And let's not even forget the fantastic benefits that Microsoft offers its employees that most startups cannot afford to.
I often quote Mr. Morden from Babylon 5, asking "What do you want?" Most people don't have the nerve to even look what they want in the eye.
Out of people I know working for startup type companies, one cut his teeth building enterprise Java stuff at a bank and the other spent time in the military.
More importantly, a lot of them would be happy to hire someone with Microsoft connections.
"waste" is subjective. Twenty years of your life working 100 hours a week in startups? Twenty years of your life traveling the world with a low paying job?
A particular path being appealing to you doesn't necessarily make other paths bad.
> Most people don't have the nerve to even look what they want in the eye.
Sure. Imagine the man who doesn't accept that all he wants is a stable job which will let him spend more time with his family. Instead, he works at a tiny company day in and day out, dreaming of the big payoff (with paid dinners).
Sam isn't giving general career advice here -- read this advice as if you're giving it to a risk-seeking, ambitious, 19-year old (the title of the article...).
In that context -- his advice makes perfect sense.
The article isn't explicitly directed at "risk-seekers," but merely at ambitious people. It's incorrect to conflate the two. Ambition can just easily manifest itself as a desire to seek a large salary, climb the corporate hierarchy, and seek a nice lifestyle. As a member of the cohort at which this piece was directed, I don't know why everyone assumes that we want to expose ourselves to risk, or why everyone asserts that we ought to.
Why does everyone exhort the necessity of risking everything in an attempt to change the world? What is so bad about simply pursuing a nice life?
three kids, a safe job, two Ferraris, and the ear of Larry Ellison?
or how about
Climb the ladder, eventually transition to politics, and become a Senator on a technical platform?
ruswick's point is that ambition is not the sole province of the startup crowd.