Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by eoghan 4163 days ago
"If they can’t pay you what you’re worth, consider being paid in part in stock, but only if you truly believe in the product, the management, and the company as a whole."

Successful "techies" never work at companies they don't believe in.

It's quite telling that the author includes this "only if" clause.
2 comments
minimaxir 4163 days ago
> Successful "techies" never work at companies they don't believe in.

This is an odd application of No True Scotsman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

There are many nonobvious reasons for choosing to work at a certain company, even if you don't believe in the company (e.g. salary to support a family as the highest priority)

link
Swizec 4163 days ago
> Successful "techies" never work at companies they don't believe in.

1) This is from 2011, it was slightly less of a seller's market for engineers back then. It was still a seller's market, but not as crazy as it is now.

2) The author is one of the top 10 all time contributors to HN. #3 in fact. And I don't think he deserves the snark from the last line of your comment. He's done some pretty cool things and I'd definitely count him as a successful techie.

That said your lackadaisical use of infinity is worrying. You shouldn't just throw it around like that. Most things have nuances. Life in particular.

link
eoghan 4163 days ago
I'm sure he's a very prolific Hacker News contributor. My point is that people who optimize for short-term financial compensation ahead of employment with a company they believe in which is generous with its stock are the least successful in this industry—particularly financially, ironically.
link
dasil003 4163 days ago
Citation needed for the statistics you're drawing from. Obviously if you want to make millions you need to get that from stock, but that comes from taking risk. How many people ended up with way below market compensation by working for peanuts + stock for a company that went nowhere (or just went somewhere just for the preferred shareholders) compared to those that made had a legitimate payout that put them above market salaries?

Despite what TechCrunch and the VC industry would have us believe, it's nowhere near as clear cut as you make out.

link
Swizec 4163 days ago
The industry is also littered with the broken husks of all who believed in the wrong company.
link