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> Work not that interesting If you think that now, I wouldn't do it. Or instead, offer to contract part-time to the startup alongside your current gig. I wou

> Work not that interesting If you think that now, I wouldn't do it. Or instead, offer to contract part-time to the startup alongside your current gig. I would also weigh where you're at in your life (do you value the extra money and the extra free time sufficiently more to be a contractor or not?). I've done seed stage, early founder style, and mid-stage startups. IMO engineering is much more fun at the former; work-life balance (what's a vacation?), and comp are much better at the latter. Different people place different amounts of value on these things though.

throwawaygrrqq 10y ago
Where I am at in my life is a good point - My life situation is that right now I could do with the extra money that contracting brings as I have my first child on the way. From your experience what point in life do you think it's right to join a startup? It's something I often associate with people in their 20s but I don't know if this is more the impression I get from the media.
- tedmiston 10y ago
  Like many "big risks"* in life, I think earlier is better for most people. But I also think it's very challenging to give advice to other people about it vs understanding my own values and talking about my own experiences. Personally, I joined one right out of grad school. I also joined with the intention of being a founder myself one day, and learning things that would directly benefit that. I think this is a common rationale. While there is a bias toward twenty-somethings in startups, I wouldn't let that discourage you. I think it's just that the risk of "I might not have a job in 6 months" is more palatable when you're: young, not used to making (much) money, don't have a mortgage, or kids. I don't mention any of these things as reasons to discourage you, just to think about a hypothesis for the bias. By the way, PG wrote a nice essay on pros / cons called A Student's Guide to Startups [1], which is really practical for anyone considering founding or working for an early-stage startup. While much of it is about founding your own company, there is a ton of overlap between that and joining someone else's early stage company. *I do not consider working for a seed-stage startup as big of a risk as it's made out to be. [1]: http://paulgraham.com/mit.html http://paulgraham.com/mit.html

throwawaygrrqq 10y ago

Where I am at in my life is a good point - My life situation is that right now I could do with the extra money that contracting brings as I have my first child on the way. From your experience what point in life do you think it's right to join a startup? It's something I often associate with people in their 20s but I don't know if this is more the impression I get from the media.

tedmiston 10y ago
Like many "big risks"* in life, I think earlier is better for most people. But I also think it's very challenging to give advice to other people about it vs understanding my own values and talking about my own experiences. Personally, I joined one right out of grad school. I also joined with the intention of being a founder myself one day, and learning things that would directly benefit that. I think this is a common rationale. While there is a bias toward twenty-somethings in startups, I wouldn't let that discourage you. I think it's just that the risk of "I might not have a job in 6 months" is more palatable when you're: young, not used to making (much) money, don't have a mortgage, or kids. I don't mention any of these things as reasons to discourage you, just to think about a hypothesis for the bias. By the way, PG wrote a nice essay on pros / cons called A Student's Guide to Startups [1], which is really practical for anyone considering founding or working for an early-stage startup. While much of it is about founding your own company, there is a ton of overlap between that and joining someone else's early stage company. *I do not consider working for a seed-stage startup as big of a risk as it's made out to be. [1]: http://paulgraham.com/mit.html http://paulgraham.com/mit.html