

Ask HN: Staying on to pick up the pieces of failed startup - cleanup_crew

This is a throwaway account, for the obvious reasons. I'm a regular reader and occasional contributor.<p>I've just been asked to stay on at the web startup I work at while the majority of the company (developers, sales, etc) is layed off. My job would be to maintain the existing software while an off-the-shelf replacement is integrated by a consulting company. The downside is that I won't be doing any new development for the next 6 months. The upside is that I'll be compensated much better for babysitting for that time period. After that, I'm free to go. Is this a wise career move or should I cut my losses and find something new immediately?
======
petervandijck
You could make a deal with them. You work 3 days/week on that, for fulltime
compensation, and the other 2 days you could start something yourself or learn
some technologies you always wanted to spend time on. Or contribute to some OS
thing that you always wanted to work on. In other words, improve your
skills/knowledge/resume.

------
sagacity
I'd say this is (if not a rare, at least a _great_ ) learning opportunity.
Much better compensation puts icing on the cake!

I'd go for it if I were you; all the best.

~~~
cleanup_crew
I'm just curious, how do you see it as a learning opportunity? Learning the
rough and tumble world of startups?

~~~
sagacity
Yes, and also the associated revival/turnaround/business processes.

(This is based on my understanding derived from your post above that the
startup is not getting shut down.)

I do realise that you're basically on the technical (and not business) side of
things, but imho it'll give you an opportunity to _expand_ your experience and
knowledge, going beyond the realms of technology; usually a useful thing. YMMV
:-)

