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Comment by brianmcdonough | Hacker News Reader

Silicon Valley is a beautiful area as is Tel Aviv and Singapore, but none of these places is going to change who you are or the decisions you make.

Working long hours is not a function of where you live. It's a choice.

I checked out the website for the company OP mentioned selling. The about page is not filled in with content, leading me to a conclusion that it's not really a fully thought through idea, let alone a company.

There's a moment in everyone's life when they either decide to start telling themselves the truth, i.e., I am not a hockey player (Guy Kawasaki reference from the linked article), or they continue to live a life of lies.

Perhaps moving to a new place will convince someone they need to be honest and make the right choices for themselves, but I suspect a dramatic move is not necessary to begin telling oneself the truth.

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The company I sold was indeed fully thought out - it was ranked one of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in America by INC Magazine in 2011 ;)

It was sold by the buyer who bought it from me (acquired by a supplier), and I have no control over the content anymore, but as far as I can tell the site has been completely replaced at least twice since I sold it.

As far as "living a life of lies," I take offense, and I'm not sure where you come to this conclusion.

For me, living a life of lies meant telling myself I was meant to go to Stanford and run a Silicon Valley Startup.

Since I'm not sure there's any basis to the rest of your critique, I don't know how to respond to it.

So... you're the same guy as OP?

I'm actually not sure who the OP is... I'm the author of the article. Came here to post it myself and saw that it was already here. (You can see that my username matches the username the article links to on twitter, @entreprenewer)

Your former company is falling to pieces. No fault of yours, but you might have checked it out before you linked to it.

For clarification as to my comment.

The lie: I behave this way because of the place I live.

The truth: I am responsible for my behavior, regardless of where I live.

The fault, therefore, is not Silicon Valley, but the choices I make every day.

Finally, congratulations, you not only have a choice of how you behave, but you also enjoy the rare choice of being able to choose where you live.

Enjoy your choices. That's all I was trying to say. And I think Silicon Valley is a beautiful area, so don't knock it unless you have a legitimate gripe ;)

> Working long hours is not a function of where you live. It's a choice.

Our choices are often informed, for better or worse, by those around us.

And, for those for whom compensation is attached directly to how many hours they spend working (when you think about it, this group includes plenty of people on "salary" as well), where you live and the hours you work are directly correlated.

Both of those are true, but part of learning how to make your own choices is learning how to ignore the choices of those around you and adapt to (but not be defined by!) the circumstances you find yourself in.

But adapting to circumstances includes adapting working hours. If companies expect 80 hours a week, you will be fired or have too low salary no matter how great your output is. Then you have to move if you do not want to work those 80 and be employed/work on interesting projects.

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.

I couldn't agree more. I have friends at McKinsey London who are working 8AM-11PM every night, and I have friends at McKinsey Amsterdam who work 9AM-6PM.

Different places have different cultures. I'm not going to go so far as to say that Israel's work culture is more relaxed than the valley's, because people work their asses off here, too, but I think there's definitely a more "chilled" attitude here. As an example, most people go to the army for at least 2-3 years, then take 6-12 months off to explore the world before getting their bachelor's degree (which takes 4-5 years). How many people in the valley have this kind of lax attitude? In fact, most of the valley's prized examples can't even wait to finish their freshman year of college... see the difference?

I also think the fact that most people are a little older and have a little more perspective (having served a minimum of 3 years defending their country) changes the dynamic. Just my opinions.

I should also mention that the editors of the article cut what I felt was an important part - how I fell in love with the country, found that my social and family life was better here (In Israel), and how it was all about personal reasons for me - not professional...

I wish they'd left that bit in, but what can I do? ;)

Moving to another country is a great experience, but to your point, it can help perpetuate our illusions rather than remove them.

I agree but the truth/lies argument is too black and white for me. It sounds like somebody is having a dark day.

I don't think it's a good idea to overthink and start philosophizing about entrepreneurship in general.It does more harm than good.

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