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"Work for another company if you want to, but only for a small one..." My first job out of school was at IBM. This was invaluable not because I learned a lot b
by fleaflicker 19y ago
"Work for another company if you want to, but only for a small one..."
My first job out of school was at IBM. This was invaluable not because I learned a lot but because I witnessed firsthand the bureaucratic inertia described in the article.
When I left to launch a startup, I never looked back or second-guessed myself because I knew I wasn't missing anything.
- Readmore 19y agoI'm also a recovering IBMer. It was awful... like 'Programming in a time of Cholera'
- sbraford 19y agoI'm a recovering SBCer (now AT&T, again?). IBMers and SBCers compete over whose company was the basis for Office Space & TPS Reports. (i.e. the TPS Report zero that started it all)
- MachoCryBaby 19y agoI think that's crucial. I also worked for a huge software company for a couple of years before striking out on my own and the experience was worth it just to satisfy my curiosity about it, alone. The knowledge of what it is like and resulting lack of second guessing is valuable. Lastly, I think this sort of testing, if you will, is worth doing in general. There were a couple of things I was really curious about trying as a freelancer. Each time, even when it didn't pan out was invaluable in terms of getting to know my own motivations more and refining what I liked, was good at and what I didn't. Sometimes you think you love something but you really don't know until you do it. You might like only parts of it but its worth doing it to learn that.