remove the possibility of having to finish work at the last minute. Now I seem to be coming up to a brick-wall when forced to complete a project or problem in a timed environment. Will not being able to work under pressure deny me my dream of working for a startup?

View on HN

I'd say pressure is part of any startup and the ability to work under it is much more important than at a larger company.

When you work a 9-5 at an established company there are usually several degrees of separation between you and the anxiety that comes from a business. The sales and support teams will be handling the clients. The testers will handle bug reporting. The management will worry about biz dev and making money.

At a typical startup you're going to be taking the brunt of all of those worries. The stakes are higher because you're usually fighting for the company's survival, not just your Christmas bonus check. For these reasons and more I'd say working under pressure is an extremely important skill if you're looking to get into startups.

It's better to try and work harder than not. Otherwise, your startup fails, or it really wasn't a startup in the first place (just a traditional company calling itself a startup).

Startups aren't for everyone. If you're a brilliant programmer who doesn't want to be pressured into quickly adapting, perhaps you should apply to Google instead.

Deny? No. Limit? Probably.

The current fad with startups seems to be to operate under extreme pressure, so you should expect to find that as a requirement at most of them. But, I bet they don't all work that way, so keep looking and good luck. :-)

The current fad? Hmmm, so if a programmer can take shots and break into something faster than his opponents that makes him a good programmer (Reference to The Social Network)?

Update: Seeing as thought working under pressure maybe a valuable skill. Any suggestion on how to get past the brick wall and performing better under pressure.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com