5 ms·
Ask HN: Self employed who have transitioned to a job: Is it worth it?
I am considering applying for a job and seeing what it's like working in a team.
For now, for work I spend a couple of hours a week maintaining a website.
Most of my time is spent travelling (9 months of the past year) and really enjoy hiking/skiing/mountain biking/surfing with my friends.
The idea of working in a team, learning from other people, having some consistency all motivate me.
However, when I imagine myself losing all my free time, having to wake up at 8 or 9am, spend all day behind a computer, lose autonomy over what I do, I start to think twice.
Am I missing out on a lot by working alone and not in a team?
For those that have never had a job and then switched to employment how did you find it?
A few other facts about me:
* I've never had a job, I've always worked for myself.
* 21 years old
* Withdrew from top university in my country after 6 months (skipped classes I was enrolled in and chose to spend my time at the lectures that interested me instead).
I also am very much a generalist with no specialist skills. What employers would this be valuable for?
Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated. I'm really unsure what to do. =)
- sethrin 9y agoIt's difficult for me to even respond to this politely, but I'll give it a shot. > For now, for work I spend a couple of hours a week maintaining a website. So you have some sort of life where you have no responsibility and don't work. I can see how that might be difficult for you. "Go find something you love and do it," is the typical life advice. I don't get the feeling that you're doing that. I don't get the feeling an office will change that.
- sethrin 9y agoAlso: > Withdrew from top university in my country after 6 months combined with > I also am very much a generalist with no specialist skills. What employers would this be valuable for? None. Not phrased like that anyway.
- caniwork 9y agoThanks for your insight. Have you come across any scenarios where someone without specialist skills has been able to thrive?
- sethrin 9y agoYou've described "maintaining a website" and dropping out of university, and those virtues have enabled you to travel the world. That suggests that this ability is independent of your skills. I honestly feel like I'm being trolled here.
- caniwork 9y agoSorry should have clarified! - scenarios where someone without specialist skills has been able to thrive under employment?
- caniwork 9y ago> So you have some sort of life where you have no responsibility and don't work. Not exactly. I have a responsibility to serve my customers that pay to use the service and still work, just not as much as others. I have spent a lot of time getting the business to the point where it is now. > "Go find something you love and do it" - I don't get the feeling that you're doing that It actually is something I am very passionate about but it's solved the problem I set out to solve. There isn't much more room to develop myself with it. I'm thinking (hoping?) that employment may broaden my perspectives.
- lhuser123 9y agoI think you know the answer. Just look again at your sentence that starts with : However ...