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I've been that guy before, at my first serious early-stage, well-funded startup. The founders and executive team completely fucked it up. They kept hiring cra

I've been that guy before, at my first serious early-stage, well-funded startup. The founders and executive team completely fucked it up. They kept hiring crappy/unmotivated people, prioritizing growing the team in quantity over quality, and with every added mediocre head it only amplified the morale drag when I'd be delivering huge progress after multi-day sleepless sprints while everyone else was barely getting anything done in the 9-5 office productivity theatre of standups and meetings. I started absolutely dreading coming to the office after completing one of my kamikaze sprints. The VP of Eng had established this twisted pattern of holding a standup the moment I leisurely walked in the door at whatever hour I happened to make it in after not being seen for days, which for over a year was the weekly norm. Everyone in engineering would have little to nothing to say about their progress, and I'd drop another mother lode. It just made everyone else feel inferior, and I started to increasingly abhor their lack of progress and feel like I was the only person actually taking the opportunity seriously enough to make an effort. It culminated in my abrupt departure three years in. And for years afterwards they failed to deliver any major new features successfully. Burned through many more millions of dollars, before eventually going bankrupt. My mistake was not leaving earlier. That experience left such an awful taste in my mouth I've basically never made that level of sacrifice of my own life/time at another company since. Edit: To clarify, the hard lesson I learned at this job was that no amount of individual contribution can save a sinking ship. This particular experience was 15 years ago, and I've worked at numerous startups since, some with successful exits. I haven't seen any correlation between the amount of my contribution and the likelihood of a successful exit, absolutely none. Surely this is different for founders, but I haven't gone down that road yet. What I have seen however is some companies are far more dysfunctional than others, and the best thing you can do is learn to identify them quickly and RUN, the opportunity cost is too great.

edmundsauto 7y ago
I intend this as a nudge for you to introspect, not as a criticism. I've shared your perspective before, and have found much more satisfaction in looking at my own behavior to understand what of my experiences were true facts, and what were stories that I told myself. For me, the reality was that my ego needed the boost from my perceived superiority. I had little else in my life that I Was proud of. Looking back, I understand how my behavior was an expression of a great deal of talent plus insecurity. I've spent a lot of time working on myself, and my career and life satisfaction are significantly higher because of it.
- newnewpdro 7y ago
  Yeah, no, I think you're misreading my comment. I probably should have mentioned somewhere, I'm not that talented. I've worked enough places to know I'm just average. My apparent special ability is in the long hours department. If I commit to doing something, it's getting done, to a fault. I've been this way since my teens, staying up for days without even realizing it while figuring something out. I'm already too introspective, you have no idea.
cmonnow 7y ago
I was a database consultant at top-5 tech company. Called in for a 6-week project to help a client land a multi-million-dollar contract. They had tried to speed up their code for 2 years prior to this. But had reached a bottleneck they couldn't overcome.. and without which, they would go to a competitor (wink wink) platform. Me & another consultant were brought it. Early on, the client decided to put me in lead. I tried some things for 2 weeks, with them watching my screen to 'learn'.. and nothing was progressing. One day, I told them I need to work alone, spent couple nights awake, until I got a light bulb moment to process queries in parallel instead of sequentially. Found sample code on internet, modified it to work on client codebase, prepared a demo, ignored writing a 'status report' (which pissed off the Project Manager), and did a demo to the clientele of 15 managers, directors & SVP - all in the span of 2 days (wed to fri). Guess what had happened during those 2 days behind my back? The client, PM, and my manager had decided to replace me with a more senior architect starting Monday, and were ready to take me off on Fri at 3 pm. At 1 p.m I did my demo, which literally floored them. I then came to know about the machinations, and then the PM and my manager called me at 4 p.m apologizing, and saying they definitely wanted me on the project. I told them it was a perfect storm of mis-understanding, under-communication and over-reaction, which given the project's short & intense deadline, was just part of the game, and to forget about it and move on. During my annual review, the Client/PM/Manager called me a 'cowboy' and gave a 'poor performance' rating. I told my manager that I accept the first part as a compliment and reject the second part as incorrect judgement. I got fired. I left with a smile on my face.

edmundsauto 7y ago

I intend this as a nudge for you to introspect, not as a criticism. I've shared your perspective before, and have found much more satisfaction in looking at my own behavior to understand what of my experiences were true facts, and what were stories that I told myself. For me, the reality was that my ego needed the boost from my perceived superiority. I had little else in my life that I Was proud of. Looking back, I understand how my behavior was an expression of a great deal of talent plus insecurity. I've spent a lot of time working on myself, and my career and life satisfaction are significantly higher because of it.

newnewpdro 7y ago
Yeah, no, I think you're misreading my comment. I probably should have mentioned somewhere, I'm not that talented. I've worked enough places to know I'm just average. My apparent special ability is in the long hours department. If I commit to doing something, it's getting done, to a fault. I've been this way since my teens, staying up for days without even realizing it while figuring something out. I'm already too introspective, you have no idea.

cmonnow 7y ago

I was a database consultant at top-5 tech company. Called in for a 6-week project to help a client land a multi-million-dollar contract. They had tried to speed up their code for 2 years prior to this. But had reached a bottleneck they couldn't overcome.. and without which, they would go to a competitor (wink wink) platform. Me & another consultant were brought it. Early on, the client decided to put me in lead. I tried some things for 2 weeks, with them watching my screen to 'learn'.. and nothing was progressing. One day, I told them I need to work alone, spent couple nights awake, until I got a light bulb moment to process queries in parallel instead of sequentially. Found sample code on internet, modified it to work on client codebase, prepared a demo, ignored writing a 'status report' (which pissed off the Project Manager), and did a demo to the clientele of 15 managers, directors & SVP - all in the span of 2 days (wed to fri). Guess what had happened during those 2 days behind my back? The client, PM, and my manager had decided to replace me with a more senior architect starting Monday, and were ready to take me off on Fri at 3 pm. At 1 p.m I did my demo, which literally floored them. I then came to know about the machinations, and then the PM and my manager called me at 4 p.m apologizing, and saying they definitely wanted me on the project. I told them it was a perfect storm of mis-understanding, under-communication and over-reaction, which given the project's short & intense deadline, was just part of the game, and to forget about it and move on. During my annual review, the Client/PM/Manager called me a 'cowboy' and gave a 'poor performance' rating. I told my manager that I accept the first part as a compliment and reject the second part as incorrect judgement. I got fired. I left with a smile on my face.