5 ms·

As a 30 year old with a wife, kid, and semi soul-sucking full time data job, this post causes me to feel both inspired and regretful. This guy would NEVER hire

by JPKab 15y ago

As a 30 year old with a wife, kid, and semi soul-sucking full time data job, this post causes me to feel both inspired and regretful. This guy would NEVER hire me, which I guess I should feel bummed about, but instead I'm just fired up. I will continue to get home, do the dad/husband thing, and then from 8:15 to 11:30, work on my projects. Wake up at 5, do it all over again. I HOPE I will one day be half as good as this Dan Shipper kid (whose posts I really like by the way, particularly his 2016 not 2012 post) I hope I can get job offers like this one day, so that I can turn them down. Not saying that a company like this isn't awesome (I'm sure it is), but if you're good enough to get hired by them, then you shouldn't be hired by anyone. You should be hiring.

mahyarm 15y ago
There are many startups where the average age group is young families with kids. The majority of people I work with are 30/40 somethings, and it started with 30/40 somethings and we started 2/3 years ago. You'll find those family startups more in the south bay and peninsula. SF is far more attractive to singles, and they move down to the south bay to start their families.
jaf12duke 15y ago
Age and having a wife and kid has zero effect on our hiring decisions. Our age range right now cover 19 to 32, with one married, and one engaged.
- angelbob 15y ago
  You're up in SF, alas. I need to start building a good list of awesome companies who are in the South Bay and Peninsula, just because I can't be the only one looking. Not that the City isn't nice. It's just a long commute from Fremont.
- DanBC 15y ago
  32 year olds were born in the same year Madonna made her debut. The commodore 64 was introduced. The Falklands / Malvinas were invaded / reclaimed. Lawn Chair Larry flew his ballon-chair. Ozzy Osborne bit the head off a bat. John Belushi died. CDs started mass production. That's your upper age? I feel so old right now.
  - nostromo 15y ago
    You misunderstood him -- the range of their current employees is 19 to 32. I'm certain he's not saying they won't hire a 33 year old. Doing so would open them up to lawsuits and wouldn't be wise.
    - DanBC 15y ago
      No, I understood that his current spread is 19 to 32, and that there's nothing to stop him from employer older people. But saying "we employ old people; we have a 32 year old" made me laugh. And then feel old.
      - notJim 15y ago
        > But saying "we employ old people; we have a 32 year old" made me laugh. And then feel old. But again, he didn't say anything like that.
        wilfra 15y ago
        That's exactly what he said.
    - petercooper 15y ago
      As a general example (so not connecting it to the folks here), I've always thought hiring by 'head hunting' might be a potential way to avoid lawsuits and discrimination issues. You could head hunt 50 youthful blondes to work at your company and because you never advertised for the position publicly or requested people send in their resumes.. :-)
      - reneherse 15y ago
        Well, you might avoid a lawsuit, but you'd still be a shining example of sexism. Or does "youthful blondes" = fair haired girls and boys?
- tatsuke95 15y ago
  So, in other words, you have no idea if having a wife and kids will affect your hiring decisions?
why-el 15y ago
So you sustain this cool life style with 5 hours and a half of sleep?
- Homunculiheaded 15y ago
  does that seem implausible? I have pretty much the exact scenario except I really like my job, and stop around 1:30am and get up around 7am. Occasionally I'll add a nap, or go to bed closer to midnight, but it's certainly a doable life-style. After those first 6 mo. with a newborn 5 1/2 continuos hours is wonderful ;)
  - why-el 15y ago
    Yeah well maybe I am a lazy person. :) I also think its a matter of age. (I am 22). I can function with 5 hours of sleep but only if my tasks require from half an hour to one hour of continuous focus. I usually need breaks. 8 hours is ideal though, no need for coffee or naps, and I can focus for quite some time.
- waterlesscloud 15y ago
  Many working parents do. It's how it works for a lot of people.
- YmMot 15y ago
  Sleep is something that's highly variable from person to person, there's no "right" amount of time to sleep, only what's right for you (obviously this is a little bit of simplification, I don't think anyone could function on 1 hour of sleep a day for very long). 8 hours is generally thrown around as a good benchmark, but some people may only need 5 or 6 while others need 9 or 10. It depends on your metabolism, general health, and a variety of other factors I'm sure. I find with exercise and by sticking to a very rigid sleep schedule (I've learned that for me, It's very bad to fight the sleepies to "just get a little more work done"), 6 is generally enough for me personally. This depends on a nice solid sleep though, if something is periodically interrupting my sleep (like a noisy air conditioner or what have you) I can sleep for longer and still not feel terribly rested. I find oversleeping too much also tends to make me groggy. YMMV
fusiongyro 15y ago
I'm a lot like you (30, married, one kid) and I keep basically the same schedule as you, offset one hour later. I feel oddly proud of this Shipper kid, but no regret or inspiration. If this is his dream, good for him. If it's your dream, I hope you get there. Speaking personally, I get more out of my wife, son, and side projects than any job could give, and the idea of working 80 hour weeks just to be hanging out with the cool kids in the Silicon Valley glam rock world sickens me.

by JPKab 15y ago

mahyarm 15y ago

There are many startups where the average age group is young families with kids. The majority of people I work with are 30/40 somethings, and it started with 30/40 somethings and we started 2/3 years ago. You'll find those family startups more in the south bay and peninsula. SF is far more attractive to singles, and they move down to the south bay to start their families.

jaf12duke 15y ago

Age and having a wife and kid has zero effect on our hiring decisions. Our age range right now cover 19 to 32, with one married, and one engaged.

angelbob 15y ago
You're up in SF, alas. I need to start building a good list of awesome companies who are in the South Bay and Peninsula, just because I can't be the only one looking. Not that the City isn't nice. It's just a long commute from Fremont.
DanBC 15y ago
32 year olds were born in the same year Madonna made her debut. The commodore 64 was introduced. The Falklands / Malvinas were invaded / reclaimed. Lawn Chair Larry flew his ballon-chair. Ozzy Osborne bit the head off a bat. John Belushi died. CDs started mass production. That's your upper age? I feel so old right now.
- nostromo 15y ago
  You misunderstood him -- the range of their current employees is 19 to 32. I'm certain he's not saying they won't hire a 33 year old. Doing so would open them up to lawsuits and wouldn't be wise.
  - DanBC 15y ago
    No, I understood that his current spread is 19 to 32, and that there's nothing to stop him from employer older people. But saying "we employ old people; we have a 32 year old" made me laugh. And then feel old.
    - notJim 15y ago
      > But saying "we employ old people; we have a 32 year old" made me laugh. And then feel old. But again, he didn't say anything like that.
      - wilfra 15y ago
        That's exactly what he said.
  - petercooper 15y ago
    As a general example (so not connecting it to the folks here), I've always thought hiring by 'head hunting' might be a potential way to avoid lawsuits and discrimination issues. You could head hunt 50 youthful blondes to work at your company and because you never advertised for the position publicly or requested people send in their resumes.. :-)
    - reneherse 15y ago
      Well, you might avoid a lawsuit, but you'd still be a shining example of sexism. Or does "youthful blondes" = fair haired girls and boys?
tatsuke95 15y ago
So, in other words, you have no idea if having a wife and kids will affect your hiring decisions?

why-el 15y ago

So you sustain this cool life style with 5 hours and a half of sleep?

Homunculiheaded 15y ago
does that seem implausible? I have pretty much the exact scenario except I really like my job, and stop around 1:30am and get up around 7am. Occasionally I'll add a nap, or go to bed closer to midnight, but it's certainly a doable life-style. After those first 6 mo. with a newborn 5 1/2 continuos hours is wonderful ;)
- why-el 15y ago
  Yeah well maybe I am a lazy person. :) I also think its a matter of age. (I am 22). I can function with 5 hours of sleep but only if my tasks require from half an hour to one hour of continuous focus. I usually need breaks. 8 hours is ideal though, no need for coffee or naps, and I can focus for quite some time.
waterlesscloud 15y ago
Many working parents do. It's how it works for a lot of people.
YmMot 15y ago
Sleep is something that's highly variable from person to person, there's no "right" amount of time to sleep, only what's right for you (obviously this is a little bit of simplification, I don't think anyone could function on 1 hour of sleep a day for very long). 8 hours is generally thrown around as a good benchmark, but some people may only need 5 or 6 while others need 9 or 10. It depends on your metabolism, general health, and a variety of other factors I'm sure. I find with exercise and by sticking to a very rigid sleep schedule (I've learned that for me, It's very bad to fight the sleepies to "just get a little more work done"), 6 is generally enough for me personally. This depends on a nice solid sleep though, if something is periodically interrupting my sleep (like a noisy air conditioner or what have you) I can sleep for longer and still not feel terribly rested. I find oversleeping too much also tends to make me groggy. YMMV

fusiongyro 15y ago

I'm a lot like you (30, married, one kid) and I keep basically the same schedule as you, offset one hour later. I feel oddly proud of this Shipper kid, but no regret or inspiration. If this is his dream, good for him. If it's your dream, I hope you get there. Speaking personally, I get more out of my wife, son, and side projects than any job could give, and the idea of working 80 hour weeks just to be hanging out with the cool kids in the Silicon Valley glam rock world sickens me.