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My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1
- mattip 13y agoCan anyone summarize? I do not read linkedin articles.
- thejosh 13y agohttp://pastebin.com/9x9r2Nwb http://pastebin.com/9x9r2Nwb
- mattip 13y agoThanks. Also available here, from 2009 http://steveblank.com/2009/06/29/agile-opportunism-entrepreneurial-dna/ http://steveblank.com/2009/06/29/agile-opportunism-entrepren...
- gotrecruit 13y agoso you knew where an alternative source of the same post is, but chose to make that completely unnecessary post about how you don't read articles on LinkedIn, while pretending you haven't read it?
- kissickas 13y agoMaybe he doesn't click linkedin links because they track and report what you've viewed if you're logged in, but once it was on pastebin he was happy to give the original source.
- icebraining 13y agoMaybe he doesn't click linkedin links because they track and report what you've viewed if you're logged in All decent browsers support private tabs/windows nowadays, you can just open the context menu to open the link in one. It'd take less time than writing the post.
- prawks 13y agoI don't believe private browsing masks your IP, and I'm not sure it changes your user agent either. It's very likely LinkedIn can still track your activity if you're browsing in a Private tab.
- icebraining 13y agoEven if they track, they're not going to report it.
- yebyen 13y agoLinkedIn was on HackerNews for doing _just that_ a few weeks ago. That is, associating your IP address with your identity and tracking whose profile you clicked (to report back to them) even when you're not logged in.
- laureny 13y agoWhat's this guy asking? I don't read stupid Hacker News comments.
- 001sky 13y agoAgile Opportunism – Entrepreneurial DNA Posted on June 29, 2009 by steveblank Seems like the guy has a point. Title's been changed. And the meta-data of the source publication (http://steveblank.com http://steveblank.com) is lost in the process. About par for the course. Linkedin is a needless re-direct.
- peterwiese 13y agolinkedin is such a rotten place and such a rotten company. remember intro? remember the package full of crap they sent that guy who found a vulnerability in intro? remember what linkedin stands for? It stands for corporate America, it stands for enslaving people, especially the young. Everything about linkedin is broken, and people writing blogs on LinkedIn (what?) about how they successfully subordinated themselves for Money Inc., just makes sick and sad and sick again.
- swombat 13y agoThe summary you need is that the article is written by Steve Blank.
- chaz 13y agoI don't understand the elitism that happens around here about where content is located. It's fine to say that you don't use regularly Quora, LinkedIn, Facebook etc because the signal/noise ratio is bad or it's not something you want to sign up for. But to refuse to click a public link to even see what it is?
- prawks 13y agoClicking a link like that is essentially supporting the company. I don't think it's unreasonable to request a mirror somewhere (see pastebin below).
- ignostic 13y agoI feel like I'm a different species when I hear someone excited about working 80+ hours a week. Having so little free time and so little time to spend with friends and family seems like a sad life regardless of the paycheck. I agree with this: "Have a passion for Doing something rather than Being a title on a business card." I also agree that "Showing up a lot increases your odds" (in this case meaning working a lot of hours), but I just don't think it's worth the trade-off. Life outside of work is, for many of us, far more meaningful than work. I thought this feeling was extremely common, but judging by what gets to the front of HN I'm in the minority here.
- evincarofautumn 13y agoYou’re not alone. I’m only awake for 80 hours during the week. Devoting half of that to a job is insane enough, thanks.
- khuey 13y agoYou sleep an average of 12.5 hours per day?
- ars 13y agoHe's probably not including weekends. But weekends are the way that people do 80 hour weeks.
- Andrenid 13y agoI'd assume he means work week. 8 hours sleep per week night.
- marvin 13y agoHehe...only in Silicon Valley will people look at you funny because weekends are not subconsciously part of your work week.
- ryanjshaw 13y agoIf I have to work 80+ hours a week to have the absolute financial freedom to live the rest of my estimated 40-50 years on this planet in any way I chose, nevermind ensuring similar benefits accrue to my family, then I think that's a pretty good deal. I still have down time and plenty of fond memories -- you just have to plan how you spend that time a bit better. I live in a part of the world where a lack of financial resources is death. Every single day I pass by people begging for money and for work, and I live 5min away from my office. My crappy little second hand Fiat is worth more than combined net worth of every person I pass on the street. I remember seeing a documentary once where a labourer said something to the effect of: "I work like a horse so that my children can work like dogs, so that their children can live like people, and their children can be free." And before any says your children should take care of themselves: try telling that to a child born with severe autism or down's syndrome, or some other disabling birth defect. If you're not planning for your family so that you can enjoy your younger years a bit more fully, you're taking a huge, selfish risk. I'm much more fortunate than that guy was - my parents worked like dogs.
- aaronbrethorst 13y ago"You’re not so smart, you just show up a lot in a lot of places." Quite astute. As they say, showing up is half the battle.
- kybernetikos 13y agoMaybe, but being the kind of person to hustle your way into a job in a situation he described is pretty impressive in itself, and he showed a lot of savvy in a short space of time in gathering the intelligence to work out the pitch that meant they had to hire him. So yes, 'showing up' a lot is very important, but it's not the only lesson I take from his story by a long shot.
- JoshTriplett 13y ago> Two weeks before the class was over, the head of the deployment team asked, “Steve, are you single?” Yes. “Do you like to travel?” Sure. “Why don’t you come to Korea with us when we ship the system overseas.” The first of those questions was completely unnecessary, and invited a potential employment discrimination lawsuit; it fairly directly implies they might not have made the offer if he wasn't. It would have sufficed to find out if he was willing to travel.
- ars 13y agoThere is no federal law about Marital status discrimination, only state law, and not all states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_discrimination_law_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_discrimination_law_... Note that California does prohibit it, but it seems to be a recent law. This http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/column-one/01-08-07-california-sweeping-bill.htm http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/column-one/01-08-07-californ... implies it was around 2007/2008.
- chii 13y agoIts a dangerous question to ask anyway, not because its against the law, but because it is somewhat ethically grey - the candidate would feel they've been discriminated if they had answered that question "poorly".
- dctoedt 13y ago> There is no federal law about Marital status discrimination, only state law, and not all states. Asking a woman if she's married could lead to being accused of sex discrimination -- "she's married, and she's a woman, so she'll want to quit to start a family" [or, "she'll have extra home responsibilities because we all know women do the bulk of the work at home"]. I'm not saying that would be a sure-fire claim, just that it could open the door to that accusation.
- patio11 13y agoJosh is currently downvoted, but is absolutely correct on US employment law. People wanting to run companies take note.
- rplnt 13y ago> My First Job: > [...] > I had quit my job The "In Silicon Valley" is missing from title.
- gregd 13y agoAs a mid-40s year old male, I can assure you that working 70+ hours a week will eventually kill you. Your body will respond in ways you never expected in your youth. And it's insidious. It will sneak up on you and catch up to you when you least expect it. If you're lucky, there will be time to take corrective action.
- rfnslyr 13y agoCould you elaborate on the tolls it takes?
- gregd 13y agoSure. For me, the stress has manifested itself in the following ways, I have high-blood pressure, I have fatty liver, I have high cholesterol, I'm overweight, my eyesight is horrid, I grind my teeth while I sleep which has resulted in broken teeth, I have one gold crown and another chipped tooth and have a really messed up "sleep" schedule. I have chronic back problems, allergies and get frequent colds. All of this due to the stress of working long, hard hours. Keep in mind that I have a diet which is better than the typical American's. I've cut a lot of sugar out of my lifestyle.
- dennisgorelik 13y agoHow do you know you wouldn't have all these problems if you worked less?
- peterwwillis 13y ago> Trust your instincts > Showing up a lot increases your odds > Trust that the dots in your career will connect > Have a passion for Doing something rather than Being a title on a business card. So basically, his advice is to just hope everything works out okay. What he doesn't explicitly point out is that all of the success in his story is based on being a really good bullshitter. If you can bullshit well, you can get promotions, you can get jobs, you can get a lot of things. If you can't bullshit well, you're out of a job with barely any cash in a place you're not familiar with, and probably soon calling your parents to wire you gas money to get back home. I've also been fired the first day on a job. But I had savings to fall back on, and then got a much better job a few months after. Trust your back-up plan, not connecting the dots.
- jdbernard 13y ago> all of the success in his story is based on being a really good bullshitter. And then delivering on what he said. You forgot that part.
- wil421 13y agoIf I drove all the way across the country and heard that on my first day. My middle finger would be raised very high as I shouted profanities as I walked out the door. But the author kept his cool and it worked out, maybe a trait I need to develop.