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Comment by jjindev | Hacker News Reader

When I was a young man, at my first job, I expressed my discontent. My dad (Viggo Jensen, RIP) gave me sage advice. He nodded his head, and said "it takes about 3 years to find out what's wrong with an organization. After that it's harder." (Shockingly, this from a guy who spent 35 years in Los Angeles City Schools.)

I would not suggest that Jaclyn is wrong in her choices. Not at all. But sometimes it is a choice between working within an imperfect organization, and moving on to another .. whose flaws you will discover over the next 3 years.

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I lost four years in my career because I was afraid the next company would be worse. It wasn't. Pick your battles carefully and know when it is time to move on.

Seconded. Plus, I don't really buy the 3 year thing. Once you know what to look for, it isn't hard to detect serious problems. Horrible source code? Engineers that don't know how to use SCM? Politics? Cargo cult processes? I don't think it is that hard to figure out. You will have annoyances in any job, but there are broken cultures, and then cultures that continually try to do the right thing, and fix themselves when something goes wrong.

It ranges from large companies who say "this is an important issue, let's meet next month to discuss" to small companies who say "I was worried about that, so I made a fixed decision an hour ago." There really are different cultures of ... not really so much failure, but dysfunction. Companies can succeed while being dysfunctional at the same time.

Horrible source code is a good one, it's a great indicator of very deep management problems that can not be solved. Run away after you see it.

>that can not be solved.

Would not go that far.

Depends on the size of the company I guess. At large corps, it's hopeless.

Hopeless in theory?

Ignorance is bliss.

Definitely. And I wouldn't discount that bliss-period at a new organization. If it is happier, it is happy.

Play poker, gotta know when to fold.

It sounds like it's going to be her own organization. It probably will have it's own issues but it'll be her creation.

What's that saying about doing something that you love and you'll never work a day in your life...

You're exactly right. I'm not naive in thinking that I won't ever be faced with problems and imperfect situations - but I'd rather do everything I can to shape my future in a direction I want. Being able to work at a company I co-founded is the best possible outcome for me (and I'm absolutely loving it so far).

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