4 ms·

the job happens to be my all-time favorite What are you crazy?!? I've had many jobs and I've liked few of them. If you have a job you love working for a scho

by edw519 17y ago

the job happens to be my all-time favorite What are you crazy?!? I've had many jobs and I've liked few of them. If you have a job you love working for a schoolmate, why would you want to leave? You don't even have any plans. I'd understand this a little better if you had a project you're dying to work on full time, but that's not the case. Why don't you just keep your job and find a side project. If that side project gets big, go part time. If it gets so big, you're burning to work on it full-time, then quit, but not before. Good jobs are hard to come by and jobs you love are almost impossible to come by. Also, don't discount all the data you get from your job to feed your startup plans. Lots of people would love to do a startup, but don't know what to work on. People with jobs don't have that problem as much. The job can be the source of lots of great ideas for things people actually need right now. I'm the last person to discourage anyone from doing their thing, but job vs. startup is not a binary decision. You can do both, at least for a while. Keep that all-time favorite job for now. You can always leave later once something else has wings.

ams6110 17y ago
On the other hand if you have a job you like and it's paying you well, it can be hard to get motivated enough to really work on a side project, even if it's something you'd like to try. Forcing a little hunger on yourself might be what you need.
- edw519 17y ago
  Forcing a little hunger on yourself might be what you need. That hunger can easily become real, not virtual, if you're not careful :-) Things take longer than they seem. Money lasts shorter than you plan. Like I said before, I'm not one to discourage, but OP doesn't even have a "hair on fire" idea yet. I'd think twice before I left a job I loved.
  - icey 17y ago
    Let's take things with a grain of salt. It sounds like the OP can definitely hack - I'd assume if he needed to he could just go back and get another job, no?
    - edw519 17y ago
      Probably. Maybe I'm a little sensitive lately. I love the idea of doing my own startup. It trumps everything else I'm working on. But there's something to be said for a job you love. I know so many people who hate going to work, so OP shouldn't discount the job he loves too much, that's all.
      - icey 17y ago
        Well, you're right about having a great job being worth a lot; but the fact that the OP wants to leave something so great to work on starting up really speaks more to the depth of his drive to start up, right? (Also, I totally agree with you about having an idea to work on before quitting.)
icey 17y ago
No matter how much I've liked any job I've had, I always knew I was working for someone else.
- redorb 17y ago
  you say that like working for someone else is bad - do you think your startup will have no customers? (for whom you'll be working_for harder than your boss)
  - icey 17y ago
    You're overparsing my intention. When you work for another company, there is always someone else who ultimately has to sign off on your decisions; I'd far rather be the person with whom the buck always stops.
    - nostrademons 17y ago
      That's not necessarily true. I can code basically whatever I want. I just can't launch it without Marissa's approval. But there are more potential internal users at Google than most startups ever get anyway, and anything with significant internal traction will likely get launched regardless of the decision-makers' opinions.
      - icey 17y ago
        With my day job right now, I determine our release schedule, what features go into the product, how things get implemented, what tools we use, what languages we use, what hardware we purchase, what development methodologies we use, how we build, how we test, how we handle user training, how we deal with bug reports, what candidates we hire, which people we fire, and I don't have to ask for permission to do any of these things. But, it's not my company; and what I can and can't do could change instantly if the guy at the top of the org chart decides on a whim that things are going to be done differently. While I don't think it's likely to happen, it's still a possibility; and you have a lot less of that when it's you at top of the chart. [Edit: I just want to preempt some other angles if I can; I know that things get muddy when you deal with investors and and boards of directors, and when you deal with partners and staff and all of those things. There's a bit of nuance here that I'm somehow not conveying. I guess at this point you either get what I'm saying or you don't.]
cousin_it 17y ago
Good jobs are hard to come by and jobs you love are almost impossible to come by. I've loved all my jobs. Also, don't discount all the data you get from your job to feed your startup plans. I wouldn't dream of starting a competitor to the project we built together.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  Where's that friend button when you need it... How about this: Find some idea, get your friend on board as an investor / advisor ? You guys seem to get along well and have each others interests at heart otherwise you wouldn't say you loved the job that much. Three birds with one stone, angel investor / mentor / continued professional relationship, only this time you are in charge.

by edw519 17y ago

ams6110 17y ago

On the other hand if you have a job you like and it's paying you well, it can be hard to get motivated enough to really work on a side project, even if it's something you'd like to try. Forcing a little hunger on yourself might be what you need.

edw519 17y ago
Forcing a little hunger on yourself might be what you need. That hunger can easily become real, not virtual, if you're not careful :-) Things take longer than they seem. Money lasts shorter than you plan. Like I said before, I'm not one to discourage, but OP doesn't even have a "hair on fire" idea yet. I'd think twice before I left a job I loved.
- icey 17y ago
  Let's take things with a grain of salt. It sounds like the OP can definitely hack - I'd assume if he needed to he could just go back and get another job, no?
  - edw519 17y ago
    Probably. Maybe I'm a little sensitive lately. I love the idea of doing my own startup. It trumps everything else I'm working on. But there's something to be said for a job you love. I know so many people who hate going to work, so OP shouldn't discount the job he loves too much, that's all.
    - icey 17y ago
      Well, you're right about having a great job being worth a lot; but the fact that the OP wants to leave something so great to work on starting up really speaks more to the depth of his drive to start up, right? (Also, I totally agree with you about having an idea to work on before quitting.)

icey 17y ago

No matter how much I've liked any job I've had, I always knew I was working for someone else.

redorb 17y ago
you say that like working for someone else is bad - do you think your startup will have no customers? (for whom you'll be working_for harder than your boss)
- icey 17y ago
  You're overparsing my intention. When you work for another company, there is always someone else who ultimately has to sign off on your decisions; I'd far rather be the person with whom the buck always stops.
  - nostrademons 17y ago
    That's not necessarily true. I can code basically whatever I want. I just can't launch it without Marissa's approval. But there are more potential internal users at Google than most startups ever get anyway, and anything with significant internal traction will likely get launched regardless of the decision-makers' opinions.
    - icey 17y ago
      With my day job right now, I determine our release schedule, what features go into the product, how things get implemented, what tools we use, what languages we use, what hardware we purchase, what development methodologies we use, how we build, how we test, how we handle user training, how we deal with bug reports, what candidates we hire, which people we fire, and I don't have to ask for permission to do any of these things. But, it's not my company; and what I can and can't do could change instantly if the guy at the top of the org chart decides on a whim that things are going to be done differently. While I don't think it's likely to happen, it's still a possibility; and you have a lot less of that when it's you at top of the chart. [Edit: I just want to preempt some other angles if I can; I know that things get muddy when you deal with investors and and boards of directors, and when you deal with partners and staff and all of those things. There's a bit of nuance here that I'm somehow not conveying. I guess at this point you either get what I'm saying or you don't.]

cousin_it 17y ago

Good jobs are hard to come by and jobs you love are almost impossible to come by. I've loved all my jobs. Also, don't discount all the data you get from your job to feed your startup plans. I wouldn't dream of starting a competitor to the project we built together.

jacquesm 17y ago
Where's that friend button when you need it... How about this: Find some idea, get your friend on board as an investor / advisor ? You guys seem to get along well and have each others interests at heart otherwise you wouldn't say you loved the job that much. Three birds with one stone, angel investor / mentor / continued professional relationship, only this time you are in charge.