4 ms·

Silicon Valley favors those in their 20's because they know they can get away with grinding them into a pulp, for lower pay. Once people age, and wisen up, no o

Silicon Valley favors those in their 20's because they know they can get away with grinding them into a pulp, for lower pay. Once people age, and wisen up, no one wants to put in a billion hours a week.

bluedino 9y ago
Is there a silicon valley success story that doesn't involve the team working long hours, especially in the early days?
- overcast 9y ago
  Probably not, everything takes a lot of work. It's just glamorized for the few unicorns that get talked about. But for every one of those, there are thousands that fail miserably, by no lack of hard work.
- KirinDave 9y ago
  Yes. Tons. I daresay even the majority. But this is not the narrative anyone wants to paint, because it implies "laziness" or "luck" and those are counter-cultural concepts.
  - Florin_Andrei 9y ago
    I'd like to write a bitingly sarcastic sci-fi satire, where the ruins of humanity are discovered by aliens some thousands of years into the future, and the reason they figure for our demise is "trying to keep up with the narrative".
- notfromhere 9y ago
  there's probably a difference between being a founder and being employee #3000 at megaVCstartupcorpify putting in 60 hour weeks
  - bradknowles 9y ago
    Some difference, yes. But in the mid-90s, I worked at AOL, and I was there during a period of very high growth. I did my 72-hour workdays where I spent two nights in a row working straight through in the office. I did the on-call schedule. I did the 100+ hour workweeks. I did the calculations once, and with all the stock options I started with, plus the additional ones I got later, after all the splits, I could have gotten as much as 16 million bucks, if I had sold them all at peak. At the time AOL, was a pretty damn big employer. And it had become a toxic enough environment that I could no longer continue to stay there. So, I ended up leaving almost all of that money on the table when I left. I’ve worked long hard hours in various employers since, but never again quite the levels we saw at AOL. And I’ve never gotten anywhere remotely close to those kinds of options/money again. But I’m okay with that, because I’ve had some amazing experiences in my life, worked with some fantastic people, and gone to some wonderful places. But it is possible to work at a place that is both monstrously big and also at high compensation levels, even down in the trenches. Sure, you won’t make billions that way, but you could actually make millions.
- nerfhammer 9y ago
  In the silicon valley success stories the managers and founders walk away with hundreds of times more than the young engineers they hired.
  - yahna 9y ago
    Yeah but the employees put in their 5 years and walk away with a cool half a million. Having given up just... well about half a million working at a big tech company, but they got to change the world or something.
    - nerfhammer 9y ago
      BigCo != early startup. Generally far fewer all nighters, different risk/reward.
jackhack 9y ago
You've also described the foundation of the modern video game industry.

bluedino 9y ago

Is there a silicon valley success story that doesn't involve the team working long hours, especially in the early days?

overcast 9y ago
Probably not, everything takes a lot of work. It's just glamorized for the few unicorns that get talked about. But for every one of those, there are thousands that fail miserably, by no lack of hard work.
KirinDave 9y ago
Yes. Tons. I daresay even the majority. But this is not the narrative anyone wants to paint, because it implies "laziness" or "luck" and those are counter-cultural concepts.
- Florin_Andrei 9y ago
  I'd like to write a bitingly sarcastic sci-fi satire, where the ruins of humanity are discovered by aliens some thousands of years into the future, and the reason they figure for our demise is "trying to keep up with the narrative".
notfromhere 9y ago
there's probably a difference between being a founder and being employee #3000 at megaVCstartupcorpify putting in 60 hour weeks
- bradknowles 9y ago
  Some difference, yes. But in the mid-90s, I worked at AOL, and I was there during a period of very high growth. I did my 72-hour workdays where I spent two nights in a row working straight through in the office. I did the on-call schedule. I did the 100+ hour workweeks. I did the calculations once, and with all the stock options I started with, plus the additional ones I got later, after all the splits, I could have gotten as much as 16 million bucks, if I had sold them all at peak. At the time AOL, was a pretty damn big employer. And it had become a toxic enough environment that I could no longer continue to stay there. So, I ended up leaving almost all of that money on the table when I left. I’ve worked long hard hours in various employers since, but never again quite the levels we saw at AOL. And I’ve never gotten anywhere remotely close to those kinds of options/money again. But I’m okay with that, because I’ve had some amazing experiences in my life, worked with some fantastic people, and gone to some wonderful places. But it is possible to work at a place that is both monstrously big and also at high compensation levels, even down in the trenches. Sure, you won’t make billions that way, but you could actually make millions.
nerfhammer 9y ago
In the silicon valley success stories the managers and founders walk away with hundreds of times more than the young engineers they hired.
- yahna 9y ago
  Yeah but the employees put in their 5 years and walk away with a cool half a million. Having given up just... well about half a million working at a big tech company, but they got to change the world or something.
  - nerfhammer 9y ago
    BigCo != early startup. Generally far fewer all nighters, different risk/reward.

jackhack 9y ago

You've also described the foundation of the modern video game industry.