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I’d love to see an opportunity cost side note in here. I.e. how much is the author not making by being solo instead of still working at Google. That, of course,
by mdorazio 6y ago
I’d love to see an opportunity cost side note in here. I.e. how much is the author not making by being solo instead of still working at Google. That, of course, is the reality for the large majority of solo developers: if you include opportunity cost you’re probably losing massive amounts of money and need to be sure the trade off is worth it to you personally.
- whateveracct 6y agoit's kind of hard to quantify though working at Google requires time. it's a full-time job and requires expending focus and energy. and outside of PTO and managing your workload a bit, you pretty much are bound to it week-over-week. there's something to be said for reclaiming 40+ hrs/week of time back for yourself
- mtlynch 6y agoThanks for reading! >I’d love to see an opportunity cost side note in here. I'd estimate that if I stayed at Google or transferred to another FAANG-type company, my annual comp would be ~$500k at this point. But it's also important to note that I'm optimizing for life satisfaction rather than wealth. I'd take $80k/yr working for myself over $800k/yr working for someone else because I love working for myself and can support my basic needs with my existing passive income. Realistically, there's some price where I'd take a job working for a big corporation, but it would have to be extremely high ($2M+) or an unusually good learning opportunity for me to be willing to give up my current lifestyle.
- jka 6y agoAnother (atypical) way to look at it is to consider the dual meaning of the word "compensation". What is such high _compensation_ for? It's possible to interpret it as compensation for the other things that you could have been doing instead; which in your case, you are: so congratulations :)
- hermitcrab 6y agoAmen. “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.” ― Bob Dylan I wrote about my take on being a 'lifestyle programmer' here: https://successfulsoftware.net/2013/11/06/lifestyle-programming/ https://successfulsoftware.net/2013/11/06/lifestyle-programm...
- stocknoob 6y agoCongrats. It's very, very rare for people in this industry to realize what is enough for them. True story, Word of Honor: Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer now dead, and I were at a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island. I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel ‘Catch-22’ has earned in its entire history?” And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.” And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?” And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.” Not bad! Rest in peace!” — Kurt Vonnegut
- holografix 6y agoI was also thinking this. As much as I hope the author is happy and safe and that his ventures succeed I’m a bit dumbfounded by what seems like irresponsibility and a lack of maturity. I guess if you don’t need the money for rent, have access to great healthcare, don’t plan on financially supporting a family etc, this is a lifestyle choice. In terms of potentially influencing other people to make similar choices that are not as “risk free” the author should add an opportunity cost to his calculations.
- prawn 6y agoI think adults can assess that themselves pretty easily. Any opportunity cost he wrote in would be his own personal situation anyway. How is it irresponsible to make a considered decision between two options? The author has been open about their work history and reasoning behind a move, so there is more than enough for readers to take as influence, I think.
- ehnto 6y agoOne thing should be clear, the "opportunity cost" he has mentioned of making 500k/annual is absolutely not a worry for most people. Even amongst entrepreneurs, a FANG software engineer is a unique cohort. For almost everyone else the opportunity cost isn't choosing between enormous wealth and entrepreneurship, it is choosing between a mediocre salary and a life under your own control.
- claudiulodro 6y agoAs far as I can tell, OP is already basically financially independent, so extra money doesn't have much utility for them (this may also be why it's taken them 3 years to make money off businesses, though -- no real urgency!)