3 ms·

A lot of the "Entrepreneurial rah-rah, YOLO etc." are complete BS. Only a very very lucky few make it; the vast majority fail and suffer for the rest of their l

A lot of the "Entrepreneurial rah-rah, YOLO etc." are complete BS. Only a very very lucky few make it; the vast majority fail and suffer for the rest of their lives. I personally know of a couple of people whose entire lives (and their families) have been ruined because they kept trying to be "Entrepreneurial" and failing repeatedly instead of maintaining a steady job, saving money and taking care of their family. For the vast majority of us folks who do not have a financial safety net, a nice, steady, income-generating job is the safest bet. So keep your "boring" job, do your "entrepreneurial" activities on the side and if it takes off, then think about quitting your "boring" job but with a full knowledge of all the risks involved.

marto1 4y ago
I think what you have written is very valuable and has to be taken into consideration. There is, however, a difference between the “scorched earth” entrepreneurship you’re talking about and the more organic type rooted in smaller(often self funded) ventures. It doesn't even have to be a registered business per se, something like a shared veggie garden in your neighborhood can be defined as "making it" for some people.
- rramadass 4y ago
  Agreed. Maintaining the "Entrepreneurial Spirit" (in the sense of Autonomy, Self-Directed growth etc.) is important but drinking the "Entrepreneurial" kool-aid of "don't work for the Man/Company" but "bet everything on doing something on your own" nonsense has to stop. The requirements of a financial safety net, time, effort etc. to build the next FAANG is just too much for most folks. It is even more stupid if you realize that the average salary in the Software Industry is much more than what can be earned in established Engineering disciplines like Mechanical/Civil/etc. I have met more PhDs(from Maths, Physics, Microbiology etc.) in the Software industry than outside of it. The rest of the World would kill to get that boring, CRUD-app churning, six-figure income earning job. Everybody moaning about their "boring" job should read Taleb's description of Mediocristan vs. Extremistan first.
  - ultrasounder 4y ago
    As a Electrical Engineer of 15 years pivoting into Cloud Data Engineering (AWS stack) I can completely attest to this. Salaries in Sweng are bloated and will continue to do as Software becomes more and more commoditised( exact opposite of other established fields like ME and EE) as the world is yet to arrive at a realistic value for software!

marto1 4y ago

I think what you have written is very valuable and has to be taken into consideration. There is, however, a difference between the “scorched earth” entrepreneurship you’re talking about and the more organic type rooted in smaller(often self funded) ventures. It doesn't even have to be a registered business per se, something like a shared veggie garden in your neighborhood can be defined as "making it" for some people.

rramadass 4y ago
Agreed. Maintaining the "Entrepreneurial Spirit" (in the sense of Autonomy, Self-Directed growth etc.) is important but drinking the "Entrepreneurial" kool-aid of "don't work for the Man/Company" but "bet everything on doing something on your own" nonsense has to stop. The requirements of a financial safety net, time, effort etc. to build the next FAANG is just too much for most folks. It is even more stupid if you realize that the average salary in the Software Industry is much more than what can be earned in established Engineering disciplines like Mechanical/Civil/etc. I have met more PhDs(from Maths, Physics, Microbiology etc.) in the Software industry than outside of it. The rest of the World would kill to get that boring, CRUD-app churning, six-figure income earning job. Everybody moaning about their "boring" job should read Taleb's description of Mediocristan vs. Extremistan first.
- ultrasounder 4y ago
  As a Electrical Engineer of 15 years pivoting into Cloud Data Engineering (AWS stack) I can completely attest to this. Salaries in Sweng are bloated and will continue to do as Software becomes more and more commoditised( exact opposite of other established fields like ME and EE) as the world is yet to arrive at a realistic value for software!