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Comment by version_five | Hacker News Reader

It's a big red flag.

I saw this in a job posting recently:

  No mercenaries! We want people who have been waiting their whole lives to work on something like this.

They don't explain what a mercenary is but from the context it seems they mean people who want to exchange their work for money.

It's obviously important for people to enjoy their jobs and be engaged, but anything that reads to me like they want to skimp out on proper pay and working conditions because of how passionate the employees are just smacks of immaturity.

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Ah yes, I've been waiting 20+ years of my life to work on a 1-year old startup's idea.

The lack of awareness is stunning.

That's one where they want you to be "family"

I'm a merc at heart. Fuck you, pay me.

I think most mature businesses owners would want a mercenary as opposed to a fanatic. If you're doing it for the money, you'll work as part of the team to execute the leader's vision. If somehow you feel you were made to do this, presumably you also come with a bunch of baggage about how you think the product should be, etc etc which maybe is helpful as a co-founder but could be a hassle as a junior dev.

Personally I've had great luck with mercenaries.

I’ve been on both sides of that table in my career.

As a business owner today, I definitely want a mercenary. A well prepared and thorough mercenary.

The only business I’m willing to be an “owner” of these days is my own. I’ve worked for my dream employer and “took ownership” and learned a few good lessons about how when you don’t own your dream job, it can (but won’t always) become a nightmare.

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