3 ms·

Well, I haven't run a small business, but I've been astounded by the number of very sharp engineers I've run into over the years who are completely myopic about

by jbooth 10y ago

Well, I haven't run a small business, but I've been astounded by the number of very sharp engineers I've run into over the years who are completely myopic about the business impact of their activity. From not having internalized basic microecon fundamentals to being willfully ignorant as long as they get to work on their pet technology. Small business owners, presumably, have both of those lessons pretty well internalized, in addition to a certain "just get it frickin done" attitude towards things that need to be done. The super-advanced algo-writing skills that we in the industry screen for, conversely, come up as a real-world requirement far less commonly, and you can poll the whole office for opinions when they do, because everyone's excited to see an actual nifty problem.

lsc 10y ago
eh, I dunno. I think that as a technical person? trying to change things based on "business impact" or based on micro fundamentals is probably going to cause more problems for the company than just doing what I'm told. (At the very least, it's going to cause a lot more problems for my career.) - I mean, one would hope that the big company could afford to hire a businessperson who could more than just eek by. I do think that experience of managing people has made me a better employee, even if maybe I'm not ready to really be a manager again yet. I've got a lot more empathy for the boss than I did before starting this. I've been a bad boss, and I know what leads to those bad boss behaviors, and it's not maliciousness. Managing people is just hard. And there is a bigger picture that you don't see as an employee. I now can accept that when the boss asks me to do something a stupid way, if the boss still tells me to do it that way after I explain why I think it's stupid, well, sometimes there are other issues outside the boss' control that make the stupid way the only way. If anything, running my own company has made me way better at 'staying in the box' when necessary. Or, at least, it has convinced me that there are times that I ought to stay in the box.
tedmiston 10y ago
> "just get it frickin done" attitude Jessica Livingston, in a recent interview with Sam Altman [0], said that she believes determination is the #1 trait for startup founder success (over intelligence etc). I don't think it's a stretch to say the same applies to very early employees. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFOC-cgIWaY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFOC-cgIWaY

by jbooth 10y ago

lsc 10y ago

eh, I dunno. I think that as a technical person? trying to change things based on "business impact" or based on micro fundamentals is probably going to cause more problems for the company than just doing what I'm told. (At the very least, it's going to cause a lot more problems for my career.) - I mean, one would hope that the big company could afford to hire a businessperson who could more than just eek by. I do think that experience of managing people has made me a better employee, even if maybe I'm not ready to really be a manager again yet. I've got a lot more empathy for the boss than I did before starting this. I've been a bad boss, and I know what leads to those bad boss behaviors, and it's not maliciousness. Managing people is just hard. And there is a bigger picture that you don't see as an employee. I now can accept that when the boss asks me to do something a stupid way, if the boss still tells me to do it that way after I explain why I think it's stupid, well, sometimes there are other issues outside the boss' control that make the stupid way the only way. If anything, running my own company has made me way better at 'staying in the box' when necessary. Or, at least, it has convinced me that there are times that I ought to stay in the box.

tedmiston 10y ago

> "just get it frickin done" attitude Jessica Livingston, in a recent interview with Sam Altman [0], said that she believes determination is the #1 trait for startup founder success (over intelligence etc). I don't think it's a stretch to say the same applies to very early employees. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFOC-cgIWaY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFOC-cgIWaY