Why I Gave Up My Front-Row Seat in Silicon Valley

Then let yourself be fired as that situation comes up. Or better yet, proactively talk with your manager saying "I can't give you 80 hour weeks. Here's what I can give you, and here's what I bring to the table. Is that acceptable?"

I live in Silicon Valley, and I work for a company that's somewhat famous for getting its employees to stay on campus all the time. I usually work 6-8 hour days, and occasionally put in some time on the weekends but usually go have a life instead. I'm leading a very high-priority company project, and I get paid...generously. I don't expect my team members to work any particular hours; hell, I'm terrible at keeping set hours myself. I do expect them (and myself) to make solid progress toward the goal every day, to seek out information and make smart decisions, and to focus their efforts on areas that other people are not already covering.

There's often a lot of leeway between what people say they want and what they actually want. Discovering that leeway is the art of negotiation, which is a useful skill in its own right. If the culture says it wants 80 hour weeks, it does not necessarily mean your employer wants 80 hour weeks. Most likely it wants rapid, dependable progress toward a goal, which is usually better obtained with solid 40-50 hour weeks.

Bootstrap...

It's not the large tech companies that poach employees from small startups, it's other startups. Small startups pose more of a threat to the large, established companies. Some tech giants successfully obtain people by dumping several money trucks on certain sorts of tech talent, precisely because it is so hard to keep them from starting or joining some small venture, which will provide them with autonomy, large impact, and a chance to become fabulously wealthy. The rather cartoonish notions of startup glory also appeal to many.

There's a reason that every company in tech is trying to b.s. people that they either are _really_ a startup (when they are not), or that they are _like_ a startup (yeah, right).

Good engineers are still a gigantic bargain at $150k.

In reality, those good engineers want $150k and extremely high levels of autonomy OR $500k without caring so much about autonomy (hedge funds). A startup obviously can't afford the latter of those two options. You just need to found a company where the great engineer's desire for accomplishment and autonomy will be an asset rather than a liability. Unfortunately, VCs seem pretty invested in the idea that engineers are second-class citizens, so that's not likely to happen in their world.

Silicon Valley's rent problem is atrocious, but the big companies offering $150k are actually making it better. Why? Because when the big-company or government deal is fairly good, only startups with genuinely good ideas can attract engineers.

What's going on right now is that 99% of these startups aren't true tech companies, but bullshit marketing gambits that happen to involve technology. Those are the ones designed to mine the mediocrity of commodity JavaDrones. But if you go into the startup scene not knowing the warning signs, you'll probably end up working for one of those.

Not sustainable for the small startups, that is.

bubble