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Comment by TrackerFF | Hacker News Reader

When big tech companies started paying $200k-$300k salaries to fresh grads, the startup dream kind of started to fade. Realistically speaking, going to whatever big tech co has probably yielded a far better ROI to the majority of engineers if we look at their 10 year employment history, compared to their peers that went all-in on startups.

(Yes, some founders obviously hit jackpot)

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Yeah but those guys had to work at big tech companies. Not everything is about ROI or money, even in business. Some people genuinely prefer working on “their own thing” or somewhere they feel they have more impact even if there is less financial reward.

The pool of people who want to work on their own thing as a career and livelihood is likely smaller than you think. Lots of smart creatives apply this within their jobs and/or do their own thing outside of work. Doing what you love as a job can be a great way to kill it.

Oh sure, but like all human traits it occurs along a spectrum, and fulfilling that need gets balanced against others - a tech salary solveth a multitude of problems after all. And I imagine for many getting started in tech seems like a great idea, learn a bunch and put aside a nest egg, and find out about the golden handcuffs later.

My point being that the sort of intrinsic motivation you are describing gets sort of overwhelmed by huge benefits packages and total comp.

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