4 ms·

I work for a low-profile fintech, 100% remote, since 2018. I see no particular need to move elsewhere. I appreciate that it's a task that actually has real cu

by hakfoo 4y ago

I work for a low-profile fintech, 100% remote, since 2018. I see no particular need to move elsewhere. I appreciate that it's a task that actually has real customers and revenues, in a firm that's about 20 years old and showing profitability and growth. It doesn't look like there's signs of "oh, the acquisition we were building towards vanished and we ran out of runway, kthxbai, grab a few logo T-shirts on the way out." In particular, I like the spot I'm currently at because it's sort of the firm's core competence, so I'm in the centre of real value generation. It also keeps me well away from front end, which I should not be allowed near due to a personal design sense that is, at best, Soviet. I could probably make more money elsewhere, but I hate interviewing and tooting my own horn. I only grudgingly left my last position (10 years on) when it became abundantly obvious the firm was in terminal death throes. They were clearly in a "how much do you need electricity" phase of operations. I brought in a pizza for lunch for my team, and there was a distinct "I haven't eaten in three days" vibe coming from some of them. When I left, they had shorted me at least 9000 USD in unpaid salary.

culi 4y ago
that sounds... way past terminal death throes of a company. That sounds like the terminal death throes of the workers
nibbleshifter 4y ago
> They were clearly in a "how much do you need electricity" phase of operations. I've worked at a place that literally got to that state: the offices power was cut off by the electricity company. I pretty much stayed until near the bitter end, when I started trying to lay out the facts of life to the founder - there was no recovering from this, and he was at the point where he had dumped all his personal savings into the company to try keep it alive.
- hakfoo 4y ago
  Honestly, I'd sort of love to sit down with the founder again, aside from a chance to ask him if he's ever gonna show me the nine grand. He seemed to get wrapped in this relationship with an advertiser where he wanted to sell a $49 product, but was expected to pay $80 cost-per-conversion to get customers to it. He seemed to hope that designing the site correctly would push enough upsells and multi-unit sales to make the math work out. I sort of wonder what spell that advertiser had over him in that regard; I'm pretty sure you could literally hire people to go around and sell his product door-to-door for less.

by hakfoo 4y ago

culi 4y ago

that sounds... way past terminal death throes of a company. That sounds like the terminal death throes of the workers

nibbleshifter 4y ago

> They were clearly in a "how much do you need electricity" phase of operations. I've worked at a place that literally got to that state: the offices power was cut off by the electricity company. I pretty much stayed until near the bitter end, when I started trying to lay out the facts of life to the founder - there was no recovering from this, and he was at the point where he had dumped all his personal savings into the company to try keep it alive.

hakfoo 4y ago
Honestly, I'd sort of love to sit down with the founder again, aside from a chance to ask him if he's ever gonna show me the nine grand. He seemed to get wrapped in this relationship with an advertiser where he wanted to sell a $49 product, but was expected to pay $80 cost-per-conversion to get customers to it. He seemed to hope that designing the site correctly would push enough upsells and multi-unit sales to make the math work out. I sort of wonder what spell that advertiser had over him in that regard; I'm pretty sure you could literally hire people to go around and sell his product door-to-door for less.