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You're going to get a pretty consistent response from HN because as a generalization most employees of a startup tend to join specifically BECAUSE they care. It
by bussierem 5y ago
You're going to get a pretty consistent response from HN because as a generalization most employees of a startup tend to join specifically BECAUSE they care. It's a biased sample pool in general.
As someone who has been on both sides of things but leans much more on the side of the fence you're asking from, my take is: they are looking for someone who drinks the Kool aid.
From a pure efficiency standpoint, caring does matter to an extent. With your side projects, you wouldn't spend your voluntary time doing something you don't care about. That excitement translates to more happiness, productivity, and (more cynically) the decent chance you will complain less if they need you to work overtime. You're in it for the MISSION so if the MISSION needs you to work until 8 tonight then you'll be gungho.
So my extremely cynical answer here is: they often care to have leverage to use on you. Is this true everywhere? Nope. But assuming it's true can often net you a sane work life balance. I would just tell you to lie. Do some research on the product or team, maybe learn what their own corporate BS is that they spout for their mission, and parrot it back to them slightly modified during the interview. When you get the job, then you can fake a little along the way but as long as you remain a high performer people will overlook your apparent lack of "excitement" because they don't want to risk losing you.
To my employer: I swear this isn't true for me. :)
- chakhs 5y agoHaha thanks. Funny enough I spent last night up to 4 am working on my company's features :) Because I was solving a problem that would alleviate my colleagues work. Even though I don't care that much about the product itself. But yeah I always do what you suggested in interviews, I just wanted to try it this time
- drstewart 5y agoSo if you had a choice between a doctor that cares about their patients and one that doesn't, which one are you going to? Just to make sure you aren't cynically trying to gain leverage over your medical provider.
- giantg2 5y agoI don't know, House is pretty good at his job... On a serious note, a doctor can be professional and care about outcomes without caring about the patient. Providing care and emotionally caring are separate things, and are generally best kept separate (doctors are not supposed to practice on family). In fact, I recently met a doctor who is not very personable but has excellent patient outcomes and is highly regarded in his field.
- iExploder 5y agoI would prefer a doctor that does the best job.
- seattle_spring 5y agoI agree with this. Plus, let's be real: it's nigh impossible to be passionate about half of the products out there. Really? You'd tell me honestly that you're passionate about what Zillow provides? Indeed? Not buyin it.
- iExploder 5y agoits a human nature to invent stories to justify ones behavior, it gives an illusion of control in ones life... nah, most people given an _insert_whatever_amount_ per month as UBI would not come back to their job they are _so_excited_ about or _have_found_purpose_ of doing, it just needs a bit of self awareness and reflection to see that