Ask HN: Career Advice Needed | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Career Advice Needed

5 pointsbenburleson8 comments

There are too many factors to fully explain here, so I'll try to boil it down to the "important" points..

I have a great job with great benefits, but the overall project has an end-of-life somewhere in the next several years. I also have an opportunity to join a company that is in the early stages of an explosion of business, and will likely be at the leading edge of what it does for the foreseeable future.

The new opportunity can basically match my current salary (no increase), but the overall benefits package is no comparison to my current package. The new opportunity also requires a relocation from a very comfortable living situation.

If I do the math, I'm definitely taking a hit in the short term. How do I weigh that against the fact that the current position isn't really going anywhere and the new company is likely to be very successful? I'm also concerned that the new offer did not include any mention of profit sharing or anything that makes me feel like more than another salary employee; is that cause for concern?

I'm happy to answer other questions to open the conversation. Thanks,

Hi Ben,

The future success of the company, when they are at an early stage, is truly a non-factor. And whether or not your current project has a shelf life is only a factor if your company in unlikely to not repurpose you and you are staring down the barrel of a future layoff.

Now, what is a factor. Surely, as you are trying to tease out of us, compensation isn't everything. However, you seem to place some value on your 'very comfortable living situation'. I, on the other hand place no value on my living situation...but, my wife and son might disagree : )

You are dancing around something that a lot of other people already know and optimize for, when selecting a job. There is value on your personal interest in the project you are a part of. And there is value in learning new technology. It seems might be bored working on something that is stale and the idea of working on something cutting-edge with a startup is very tempting. That's perfectly fine, I'm that way too. So are many other folks on HN.

Now, there is no ultimate RIGHT and every decision has consequences. You have to look at the benefit / risk of less benefits vs work environment, interesting / cutting-edge work and finding a new living situation. Unfortunately, no one can answer that for you.

Good luck.

Thanks for the response. I'm aware nobody can answer this for me, but like all problems, the more I talk through it, the clearer the answer appears. This is just another way to help myself get there.

My wife actually wants to move there, but I'm not convinced that's not just a grass-is-always-greener reaction. Either way, that is an important factor as well.

It's good to get grounded about the excitement of potential success; thanks for making that point.

Does successful and about to explode include verifiable revenue, or is it founder and/or VC opinion?

I know the joy and pain of working on something innovative. I built out the NLP engine for an exchange that had angel funding to about $400K then series A of a $1m and won an award from MIT Sloan School.

It was fun and intellectually challenging and some customers loved the concept and our implementation so much that their executives joined as angels and served on board of advisers. However, despite all the accolades the business was having difficulty achieving significant revenue and one day we all (about a dozen of us) got a call from the founder. I am out of money, and over the last 2 weeks those who had verbally committed to a Series B have all backed away. He basically had to lay off 90% of staff in one day.

I loved the learning curve and the rush of building new products. I am doing it again on my own today, trying for organic bootstrapped growth. But I am more skeptical than ever of businesses that are about to explode.

Obviously some new businesses really do explode and dominate an emerging market. But many more seemed poised to dominate but ultimately fail to do so.

"About to explode" is obviously opinion, and that is coming from the inside. However, they have solid financial footing with years of history and cash on hand to weather some down times (I talked with the CEO about this).

It is technology that I am confident in for the future, so it would be exciting to put my eggs in that basket and go for it.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

That sounds reasonable then. If you know they have history as a company and cash then your risk is clearly diminished.

Also if the company is small enough that you are talking with the CEO you will likely be in a position to make a noticeable difference in the future success of the company. Making a difference and working on tech you like can be a great combo.

Flip a coin. When it's in the air you'll know what side you're hoping for. What you're hoping for will usually make you happier than what the logistics tell you.

I've heard of this before; as crazy as it sounds, I'll try it.

Yeah, I always liked this strategy too. It's worked for me.

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