You forget that you can have the best of both worlds: you can join a startup and become a Rock Star Programmer. Possibly also some sort of Ninja! More seriousl

You forget that you can have the best of both worlds: you can join a startup and become a Rock Star Programmer. Possibly also some sort of Ninja! More seriously: nothing wrong with taking a swing. The main problem is not the people who take risks to begin with. It's the ones who don't know when to quit and carry on a failed plan to the point of turning their lives into a parody - the difference between a couple years off and a decade spent mucking around getting nowhere.