[HunterV]

It all comes down to what makes you happy. Startup or big company you could have a bad experience regardless.

Honestly I enjoy the thrill of working in a startup, if I didn't have fun doing this I wouldn't be doing it.

But in all honesty, there are people who worked hard and got pricey non-engineering degrees that are jobless.

If this article speaks to how messed up the startup life is, it also speaks to how spoiled we all are.

[flyinRyan]

You have a limited amount of years in your life that you can earn. Allowing yourself to be exploited so certain rich people can get even richer at your expense is not only a bad strategy for you [1], it hurts the market over all because everyone who does this adjusts the market rate downward.

[1] Seriously, people need to shut the fuck up about "fun". Whether you have "fun" or not has fuck all to do with anything. You think Micheal Jordan wasn't having "fun" making a living playing basketball? Of course he was, but he still demanded as high a rate as he could possibly get because he was worth it.

[HunterV]

What are you talking about? If it's "fun" it's "fun".

Maybe I'm just blind and everyone is jumping into startups for no equity/salary. But in actuality, the startups out there offer realistic deals, if they don't, don't take the job. Simple as that.

One thing is for sure though, you're not going to get as good a deal at a startup as you would at a big company. There is a reason for that, you (should) have a possible big payout.

Now, if people are actually taking low paying jobs with barely any equity while the founders feast, I totally agree that's messed up.

Also, the Michael Jordan example doesn't apply. He would be like a Google employee that demands a higher salary, and because he's worth it, gets it. He was having "fun" playing in the NBA, so he stayed. If he went out to start his own basketball league that would be a different story.

[flyinRyan]

>What are you talking about? If it's "fun" it's "fun".

Fine, but that has nothing to do with anything. You should always try to find work you enjoy. But it doesn't affect the rate. Picking up trash probably isn't fun, but it doesn't pay more for being an awful job that no one wants to do. Why should "fun" jobs pay less? They should not.

>But in actuality, the startups out there offer realistic deals, if they don't, don't take the job. Simple as that.

Have you not seen people on this very site saying "well, the pay is bad but I don't mind because it's fun" or "I'd take 50% less if the job was fun" and so on? It happens fairly often.

>Now, if people are actually taking low paying jobs with barely any equity while the founders feast, I totally agree that's messed up.

I think the issue is, they see numbers and think "wow, I'm getting 15% of the company, that's huge!" but in reality their equity has no protections against delusion so by the time they could actually sell their stock it will be worth a few thousand. Nothing remotely compared to the salary hit they took. So they don't think they're getting barely any equity but that's nearly always the case for an employee.

>Also, the Michael Jordan example doesn't apply. He would be like a Google employee that demands a higher salary, and because he's worth it, gets it. He was having "fun" playing in the NBA, so he stayed. If he went out to start his own basketball league that would be a different story.

NBA isn't a company, it's an organization of individual companies. The Chicago Bulls are a separate company with their own staff, payroll and so on. The NBA would be comparable to something like "organic foods retail". It's not all of basketball but it's all of one kind of basketball (NBA pro ball).