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> the first employees are excited about working 7 days a week > the new guy sucks. Just gets everything done slower You made 2 mistakes here. 1. The first em

> the first employees are excited about working 7 days a week > the new guy sucks. Just gets everything done slower You made 2 mistakes here. 1. The first employees were not excited, they were all on paid trial periods and have no equity. 2. The other developer who quit and myself by far did all the work. Staying all night does not mean you get the most work done. Actually, the founders played basketball most of the time and got no work done. Over the years I've learned to become increasingly productive during the day (with the help of coffee, eating right/being active) and I effectively built most of their product even though I would "sneak out" at 7 at times. Staying late at night or going in on weekends never advanced the product. Most nights would end in the VP Eng. and founders drinking wine and whiskey (this is a YC startup mind you). They didn't do anything despite being there all the time.

taylodl 2y ago
That was a lesson learned in the 90s - people would show up to put in face time, but they weren't getting productive work done. It was all about politics and appearances, not good engineering. My advice? Don't work for a startup without Eff-You money. There's a reason they want young, inexperienced engineers - and it isn't because they know the "latest and greatest" tools and technologies.
tjansen 2y ago
When I started at my first job, at a small startup, I was definitely excited to work 7days a week. For me there was nothing better than doing what I loved every day. It lasted for about 6 months until I learned that it's not really healthy to do it, but I was enjoying it while it lasted. I agree completely about the founders doing less work. That's also what I experienced. For them, it's less like a job. They are free to come and leave whenever they want, play hoops or whatever... it's less stressful than having a specific task that needs to be finished by some deadline.

taylodl 2y ago

That was a lesson learned in the 90s - people would show up to put in face time, but they weren't getting productive work done. It was all about politics and appearances, not good engineering. My advice? Don't work for a startup without Eff-You money. There's a reason they want young, inexperienced engineers - and it isn't because they know the "latest and greatest" tools and technologies.

tjansen 2y ago

When I started at my first job, at a small startup, I was definitely excited to work 7days a week. For me there was nothing better than doing what I loved every day. It lasted for about 6 months until I learned that it's not really healthy to do it, but I was enjoying it while it lasted. I agree completely about the founders doing less work. That's also what I experienced. For them, it's less like a job. They are free to come and leave whenever they want, play hoops or whatever... it's less stressful than having a specific task that needs to be finished by some deadline.