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How do you find those? I've worked in places like this and loved it. Probably didn't earn as much as elsewhere, but it feels pretty good to show up to work moti
by davidw 5y ago
How do you find those? I've worked in places like this and loved it. Probably didn't earn as much as elsewhere, but it feels pretty good to show up to work motivated to work on something interesting.
- edrxty 5y agoStartups obviously. Less obviously look for "SBIR" shops if you're ok with a little bit of weird gov contracting overhead.
- davidw 5y agoStartups don't stay small though. They're aiming to get really big or have some kind of big exit in a hurry. Some of them are a lot of fun, some stay good even as they grow, others turn into depressing places to work.
- edrxty 5y agoHonestly the biggest issue with this strategy is US capitalism isn't kind to companies that just stay small. You're not going to find a lot of places that want to remain tiny, just a lot that, as mentioned above, remain so through micromanagement. Maybe you get lucky and find a labor-of-love kinda place where someone is just trying to be really good at making one type of thing (highly niche products) but a better bet is to just find a comfy place, stay there a few years and help them get bigger, then leave and repeat.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- davidw 5y agoI suspect that a lot of these companies just don't make a lot of noise, but quietly do their thing without being pasted all over the HN front page.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- pinewurst 5y agoSBIR shops often pay abysmally (with bad benefits) even if the work is interesting.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- edrxty 5y agoDepends on the shop. SBIR farms that have never commercialized a single product are terrible. Ones that have a revenue stream are fine.
- roland35 5y agoThat also involves a lot of proposal writing, which can be hard and involve some late nights! But the work can be very interesting and varied.