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As a recent graduate who is actively looking for a job, this is an eye opener. Many thanks to the author for explaining what really happens in "Start-up life".

As a recent graduate who is actively looking for a job, this is an eye opener. Many thanks to the author for explaining what really happens in "Start-up life". What really struck me was the "full-stack rock star hacker" part. As someone who has little to no experience in commercial software engineering and then sees this phrase on many start up roles (includes ninjas and gurus), it really sets an image that start up work is only for the incredibly bright individuals who know it all. I also believe some of the unrealistic expectations start ups have are one of the major reasons why they fail. [0] "Rome wasn't built in a day". Working long hours goes with the kind of person you are. 80 hour work weeks may be productive for some people whilst others perform better with 37 hour work weeks (or less). We are all different. Some athletes are born marathon runners, whilst others are natural short distance sprinters. I think this is where most start-ups also get it wrong and its also something that contributes to their failures. Long hours once in a while is fine as long as you are compensated for it. Media is also a major contributor to what start ups should be like. As mentioned in the article, you only hear about major acquisitions, huge crowd funding campaign success, and crazy company valuations. But its a lot less common to hear about the failures of start-ups, people burning out before their first product release. Why does media never cover these failures? As much as I would like to join a start-up or even start one, I will continue looking for work at small-medium companies and big companies first, get good experience first and still a personal life outside work. I guess its different for other people, but I value work/life balance and I also think its the key to having a successful career, be it entrepreneurial or employee based. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_wasn%27t_built_in_a_day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_wasn%27t_built_in_a_day

tbrownaw 12y ago
Working long hours goes with the kind of person you are. 80 hour work weeks may be productive for some people whilst others perform better with 37 hour work weeks (or less). We are all different. Something to keep in mind for this, is that people tend to be fairly lousy at detecting how what they do affects their productivity. Even if you think you do well with long weeks (or multitasking, or whatever), you can't know that without keeping a log of how much you actually got done under which conditions.
watwut 12y ago
Although we are all different, no study found a person that would be the most efficient at 80 hour work weeks. Similarly, although our sleep needs differ somehow, no study ever found a person that would be effective with under 6 hours a night sleeping.
- computerjunkie 12y ago
  I agree that 80 hours per week sounds unhealthy and unethical. I could possibly do it for one week but I will need a couple of days to recover physically, a couple of weeks to recover mentally. We do too much, expect too much, don't rest enough and get average-poor results. Once we see the poor results, we try to use the same method again and again, expecting different results. A vicious circle.

tbrownaw 12y ago

Working long hours goes with the kind of person you are. 80 hour work weeks may be productive for some people whilst others perform better with 37 hour work weeks (or less). We are all different. Something to keep in mind for this, is that people tend to be fairly lousy at detecting how what they do affects their productivity. Even if you think you do well with long weeks (or multitasking, or whatever), you can't know that without keeping a log of how much you actually got done under which conditions.

watwut 12y ago

Although we are all different, no study found a person that would be the most efficient at 80 hour work weeks. Similarly, although our sleep needs differ somehow, no study ever found a person that would be effective with under 6 hours a night sleeping.

computerjunkie 12y ago
I agree that 80 hours per week sounds unhealthy and unethical. I could possibly do it for one week but I will need a couple of days to recover physically, a couple of weeks to recover mentally. We do too much, expect too much, don't rest enough and get average-poor results. Once we see the poor results, we try to use the same method again and again, expecting different results. A vicious circle.