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Hold on ... the advice is to decide whether you want to earn or learn. After a certain age, lets say 32 to pick a random number, the marginal benefit of learnin

by throwaway1979 13y ago

Hold on ... the advice is to decide whether you want to earn or learn. After a certain age, lets say 32 to pick a random number, the marginal benefit of learning is less than earning.

toomuchtodo 13y ago
Excellent point. I'm 30, with 12 years of experience. I still learn something new everyday, but I make sure to earn as much as possible doing it.
wwweston 13y ago
It probably depends on what you're learning. Not all knowledge/experience has equal personal or marketplace value. I'm past your random number, and as you expect, there's opportunities with good education value I've turned down. There's still some I'd take a pay cut for.
greenyoda 13y ago
Also, it's not really certain that you'll learn more at a startup than at an established company: - Most startups fail, so all you might end up learning is one particular way how not to run a startup, not how to run a successful startup. - Many startups are run by younger people who themselves may not have had very much experience shipping products or running a company. - Startups are under pressure to deliver quickly before the money runs out, so you might not spend as much time considering alternative approaches to problems, which is one of the ways to get deep understanding of a problem domain. The desire to move quickly might also pull them in the direction of quick and dirty solutions instead of solid engineering. On the plus side, you might end up with more responsibility for the product than you would get in a larger company, and there are many things you could learn from that experience.
- blairbeckwith 13y ago
  I disagree with your first point. Everything you learn is not dependant on the outcome. There is much you can learn in a startup that may not be negated by the company failing: how to wear multiple hats, individual tactics that alone weren't enough to save the company, etc. etc.
- rschmitty 13y ago
  Learning failures is just as important as learning successes. /lesson I learned in 5th grade science fair
  - jfb 13y ago
    Only if those lessons are applicable. Startups fail for lots of reasons, only some of which are generalizable.

Hold on ... the advice is to decide whether you want to earn or learn. After a certain age, lets say 32 to pick a random number, the marginal benefit of learning is less than earning.

toomuchtodo 13y ago

Excellent point. I'm 30, with 12 years of experience. I still learn something new everyday, but I make sure to earn as much as possible doing it.

wwweston 13y ago

It probably depends on what you're learning. Not all knowledge/experience has equal personal or marketplace value. I'm past your random number, and as you expect, there's opportunities with good education value I've turned down. There's still some I'd take a pay cut for.

greenyoda 13y ago

Also, it's not really certain that you'll learn more at a startup than at an established company: - Most startups fail, so all you might end up learning is one particular way how not to run a startup, not how to run a successful startup. - Many startups are run by younger people who themselves may not have had very much experience shipping products or running a company. - Startups are under pressure to deliver quickly before the money runs out, so you might not spend as much time considering alternative approaches to problems, which is one of the ways to get deep understanding of a problem domain. The desire to move quickly might also pull them in the direction of quick and dirty solutions instead of solid engineering. On the plus side, you might end up with more responsibility for the product than you would get in a larger company, and there are many things you could learn from that experience.

blairbeckwith 13y ago
I disagree with your first point. Everything you learn is not dependant on the outcome. There is much you can learn in a startup that may not be negated by the company failing: how to wear multiple hats, individual tactics that alone weren't enough to save the company, etc. etc.
rschmitty 13y ago
Learning failures is just as important as learning successes. /lesson I learned in 5th grade science fair
- jfb 13y ago
  Only if those lessons are applicable. Startups fail for lots of reasons, only some of which are generalizable.