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Personally as a senior developer with a family, I wouldn’t stake my stability on a startup. Does that reservation generalize? Do startups end up lacking wiser d

Personally as a senior developer with a family, I wouldn’t stake my stability on a startup. Does that reservation generalize? Do startups end up lacking wiser devs?

mock-possum 4y ago
Wages from a volatile source is better than no wages, and what you previously thought to be a stable source has proven otherwise - you’ve just unexpectedly been laid off. Do you take the startup job, to provide for your family? You need to make money.
nfRfqX5n 4y ago
During the last few years some start ups were offering solid base salaries in addition to RSUs, so the risk wasn’t horrible. Not sure what it’s like now.
PyWoody 4y ago
As a senior looking for FTE? Probably not. As a senior looking for a semi-retired interesting place to work? Definitely. We've hired the latter for shorter term but not really contract worthy work in the past that was beneficial for both parties.
fullshark 4y ago
Agreed, especially very early stage startups. I'd not work for one of those unless I was the (co-)founder.
est31 4y ago
Ideally if you are a senior big tech employee you are not living paycheck to paycheck any more, so you could endure a few months of not being employed. And even then, if you are good and have a network, you would find employment very quickly if a startup fails, unless there is some event that causes all startups to not look for new employees. The problem with startups is I think more around the stock options trap (short excercise windows), stressful work environments, and the general lower compensation. And, if you are a parent, they will probably offer less programs for parents.
- user3939382 4y ago
  > senior big tech Senior dev != big tech
- ryanSrich 4y ago
  > endure a few months of not being employed What kind of insanely high growth business is going to either generate enough revenue for a Sr. Dev's full yearly salary (or close to it) or lead to investment in just a few months? Even if you're an insanely well connected person it's going to take more than a few months to put together a pitch deck and a POC for a new business and then raise enough money to pay yourself and a few other people. Realistically, if you're starting a startup and not currently working, plan on having at least 12 months of expenses saved (not a few months).
  - tiborsaas 4y ago
    You don't need to be close to it if you are willing to give up saving like you used to. If you can prove any traction I be you can raise a little money from FFF for a few months more.
    - ryanSrich 4y ago
      Okay let’s play this out. A few months is 2. For the sake of this hypothetical let’s say it’s 3. You’re saying that someone can build a product that’s capable of having investor level revenue within a few months? Or not even revenue, but more than 5 companies using it? This one person is not only building a fully functioning software product that’s capable of being useful to companies, but also doing high levels of networking to find those customers and users. They’re doing this all within 3 months? I just don’t see how that’s possible. The fastest moving early stage teams I’ve ever seen have gone to market in no less than 4 months, and that was with multiple people working on the problem. I think at a minimum you can expect it to take 6 months if you’re going at it alone. Certainly less if you have other co-founders.
      - tiborsaas 4y ago
weatherlite 4y ago
Is big tech more stable than startups now ? There's firing across the board and we're not nearly done yet.
- braza 4y ago
  I would think the other way around: Public markets are correcting to a higher interest rate (i.e. liquidity being removed from the system) but for startups and scale-ups this correction did not start yet with all force (e.g. valuation slashing, 50% layoffs, acquisition and liquidation by PE firms, etc).

Personally as a senior developer with a family, I wouldn’t stake my stability on a startup. Does that reservation generalize? Do startups end up lacking wiser devs?

mock-possum 4y ago

Wages from a volatile source is better than no wages, and what you previously thought to be a stable source has proven otherwise - you’ve just unexpectedly been laid off. Do you take the startup job, to provide for your family? You need to make money.

nfRfqX5n 4y ago

During the last few years some start ups were offering solid base salaries in addition to RSUs, so the risk wasn’t horrible. Not sure what it’s like now.

PyWoody 4y ago

As a senior looking for FTE? Probably not. As a senior looking for a semi-retired interesting place to work? Definitely. We've hired the latter for shorter term but not really contract worthy work in the past that was beneficial for both parties.

fullshark 4y ago

Agreed, especially very early stage startups. I'd not work for one of those unless I was the (co-)founder.

est31 4y ago

Ideally if you are a senior big tech employee you are not living paycheck to paycheck any more, so you could endure a few months of not being employed. And even then, if you are good and have a network, you would find employment very quickly if a startup fails, unless there is some event that causes all startups to not look for new employees. The problem with startups is I think more around the stock options trap (short excercise windows), stressful work environments, and the general lower compensation. And, if you are a parent, they will probably offer less programs for parents.

user3939382 4y ago
> senior big tech Senior dev != big tech
ryanSrich 4y ago
> endure a few months of not being employed What kind of insanely high growth business is going to either generate enough revenue for a Sr. Dev's full yearly salary (or close to it) or lead to investment in just a few months? Even if you're an insanely well connected person it's going to take more than a few months to put together a pitch deck and a POC for a new business and then raise enough money to pay yourself and a few other people. Realistically, if you're starting a startup and not currently working, plan on having at least 12 months of expenses saved (not a few months).
- tiborsaas 4y ago
  You don't need to be close to it if you are willing to give up saving like you used to. If you can prove any traction I be you can raise a little money from FFF for a few months more.
  - ryanSrich 4y ago
    Okay let’s play this out. A few months is 2. For the sake of this hypothetical let’s say it’s 3. You’re saying that someone can build a product that’s capable of having investor level revenue within a few months? Or not even revenue, but more than 5 companies using it? This one person is not only building a fully functioning software product that’s capable of being useful to companies, but also doing high levels of networking to find those customers and users. They’re doing this all within 3 months? I just don’t see how that’s possible. The fastest moving early stage teams I’ve ever seen have gone to market in no less than 4 months, and that was with multiple people working on the problem. I think at a minimum you can expect it to take 6 months if you’re going at it alone. Certainly less if you have other co-founders.
    - tiborsaas 4y ago

weatherlite 4y ago

Is big tech more stable than startups now ? There's firing across the board and we're not nearly done yet.

braza 4y ago
I would think the other way around: Public markets are correcting to a higher interest rate (i.e. liquidity being removed from the system) but for startups and scale-ups this correction did not start yet with all force (e.g. valuation slashing, 50% layoffs, acquisition and liquidation by PE firms, etc).