4 ms·

Well, you have to play the culture game and tell everyone you have absurd goals and just realize those aren't you goals. Business expectations for employees is

Well, you have to play the culture game and tell everyone you have absurd goals and just realize those aren't you goals. Business expectations for employees is at an all time high in levels of absurdity. They want you to be ambitions because they want you to do things for them to make them money, preferably at no or low costs. We've really let greed run wild in this country and this is the effect. For a long time it was optional, you didn't have to play these games if you just wanted to live comfortably. Anymore, you have to play the same games just to live comfortably. At some point it will create a generation of entrepreneurs who will realize "if I have to do all this, for someone else, and it's about the same if I do it for myself, why do I work for them?" Assuming competition is actually possible, it becomes a valid question. As an employee you shouldn't be expected to work like a business owner, not unless you have significant stake (are a partial owner) as well.

leetrout 5y ago
Very well said. Exactly why i want to do my own thing.
giantg2 5y ago
' "if I have to do all this, for someone else, and it's about the same if I do it for myself, why do I work for them?" Assuming competition is actually possible, ... ' Very true. I feel like competition is not possible in many ventures. The big players can crush you with stuff like loss leaders or just economy of scale.
Viliam1234 5y ago
> "if I have to do all this, for someone else, and it's about the same if I do it for myself, why do I work for them?" This thought has already crossed my mind. I mean, I am far from being the hypothetical perfect employee who is simultaneously an expert on all existing technologies, can successfuly manage teams of developers, talks to customers, notices opportunities on the market for new products, and whatever else... but I thought that if I ever became that kind of guy, I would have to be really stupid to continue working at the same company in return for, dunno, maybe 30% raise, but probably also extra overtime and being on the phone 24/7... when the alternative would be to start my own company. Especially if I also knew other people with the same skills whom I could trust, e.g. my former colleagues. So I have two explanations, not sure which one is correct, maybe it's a bit of both... A) There actually are people who reach this level of perfect all-knowing and all-capable employee, who nonetheless do not start their own companies. Maybe they lack the capital: either they are not paid well and they do not notice the opportunity to change jobs, or they have insane spending habits. Or maybe the lack the courage, or ambition, or just have a huge blind spot no one told them about. This might be one person in a thousand, but the idea is that if you find one such employee, it's like winning at lottery -- you let the guy run your business but keep putting all the money in your pockets, and you kinda retire except not officially because you do not want the guy to notice that he is now running the entire business alone. Does this actually happen in real life? B) Of course, such perfection is unachievable. It is just presented to you as a realistic goal that "obviously everyone else does", so that you feel like an impostor, and don't ask for a raise.
- pc86 5y ago
  Being an entrepreneur is really hard work. Yeah you can get rich, sometimes very quickly, but a lot of people just don't want to work 5-10x as hard for 0.5-100x the pay.
godot 5y ago
Such a generation of entrepreneurs have already been created; this past decade we see more startups (especially in tech, but not just so) than we ever did before. To answer the actual question of why work for them instead of going at it on your own -- starting and building a business is hard. Even if you are capable of doing everything, and have the ambitions, it's still hard. Getting a job is relatively a lot easier, say what you will about tech interviews (btw, I do agree that tech interviews suck and are needlessly difficult). From that perspective, working for someone else is the easier way out, with a stable salary. Other than that I agree with you, in most companies now you do have to play that culture game even if you're pretty happy with where you are now.

leetrout 5y ago

Very well said. Exactly why i want to do my own thing.

giantg2 5y ago

' "if I have to do all this, for someone else, and it's about the same if I do it for myself, why do I work for them?" Assuming competition is actually possible, ... ' Very true. I feel like competition is not possible in many ventures. The big players can crush you with stuff like loss leaders or just economy of scale.

Viliam1234 5y ago

> "if I have to do all this, for someone else, and it's about the same if I do it for myself, why do I work for them?" This thought has already crossed my mind. I mean, I am far from being the hypothetical perfect employee who is simultaneously an expert on all existing technologies, can successfuly manage teams of developers, talks to customers, notices opportunities on the market for new products, and whatever else... but I thought that if I ever became that kind of guy, I would have to be really stupid to continue working at the same company in return for, dunno, maybe 30% raise, but probably also extra overtime and being on the phone 24/7... when the alternative would be to start my own company. Especially if I also knew other people with the same skills whom I could trust, e.g. my former colleagues. So I have two explanations, not sure which one is correct, maybe it's a bit of both... A) There actually are people who reach this level of perfect all-knowing and all-capable employee, who nonetheless do not start their own companies. Maybe they lack the capital: either they are not paid well and they do not notice the opportunity to change jobs, or they have insane spending habits. Or maybe the lack the courage, or ambition, or just have a huge blind spot no one told them about. This might be one person in a thousand, but the idea is that if you find one such employee, it's like winning at lottery -- you let the guy run your business but keep putting all the money in your pockets, and you kinda retire except not officially because you do not want the guy to notice that he is now running the entire business alone. Does this actually happen in real life? B) Of course, such perfection is unachievable. It is just presented to you as a realistic goal that "obviously everyone else does", so that you feel like an impostor, and don't ask for a raise.

pc86 5y ago
Being an entrepreneur is really hard work. Yeah you can get rich, sometimes very quickly, but a lot of people just don't want to work 5-10x as hard for 0.5-100x the pay.

godot 5y ago

Such a generation of entrepreneurs have already been created; this past decade we see more startups (especially in tech, but not just so) than we ever did before. To answer the actual question of why work for them instead of going at it on your own -- starting and building a business is hard. Even if you are capable of doing everything, and have the ambitions, it's still hard. Getting a job is relatively a lot easier, say what you will about tech interviews (btw, I do agree that tech interviews suck and are needlessly difficult). From that perspective, working for someone else is the easier way out, with a stable salary. Other than that I agree with you, in most companies now you do have to play that culture game even if you're pretty happy with where you are now.