4 ms·

Why bust my ass at FAANG when I can just make a janky job portal and make 10x more. Sigh. I wish I was street smart and not book smart.

basisword 5y ago
If you truly think you can just throw together a 'janky' job portal and make 10x more you should stay at the FAANG.
- jerrre 5y ago
  Yup, there's a lot more bootstrappers who think the opposite: "why bust my ass doing 20jobs at once trying to get a business going when I could just show up and do plumbing and earn 10x more at FAANG."
sombremesa 5y ago
First, life isn’t all about money. Although, If you don’t enjoy what you do you, it’s probably best to find something else. Second, people make things like this all the time (anyone remember the million dollar web page where ads sold by the pixel?) - that doesn’t necessarily mean anything for you or me. It certainly doesn’t mean we should all be endeavoring to create the next PR sensation. Finally, be careful what you wish for.
jerrygoyal 5y ago
it's a lot less about building and much more about marketing.
jordanmoconnor 5y ago
It's all about responsibility and ownership. Pieter is responsible for everything - product, design, sales, marketing, documentation, customer support, etc. At a job, you do your job and someone else does the other jobs. Less responsibility, less income. I do recommend starting something like this on the side, and learning all of the skills listed above. In 5 years or less you can have a side project that makes more than your job with only an hour or two a day.
honkdaddy 5y ago
Maybe Pieter can chime in, but I don't think he's necessarily making 10x more than a FAANG engineer :)
- pieterhg 5y ago
  $3M/y now with ~ 1/3 being investments. I don't know how much FAANG avg is but if it's $300k/y that's 10x
  - Aulig 5y ago
    What do you mean with investments? You reinvest 1/3 of the profits into the business?
  - cweill 5y ago
    Speaking as someone who just quit their FAANG job to go out on my own, your comment is inspirational! Thank you for your transparency.
    - sydthrowaway 5y ago
      What will you be doing?
going_to_800 5y ago
You can try building similar sites as much as you want, you won't get to that level. It's about timing, marketing, etc not just building something and done.
corobo 5y ago
Wishing is a goal without clarity, goals are plans without preparation Literally go for it
masterof0 5y ago
Yeah, right? I feel for some us at FAANG, our current comp is pretty hard to leave, but at least for me, the hardest point is to figure out something that people would pay for and that's not too hard to build alone. I feel like I'm living in a bubble with very little idea what non-tech people need. Is sad.
strikelaserclaw 5y ago
Why bust my ass digging ditches when i can make 300-500k as a FAANG dev and retire in a couple years? You FAANG guys have it better than 99% of jobs out there.

basisword 5y ago

If you truly think you can just throw together a 'janky' job portal and make 10x more you should stay at the FAANG.

jerrre 5y ago
Yup, there's a lot more bootstrappers who think the opposite: "why bust my ass doing 20jobs at once trying to get a business going when I could just show up and do plumbing and earn 10x more at FAANG."

sombremesa 5y ago

First, life isn’t all about money. Although, If you don’t enjoy what you do you, it’s probably best to find something else. Second, people make things like this all the time (anyone remember the million dollar web page where ads sold by the pixel?) - that doesn’t necessarily mean anything for you or me. It certainly doesn’t mean we should all be endeavoring to create the next PR sensation. Finally, be careful what you wish for.

jerrygoyal 5y ago

it's a lot less about building and much more about marketing.

jordanmoconnor 5y ago

It's all about responsibility and ownership. Pieter is responsible for everything - product, design, sales, marketing, documentation, customer support, etc. At a job, you do your job and someone else does the other jobs. Less responsibility, less income. I do recommend starting something like this on the side, and learning all of the skills listed above. In 5 years or less you can have a side project that makes more than your job with only an hour or two a day.

honkdaddy 5y ago

Maybe Pieter can chime in, but I don't think he's necessarily making 10x more than a FAANG engineer :)

pieterhg 5y ago
$3M/y now with ~ 1/3 being investments. I don't know how much FAANG avg is but if it's $300k/y that's 10x
- Aulig 5y ago
  What do you mean with investments? You reinvest 1/3 of the profits into the business?
- cweill 5y ago
  Speaking as someone who just quit their FAANG job to go out on my own, your comment is inspirational! Thank you for your transparency.
  - sydthrowaway 5y ago
    What will you be doing?

going_to_800 5y ago

You can try building similar sites as much as you want, you won't get to that level. It's about timing, marketing, etc not just building something and done.

corobo 5y ago

Wishing is a goal without clarity, goals are plans without preparation Literally go for it

masterof0 5y ago

Yeah, right? I feel for some us at FAANG, our current comp is pretty hard to leave, but at least for me, the hardest point is to figure out something that people would pay for and that's not too hard to build alone. I feel like I'm living in a bubble with very little idea what non-tech people need. Is sad.

strikelaserclaw 5y ago

Why bust my ass digging ditches when i can make 300-500k as a FAANG dev and retire in a couple years? You FAANG guys have it better than 99% of jobs out there.