[MOARDONGZPLZ]

1 definitely tracks. My last company did lots of layoffs and the people who didn’t have a problem getting a new, maybe more senior or well paid, job were the ones that did a great job and put some oomph into their work. Absolutely nothing wrong with wanting or needing a 9-5, but the people who did reasonable work and then were unavailable after 5 are the ones that are having issues getting new jobs.

I don’t think the next best thing is to start a company however. Because the people who didn’t get jobs from their network are more likely to be the people who won’t necessarily excel at this. Plus there are so many variables here.

Next best thing in my view is to grind the heck out of Hacker Rank problems and get a job out of pure spite from brute forcing software challenges. Not fun or interesting, but can work really well to land someone a high paying job without having to think about starting a company.

Next best thing, or parallel best thing if this is your preference, is probably to get a more local dev job. There are surprisingly many local companies who don’t post remote roles, don’t post roles on HN, pay less than FAANG market, but are comfortable, in person roles with medium expectations. This is way better than being a liquor store clerk.

[zer00eyz]

>> Absolutely nothing wrong with wanting or needing a 9-5,

Kids, life, have these things. Just make sure you are hitting your marks, that your helpful that your gonna roll your selves up and get shit done. If you have to leave, then leave, bow out.

If you cant come in, or have to go cause you need to be at the gym or your spin class or D&D night. No one is calling you back right now. They remember that you put you first and not the team.

It does NOT have to be, and SHOULD NOT be, toxic.

[fragmede]

Easy enough to say, but when you’re going against people that put their life aside to deliver, and you’re not getting called back, and you’re emptying that 401k… I mean, I get where you’re coming from, but also, shit.

[zer00eyz]

>> and you’re emptying that 401k

Door dash, lyft, über, liquor store. NOTE: dont end up in a back room some where! You want to keep your social game sharp and you never know who will want a web site, or a pc repair, do these things too, your networking while your working.

Start a side project: Build a CLI tool, in a new language... Go, Rust, Zig are all sexy for this right now. It doesn't have to be perfect just launch. Stay in the game make yourself hot.

Your job is getting a job. You will work at least 5 hours a day at this till you have a job. Thats on top of Lyft, and side project...

If you have a life, or a family your gonna see them less till your back on your feet.

[aaomidi]

People who didn't put extra effort into a job that wasn't their own is not indicative that they won't for a job that is actually their own.

[MOARDONGZPLZ]

Unpopular to say, but probably is relatively strongly correlated. Yeah some people will be horrible at a regular job and amazing at a CEO of their own startup job, but I bet the qualities like good time management that make one successful at a regular job are qualities that would make one successful at the other. I’m open to being completely wrong here.

[richrichie]

Is this similar to saying that people who did not do well in school are unlikely to do well in life? (Things like time management, focus, dedication will make you a good student).

[aaomidi]

Well I have ample personal experiences saying you’re wrong. I think you’re basing a hypothesis off of what you think is right, and not going deeper to confirm or deny it.

[red-iron-pine]

organizations created conditions of learned helplessness, cynicism, bitterness, etc.

like, studies have shown that most people think their jobs are, partially or wholly, bullshit. that may or may not be true, but once you've checked out, you're out.

meanwhile when you're a manager / owner / founder, you have a lot more control; no learned helplessness while swimming in an ocean of processes when it's just you and 6 other people.