5 ms·

You would too, for a salary in the 8 figures.

2pEXgD0fZ5cF 5y ago
I don't think Carmack would run into any problems finding other 8 figures jobs, and he has been rich for a long time now anyway. Also what is it with this idea of "everyone will throw morals into the trash to work at X", it's simply not true, some people DO indeed posess ideals and the integrity to go with them.
chrisco255 5y ago
Someone like Carmack could make 8 figures doing their own thing.
- sydthrowaway 5y ago
  True. He was probably making 8 figures under ZeniMax
  - bitwize 5y ago
    Actually, he sued ZeniMax over them not paying him the eight-figure sum he sold his stake in his company for.
- kobalsky 5y ago
  doing your own thing can be a chore that keeps you very far from doing the fun stuff, especially if you love R&D. when you least expect it you will be in a meeting about business management crap, it's very hard to keep that at bay. I don't regret doing my own thing, but sometimes I'd like to work for my company instead of running it.
s5300 5y ago
I really wouldn't, truly. The only way you could get me to work for somebody like Zuck (if I even had any qualifications they were after - I most definitely do not) is if he were lobbying the entirety of the US political system to advance stem cell research and pry medical innovation out of the evangelicals cold soulless hands. Back to Carmack - if I were Carmack, had the intelligence and experience Carmack does, along with the money and connections Carmack has - I would simply find somebody not as slimy as Zuckerberg to work on VR related things with, it's as simple as that. I'm sure there are several others who would be happy to fund him if he reached out. Do you think otherwise?
- baby 5y ago
  Do you work for a better CEO?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- UnpossibleJim 5y ago
  Not every person is smart in every way. Some people are very good at reading technology, some are very good at reading the motivation of other people. It could be that Carmack mistook Zuckerberg's intentions with Oculous and believed him on the handshake promise (I'm giving a lot of grace to Carmack... it's hard to see people you respected fall by the wayside).
  - malloreon 5y ago
    Unless Carmack doesn’t have the ability to quit, he’s choosing to continue working for Zuck every day. As is every other fb employee.
  - usrusr 5y ago
    I highly doubt that the metaverse thing (VR ad mass market or whatever) can work out economically. Therefore I read the Meta rebrand as an enormous personal hybris project, "I've succeeded before and I'll succeed again (and this time even if I fail I'll still have more money than I can ever spend)". The intentions are all late 20th sci-fi dreams, fully in line with what an idealized Carmack might like. From that tech dream perspective, which I assume they both share, the Facebook way of making money while chasing those dreams is just circumstantial details. For both of them. I'd expect those two to get along excellently. One of them is now basically renaming his life's work out of admiration for what the other can do, and the other is probably not infinitely immune to flattery.
- desmond373 5y ago
  You could work there, proform in a negitive/incompetent way that doesn't lead back to you and then leave after a while with a boatload of cash and a slightly worse off company behind you. You could even influence those you leave behind leave the company in an even worse way. I wouldn't write someone off simply for working for someone.
RealityVoid 5y ago
I really think he is not interested in just the money. I think you need to give him the challenge to do something cool that he's interested in, access to teams of smart people to collaborate with, resources to be able to make an impact with the technical solutions he finds and give him the leeway to do his thing. There are not a whole lot of places that have the mass and spirit for this. Although, Carmack being him could spin something out of thin air, I'm sure. He never struck me one terribly concerned with ethical dilemmas. More the pragmatic kind that wants to work on cool stuff. But I always listen when Carmack talks because no matter his ethics, I find he has exceptional insight.
sofixa 5y ago
Some people have morals and the option to make a choice not to shit on them. I wouldn't work for Facebook regardless of how much they offered (but i can afford not to because i have plenty of other options). Once you have stable amounts of it, money isn't everything.
jtsiskin 5y ago
It’s probably not so much the 8 figures, but having billions of dollars and hundreds (thousands?) of engineers at your (partial) disposal, building a totally new device

I don't think Carmack would run into any problems finding other 8 figures jobs, and he has been rich for a long time now anyway. Also what is it with this idea of "everyone will throw morals into the trash to work at X", it's simply not true, some people DO indeed posess ideals and the integrity to go with them.

chrisco255 5y ago

Someone like Carmack could make 8 figures doing their own thing.

sydthrowaway 5y ago
True. He was probably making 8 figures under ZeniMax
- bitwize 5y ago
  Actually, he sued ZeniMax over them not paying him the eight-figure sum he sold his stake in his company for.
kobalsky 5y ago
doing your own thing can be a chore that keeps you very far from doing the fun stuff, especially if you love R&D. when you least expect it you will be in a meeting about business management crap, it's very hard to keep that at bay. I don't regret doing my own thing, but sometimes I'd like to work for my company instead of running it.

s5300 5y ago

I really wouldn't, truly. The only way you could get me to work for somebody like Zuck (if I even had any qualifications they were after - I most definitely do not) is if he were lobbying the entirety of the US political system to advance stem cell research and pry medical innovation out of the evangelicals cold soulless hands. Back to Carmack - if I were Carmack, had the intelligence and experience Carmack does, along with the money and connections Carmack has - I would simply find somebody not as slimy as Zuckerberg to work on VR related things with, it's as simple as that. I'm sure there are several others who would be happy to fund him if he reached out. Do you think otherwise?

baby 5y ago
Do you work for a better CEO?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
UnpossibleJim 5y ago
Not every person is smart in every way. Some people are very good at reading technology, some are very good at reading the motivation of other people. It could be that Carmack mistook Zuckerberg's intentions with Oculous and believed him on the handshake promise (I'm giving a lot of grace to Carmack... it's hard to see people you respected fall by the wayside).
- malloreon 5y ago
  Unless Carmack doesn’t have the ability to quit, he’s choosing to continue working for Zuck every day. As is every other fb employee.
- usrusr 5y ago
  I highly doubt that the metaverse thing (VR ad mass market or whatever) can work out economically. Therefore I read the Meta rebrand as an enormous personal hybris project, "I've succeeded before and I'll succeed again (and this time even if I fail I'll still have more money than I can ever spend)". The intentions are all late 20th sci-fi dreams, fully in line with what an idealized Carmack might like. From that tech dream perspective, which I assume they both share, the Facebook way of making money while chasing those dreams is just circumstantial details. For both of them. I'd expect those two to get along excellently. One of them is now basically renaming his life's work out of admiration for what the other can do, and the other is probably not infinitely immune to flattery.
desmond373 5y ago
You could work there, proform in a negitive/incompetent way that doesn't lead back to you and then leave after a while with a boatload of cash and a slightly worse off company behind you. You could even influence those you leave behind leave the company in an even worse way. I wouldn't write someone off simply for working for someone.

RealityVoid 5y ago

I really think he is not interested in just the money. I think you need to give him the challenge to do something cool that he's interested in, access to teams of smart people to collaborate with, resources to be able to make an impact with the technical solutions he finds and give him the leeway to do his thing. There are not a whole lot of places that have the mass and spirit for this. Although, Carmack being him could spin something out of thin air, I'm sure. He never struck me one terribly concerned with ethical dilemmas. More the pragmatic kind that wants to work on cool stuff. But I always listen when Carmack talks because no matter his ethics, I find he has exceptional insight.

sofixa 5y ago

Some people have morals and the option to make a choice not to shit on them. I wouldn't work for Facebook regardless of how much they offered (but i can afford not to because i have plenty of other options). Once you have stable amounts of it, money isn't everything.

jtsiskin 5y ago

It’s probably not so much the 8 figures, but having billions of dollars and hundreds (thousands?) of engineers at your (partial) disposal, building a totally new device