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For some years now, I've been a big proponent of the idea that, as a community, we should write about startups with more realism and with less hype. Especially

For some years now, I've been a big proponent of the idea that, as a community, we should write about startups with more realism and with less hype. Especially for the sake of more junior people, we should try to illustrate what euphemisms like "very fluid" or “fast paced” actually mean. I know some readers of Hacker News have read my book, How To Destroy A Tech Startup In Three Easy Steps, and I really wish more people would do what I did and write with real honesty about how chaotic and frustrating early stage startups can be. Yes, they can be exciting, but also they can be stressful. And mind you, I work at a startup right now, so it's not as if one bad experience scared me away from startups forever. But I do think we should have more truthful writing, so that people who decide to work at a startup have a better idea of what they are getting into. (Also, some people worry that writing honestly about a startup will hurt their career, but my book only helped my career. As it became more and more popular, I got more and more offers to consult with various entrepreneurs.)

jacquesm 4y ago
I would change one little bit in your comment: 'they also can be stressful' -> 'they also will be stressful'. A start-up is pretty much guaranteed to be a constant source of major stress either because of the success or because of the lack of it. Success will bring its own kind of problems and those can be very stressful indeed. I know lots of founders but I don't know a single one that did not have to deal with stress on a daily basis. Perseverance is often listed as a key requirement for success, I think stress resistance really should be added to that list, it is something you will have to learn how to deal with or it will cause you major grief.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
krallja 4y ago
My new favorite question to ask interviewers is “the job description says ‘fast-paced`, can you give me an example of what that looks like for you?”
- ss108 4y ago
  What would be some attributes or examples of a good answer?
  - zdragnar 4y ago
    Not OP, but explaining that they have specific feature targets and timelines to try out an idea / land certain customers. They understand that they are sacrificing time in the future by rushing now. Whether they actually understand that is not always a given. On the flip side, I have also heard fast paced implied to mean "you will work 60-80 hours a week because we have unreasonable timelines and expectations". I passed on those, naturally.
  - danrocks 4y ago
    "We only test in production"
  - krallja 4y ago
    Good answers are something like “we don’t have many gatekeepers. if you need a compute instance, just spin one up in Terraform.” bad answers: * (interviewer guffaws) * “work hard / play hard” * implying significant overtime

jacquesm 4y ago

I would change one little bit in your comment: 'they also can be stressful' -> 'they also will be stressful'. A start-up is pretty much guaranteed to be a constant source of major stress either because of the success or because of the lack of it. Success will bring its own kind of problems and those can be very stressful indeed. I know lots of founders but I don't know a single one that did not have to deal with stress on a daily basis. Perseverance is often listed as a key requirement for success, I think stress resistance really should be added to that list, it is something you will have to learn how to deal with or it will cause you major grief.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

krallja 4y ago

My new favorite question to ask interviewers is “the job description says ‘fast-paced`, can you give me an example of what that looks like for you?”

ss108 4y ago
What would be some attributes or examples of a good answer?
- zdragnar 4y ago
  Not OP, but explaining that they have specific feature targets and timelines to try out an idea / land certain customers. They understand that they are sacrificing time in the future by rushing now. Whether they actually understand that is not always a given. On the flip side, I have also heard fast paced implied to mean "you will work 60-80 hours a week because we have unreasonable timelines and expectations". I passed on those, naturally.
- danrocks 4y ago
  "We only test in production"
- krallja 4y ago
  Good answers are something like “we don’t have many gatekeepers. if you need a compute instance, just spin one up in Terraform.” bad answers: * (interviewer guffaws) * “work hard / play hard” * implying significant overtime