4 ms·

Chaos, no sleep, chaos, endless stream of changing requirements, you will be blamed for everything. Just remember: the real bonuses will go to the managers, no

Chaos, no sleep, chaos, endless stream of changing requirements, you will be blamed for everything. Just remember: the real bonuses will go to the managers, not you, they will get rid of you as soon as they will need to find someone to blame for their decisions. And of course the non-technical managers will know that "everything is easy, you will do the new dropbox over the weekend, right" (however that's so easy that they cannot do it themselves).

singularity2001 8y ago
You might think this is a joke. It's not.
bnt 8y ago
This. This so many times.
mabbo 8y ago
Right, but tell us about the down sides.
dudul 8y ago
Don't forget "all other developers hired after you will make more money"
scoggs 8y ago
> you will be blamed for everything Yes. I'm going to venture to say that if you sense this at all or you can already feel like you know that your co-workers / superiors aren't very tech savvy and you suspect they hired you to be a one-stop-shop to fix everything computer and technology related for them (that they don't know about themselves) than you need to, in painful detail, outline their expectations of you, your capabilities, what you can and can't do, what you think should be done, and also give ideas and plans for how to tackle the toughest things they expect as well as how you'll go about outsourcing things you don't know how to do / don't want to do / can't do from 3rd parties who absolutely can deliver those things. Get ahead of the nightmare before it eats you alive. EDIT: Since so many other people are echoing my sentiments I'll also add that if you feel like your superiors think along the lines of, "Good developers are a dime a dozen and you can be easily replaced.", than you need to start job hunting. I've met a few people who did IT or sales in server space / colocation, etc. and helped them on a few side projects / start-up ideas and I'll never forget how much money they wound up losing after trying to low ball me for work I did when they dropped that line on me, flat out, in the middle of me working on their websites, network, general IT stuff, and other apps / generic projects. They tried to renegotiate my payment amount and payment schedule in the middle of the contract after already signing it. Big mistake. It felt so good to hold all the cards and power when they tried to flex that "I'm your boss and I can make or break your career / life right now." attitude. They thought they could easily replace a developer / technical person like changing shoes but they didn't realize that a lot of developers won't put up with this shit from the get go. Lots of people won't even give it a chance, they aren't willing to work with superiors who are learning how to treat technical folks. Be careful out there and don't allow your superiors to dictate your mood or happiness. It's not worth your time, effort, or the money because if you find yourself in that situation you can almost bet your aren't getting paid enough. You'll probably be doing the work of 2-3 or more professionals for people bringing in the money you should be making while doing next to no actual work that helps the company profit. Another thing. If you do wind up leaving a company and you know they aren't paying you enough you can nearly bet that after you go and they try to fill your spot they'll attempt to fill it by paying someone LESS than they paid you. I've heard nightmare stories from recruiters / headhunters I've worked with who were tasked with trying to fill my shoes with companies who seriously thought I was wrong when I told them they were asking too much of me / paying me too little for the "bare minimum" they thought I was doing (multiple people's jobs as I said). People are crazy out there.
- dabockster 8y ago
  > you need to, in painful detail, outline their expectations of you, your capabilities, what you can and can't do, what you think should be done, and also give ideas and plans for how to tackle the toughest things they expect as well as how you'll go about outsourcing things you don't know how to do / don't want to do / can't do from 3rd parties who absolutely can deliver those things Having been in OP's exact position, he/she will probably be, at the very least, threatened with termination in a highly unprofessional manner if this is asked. I'm talking under-the-breath threats to passive-aggressive actions designed to make OP's life a living hell. Non-tech founders are the worst and will do everything to make you feel in debt to them since they provided you with a job (aka an "amazing opportunity to disrupt XYZ field").
  - scoggs 8y ago
    I definitely didn't approach it exactly how I wanted it to come off but I mean I'm not saying to go say this stuff verbatim to them but you have to take a stance where you are attempting to meet half way, work with them, and try to make them understand how you can best do your job. Especially if, like I said, the superiors are really not tech savvy folks. Without some understanding in that realm it's going to be choppy seas.
geijoenr 8y ago
I have had an experience similar to what you describe. When marketing doesn't go well or the product doesn't get a fit, they always will look at you.
dabockster 8y ago
Adding to this, once you quit/get fired you will want to get checked for mental health problems immediately. I quit a similar situation and entered a 6-8 month depression cycle where I couldn't even get out of bed some days. Also drained my savings since I wasn't working.

singularity2001 8y ago

You might think this is a joke. It's not.

bnt 8y ago

This. This so many times.

mabbo 8y ago

Right, but tell us about the down sides.

dudul 8y ago

Don't forget "all other developers hired after you will make more money"

scoggs 8y ago

> you will be blamed for everything Yes. I'm going to venture to say that if you sense this at all or you can already feel like you know that your co-workers / superiors aren't very tech savvy and you suspect they hired you to be a one-stop-shop to fix everything computer and technology related for them (that they don't know about themselves) than you need to, in painful detail, outline their expectations of you, your capabilities, what you can and can't do, what you think should be done, and also give ideas and plans for how to tackle the toughest things they expect as well as how you'll go about outsourcing things you don't know how to do / don't want to do / can't do from 3rd parties who absolutely can deliver those things. Get ahead of the nightmare before it eats you alive. EDIT: Since so many other people are echoing my sentiments I'll also add that if you feel like your superiors think along the lines of, "Good developers are a dime a dozen and you can be easily replaced.", than you need to start job hunting. I've met a few people who did IT or sales in server space / colocation, etc. and helped them on a few side projects / start-up ideas and I'll never forget how much money they wound up losing after trying to low ball me for work I did when they dropped that line on me, flat out, in the middle of me working on their websites, network, general IT stuff, and other apps / generic projects. They tried to renegotiate my payment amount and payment schedule in the middle of the contract after already signing it. Big mistake. It felt so good to hold all the cards and power when they tried to flex that "I'm your boss and I can make or break your career / life right now." attitude. They thought they could easily replace a developer / technical person like changing shoes but they didn't realize that a lot of developers won't put up with this shit from the get go. Lots of people won't even give it a chance, they aren't willing to work with superiors who are learning how to treat technical folks. Be careful out there and don't allow your superiors to dictate your mood or happiness. It's not worth your time, effort, or the money because if you find yourself in that situation you can almost bet your aren't getting paid enough. You'll probably be doing the work of 2-3 or more professionals for people bringing in the money you should be making while doing next to no actual work that helps the company profit. Another thing. If you do wind up leaving a company and you know they aren't paying you enough you can nearly bet that after you go and they try to fill your spot they'll attempt to fill it by paying someone LESS than they paid you. I've heard nightmare stories from recruiters / headhunters I've worked with who were tasked with trying to fill my shoes with companies who seriously thought I was wrong when I told them they were asking too much of me / paying me too little for the "bare minimum" they thought I was doing (multiple people's jobs as I said). People are crazy out there.

dabockster 8y ago
> you need to, in painful detail, outline their expectations of you, your capabilities, what you can and can't do, what you think should be done, and also give ideas and plans for how to tackle the toughest things they expect as well as how you'll go about outsourcing things you don't know how to do / don't want to do / can't do from 3rd parties who absolutely can deliver those things Having been in OP's exact position, he/she will probably be, at the very least, threatened with termination in a highly unprofessional manner if this is asked. I'm talking under-the-breath threats to passive-aggressive actions designed to make OP's life a living hell. Non-tech founders are the worst and will do everything to make you feel in debt to them since they provided you with a job (aka an "amazing opportunity to disrupt XYZ field").
- scoggs 8y ago
  I definitely didn't approach it exactly how I wanted it to come off but I mean I'm not saying to go say this stuff verbatim to them but you have to take a stance where you are attempting to meet half way, work with them, and try to make them understand how you can best do your job. Especially if, like I said, the superiors are really not tech savvy folks. Without some understanding in that realm it's going to be choppy seas.

geijoenr 8y ago

I have had an experience similar to what you describe. When marketing doesn't go well or the product doesn't get a fit, they always will look at you.

dabockster 8y ago

Adding to this, once you quit/get fired you will want to get checked for mental health problems immediately. I quit a similar situation and entered a 6-8 month depression cycle where I couldn't even get out of bed some days. Also drained my savings since I wasn't working.