
You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else? - cotsog
http://www.intermittentintelligence.com/youre-a-developer-so-why-do-you-work-for-some
======
Homunculiheaded
Try an experiment, grab a piece of paper and write out the top ten programmers
that first come to your mind. Now next to their names write out which company
they work for.

There was a time when I was tossing around the idea of starting my own
business, something just wasn't clicking for me. Then I did this experiment,
and I realized that most the programmers who inspired me to be a programmer
worked for someone else (with pg being a major exception). I thought "It can't
just be because they didn't have the courage to start there own company". And
then I realized what was making me uncomfortable with starting my own
business.

I enjoy the myopia I can have being paid to work reasonable hours as a
developer. I have other passions in life, but I love that I can spend the vast
majority of my spare time studying code, cs, math etc without worrying about
business, marketing etc. Design I like (I'm not as passionate about it), but
business I really just don't get excited about.

As has been discussed over and over on hn, true expertise is only going to be
achieved by putting lots of time into something. For me personally, I can't
help that thing be programming and CS, maybe one day that will change (it
honestly wouldn't surprise me). Now if you do that same experiment with the
top 10 wealthiest people you respect, you will probably come up with a bunch
of entrepreneurs. The question really only comes does to which top 10 is the
one you strive to be in.

~~~
keiferski
Very true, but there's no need to assign developers as "inspiring experts" and
entrepreneurs as "wealthy people."

10/10 of the wealthiest people are not successful because they wanted to be
rich, they're successful because they enjoy business and entrepreneurship.
These people aren't any different than you; they just have different
interests.

It ultimately comes down to your personal interests. Like business? Be an
entrepreneur. Like programming and computer science? Be a developer. The only
thing _not to be_ is in it only for the money.

~~~
billpatrianakos
I agree completely about money. We all want money but the system is rigged and
wealth is something most of us won't get. I'm still very young but I believe
it's enough to have enough money to live comfortably, get married, raise some
kids, and all that first and foremost. I aspire to be really wealthy but I'm
not deluding myself into thinking this is an achievement that anyone can get.
It feels like the best we can do is strive for wealth with a healthy respect
and understanding of the odds of achieving it and being satisfied with regular
step-wise progress over large leaps from poor house to rich.

I've also found that doing anything for the money is a sure path to
unhappiness regardless of whether you get it or not. I strongly believe that
if you do what youre passionate about the money will come. It won't come
magically but it's kind of like that book, "The Secret" except with a
realistic attitude because wishful thinking and envisioning where you want to
be isn't enough, actions trump thoughts any day.

~~~
hello_moto
Big props to you. I mean it. Seriously 100% genuine. Because these days most
people don't think the way you do. You are a rare breed.

I think the biggest winner in our society are those who can ignore money (to
some degree) and enjoy their life to the fullest by doing things that matters
for themselves and other people.

It is a very extremely hard mindset to achieve. Harder than working hard
because that mindset requires faith that things will be okay if one can enjoy
life and accept things with positive attitude regardless the situation.

~~~
mrleinad
I think that the ideal position for anyone would be to be able to quit their
jobs, still be able to live a healthy life without being forced to work again.

Of course, there´s each one of us definition of "healthy life". For some this
must include a yatch or a huge house. For some others, being with friends and
being able to fullfill their basic needs is enough.

Me, I'd go for something in between. I don´t need a yatch, but I need nature.
I don´t need an iPhone, but I need the Internet.

~~~
Willwhatley
yacht

~~~
wr1472
No, I do think he meant Yatch [http://www.carolexclusivewatches.co.uk/Rolex-
Sports/Rolex-Ya...](http://www.carolexclusivewatches.co.uk/Rolex-Sports/Rolex-
Yatch-Master)

------
naner
I'm getting tired of this crap.

 _You're a developer, so why do you work for someone else?_

Some people would much rather take a paycheck then try to run a business for
obvious reasons.

 _Think about the biggest websites you visit or use on a regular basis:
Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare, or even Google for that matter -- all
of them were created by developers who created something from little more than
an idea in their head._

All companies with massive groups of highly-skilled developers who work for
someone else.

Also the vast majority of web/mobile things these one- or two-person developer
teams create are completely unimportant, uninteresting, trivial, superficial
crap that I can't believe anyone would want to spend a significant amount of
time creating and maintaining. It is obvious in 5 years time they will be gone
and forgotten. Hardly much different from working on some back-office CRUD app
only you get to use trendy languages and tools and pretend you're an
'entrepreneur'. Well you're not. Henry Ford is an entrepreneur, you just
created a new way for rich people to distract themselves from their empty
lives.

(Sorry, got a little venomous at the end. This wasn't directed at anyone in
particular.)

~~~
zerostar07
Unless you are doing cutting-edge research in your daily job, you are not much
different from those indies working on "superficial crap", apart from the fact
that being "part of a company" gives you the illusion that it's more
legitimate. Was google search or skype superficial and trivial? They started
as programmer toys. The point of the article is that a programmer can start
with $0 and build the whole product. A programmer is like a farmer or an
artist, a de facto entrepreneur.

~~~
Game_Ender
Both Google and Skype were more then "programmers toys" they started out as
solution to actual problems: how to find useful things on the web, and how to
connect to other people through the internet.

Also, nothing is stopping you from using your software chops on cutting edge
research projects. The issue is that the required skill sets are usually
different then the latest Web 2.0 technologies.

------
diego
Been there, done that. Being a developer is a small fraction of what you need
in order to create a successful product. If you are the kind of person who can
do it, you don't need to read posts like these.

I don't know about this guy, but it looks like he hasn't done it, and he has
little idea of what lies ahead. Best of luck to him.

~~~
dangrover
This is only true if you're 100% unwilling/unable to do anything except code.

This is not true of all "developers." Being able to code does not disqualify
you from being an intelligent, versatile human being capable of all sorts of
things. And, failing that, it certainly does not prevent you from taking a
holistic look at your business and outsourcing the things you can't handle.

The funny thing you realize is how many designers can't design, how many
salespeople can't sell, etc. By being committed and flexible, it's amazing the
edge you can have, even if you have to pay other people sometimes.

Contrary to popular belief, the first time you code something, the computer
does not shoot beams out to alter your DNA and devolve you into a developer
sapiens/developer-o-saurus. What you choose to spend your time on and
prioritize is up to you, and being able to code only makes you more capable,
not less.

~~~
jroseattle
Who has this popular belief?

On the contrary, most people I know assume competency in one discipline
automatically grants them competency in others.

------
bry
I wrote and submitted this article to HN about a year ago. I've since moved it
from a self-hosted Wordpress site to Posterous, which is probably why the
dupe-checker didn't catch it (slightly different URL). A lot has happened
since then. I'm still working toward my goal of doing my own thing
(ironically, still working for someone else myself). When you're trying to
create and market a bootstrapped business, its pretty easy to get distracted
unless you have the ability to go full-time.

When I wrote the article, it was essentially me expressing my thoughts about
how anyone _if they want to_ (because not everyone does) CAN build something
and start their own business, even without substantial capital. The barrier to
entry is so low (comparatively speaking) that if you _want_ to go out on your
own as a developer, it is entirely possible. The post was meant to be
encouragement to those who are interested, not sensational (although I did
make some generalizations) :)

I actually built the original thing I discussed in the article (a service to
manage Boy Scouts), and it got some great reviews and initial interest, but
then the Boy Scouts wanted me to pay huge fees to license the term "Boy Scout"
or use anything even resembling any of their trademarks. I decided to let that
go and build something that does not piggyback on any other organization.
That's what I'm working on now.

A year "lost" is a long time, but I haven't given up. I haven't lost anything
other than time, since I was bootstrapping it and building it on my own time
in the evenings. I won't be happy until I am doing my own thing. I'll post a
follow-up with what I've learned and what has happened over the past year to
anyone who is interested.

~~~
miahi
So you actually wrote the article at the same time you started your first side
project, and expect people to follow your @#$% goldmine example?

As any software developer knows, projects fail. And 90% of the time they do
not fail from technical reasons, as you found out (the hard way). Any
developer worth his salt can make a project work from the technical point of
view, but only few have a great idea that they can actually market. It's not
the programming that matters, it's what you sell with that program. And you
have to know how and what to sell more than you know how to program.

~~~
bry
I think you missed the point. It was meant to be inspirational to those who
WANT to. There are no valid excuses if you WANT to.

------
AshFurrow
I'm a developer because I want to develop software, and by working for someone
else, I'm paying them (with my time) to deal with all the nonsense I don't
want to do. Things like marketing, infrastructure, support, etc... I'm
employing my employer to let me focus on exactly what I want to.

I'm pretty early in my career and I'm certainly open to the idea of working
for myself. However, there are advantages to having a job and working a little
part-time contracting on the side.

~~~
scottshea
I find though that companies often place as much nonsense in my way as they
remove so there can be a trade off.

~~~
AshFurrow
For sure - there's a trick in finding the right company.

~~~
pavel_lishin
In my experience, the amount of bullshit is directly correlated with company
size.

~~~
scottshea
There is that... and of course all Public Companies in the US have the SOX BS
baked into the process.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Having never worked for one, I have no idea what SOX BS is. Can you elaborate?

~~~
scottshea
Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It was enacted following Enron and Worldcom to prevent
corporate malfeasance. Sadly it gave a lot of auditors a lot of power which
translated to 'controls' placed on the work environment. Some make sense (e.g.
no read/write access to production for development). Others make no sense
(e.g. no access to log files from production for developers troubleshooting
issues). It really depends on the company and the audit process.

------
mgkimsal
I generally take this attitude - work for yourself - sure gentle plug - that
was part of the motivation behind <http://indieconf.com> ;)

BUT... I think we see a large amount of survivorship bias in the tech porn we
read daily.

\-----

Think about the biggest websites you visit or use on a regular basis:
Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare, or even Google for that matter -- all
of them were created by developers who created something from little more than
an idea in their head. Was it easy for them? Heck no. But it could only have
been done in today's day and age. So why in the world are you sitting there
day after day working for someone else?

\-----

Wow... so because some people could do it, you can too? Yeah... well... call
me negative, but I don't suspect we're going to see another Google or Facebook
or Apple or Microsoft any time soon, and it's not because people don't try, or
it's not hard.

In fact, I'm a bit dismayed by many entrepreneurs I find that "shoot for the
stars", thinking that they'll be the next Gates or Jobs or Zuck, encouraged by
these sorts of articles. Many of the success stories we look at today weren't
started by someone who had the goal of conquering the world - they set out to
solve a problem for themselves (I'm thinking more especially of the web-based
services, not so much the hardware ones).

Working on lifestyle businesses - contracting yourself out on a project basis
- yeah, that's more achievable for more people. This may lead to the ability
to earn more, save up a runway, and work on product - sure. But... this "swing
for the fences" mentality seems like it may be causing problems for people who
follow the party line, but truly aren't ready/capable to execute.

------
learc83
I can't believe that the top comments in a thread on _hacker news_ boil down
to: most developers should probably just stick to working 40 hours a week,
because most developers don't have the other skills required to run a company.

Yes it's true running a business takes more than just tech skills, and not
every developer is capable of running a multi million dollar company.

However, I think that most developers are capable of running a successful
small business.

Most people can't run facebook, but most intelligent people can run a small
web business.

You may not _want_ to run your own business, but that doesn't mean you don't
have the ability.

------
iandanforth
1\. I'm new at this

Self taught programmer learning the ropes. Just because your title qualifies
you as a 'developer' doesn't mean you shouldn't have a realistic understanding
of your own abilities.

2\. My team is great

I have the enviable position of working for some really talented, extremely
successful entrepreneurs. There is so much I (or anyone) could learn here,
that giving that up would be stupid.

3\. I'm doing exactly what I want to do.

The problems we are working on (biologically inspired machine intelligence)
are hard, fascinating, revolutionary, and just plain cool. Every time I think
of starting something else I end up with the conclusion that my ideal startup
exists and someone just happened to start it before I did. Fine with me!

Any one of these is sufficient, together they make up few really good reasons
to stay.

------
snowwindwaves
What I can achieve by myself is so much smaller than what I can help achieve
as part of a team. I worked independently for 4 years in electrical
engineering and now that I'm with a team of 10 other engineers the quality,
variety, and magnitude of the projects I am working on has increased 20x.
Working independently all that time had a huge opportunity cost but did afford
a great lifestyle.

------
shreyas-satish
I believe start up advice is not necessarily 'one size fits all', especially
for someone relatively inexperienced and which is something I expected from
the article. I've read way too many "just do it" articles.

This is advice I've been giving myself and living before I attempt to jump in:

1\. Get really good at your craft, in this case, programming. You don't want
to spend time learning how you need to configure your server when you'd rather
prepare for your meeting with that client.And importantly, you have something
to fall back on if it doesn't work out.

2\. Get enough people to take you seriously. I mean really, work on open
source, maintain a blog, attend hackathons etc. Build a decent enough profile
that another developer would recommend to someone.

3\. If possible, get paid while you pick up these and many other vital skills.
You'll learn a lot on the job and clear your bills. Of course, make sure
you're sincere enough to focus on 1 and 2.

Young and relatively inexperienced programmer here. Been working for someone
else since about a year now (soon after graduating) and plan to continue to do
so for at least another year. I've been living this advice for a while now and
I feel I'm coming along ok. Would love to hear thoughts from much more
experienced programmers/entrepreneurs.

------
jeromeparadis
Working on a side project for yourself is easy and as he says, it's possible
to find the time.

However, having my own founded and co-founded companies for the last 20 years,
I must say unless you have enough money to really work on what you want,
you're always working for someone else. As a consultant, you're always working
for clients and if business isn't too bad, you can at some point be picky and
chose your clients. But, your still working for someone else.

Then, as a pure startup that gets funded, you are working for your investors.
Usually, you try to have the best fit and keep enough ownership to make your
own decisions, but you're still accountable, which is ok with me. It's
sometimes good to have someone to check a bit over your decisions.

But, unless your are extremely fortunate, you are still usually working for
someone else. Still, you gain more autonomy and flexibility as opposed to
purely being employed.

This said, working for myself works for me and I would never go back to being
employed by someone else.

Just know that you'll still be accountable to someone else. The difference is
if you screw up, you cannot blame the company. You can only blame yourself. If
this happens, it will be a good learning experience.

~~~
einhverfr
The difference is that as a self-employed consultant, you can fire bosses (we
call them customers) that cause you too much trouble. It's a question of
balance of power, and one should not underestimate that difference.

Similarly with startups and investors. If you have the ability to walk away
and find another job, that gives you power. This is a big reason CEO's make
obscene amounts of money in this country while floor workers don't.

~~~
jeromeparadis
I agree. As long as you can afford to. But even when you think you can't
afford to, you're probably better off firing the client that gives you to much
trouble.

As for having a startup with investors, if the fun isn't there anymore you
always have the option of walking away.

Walking away isn't for everyone, though. Getting to the point where it's an
option in your arsenal, having the confidence and experience of knowing you'll
find something else to make a living by yourself is what separate
entrepreneurs and employees.

~~~
einhverfr
"Walking away isn't for everyone, though. Getting to the point where it's an
option in your arsenal, having the confidence and experience of knowing you'll
find something else to make a living by yourself is what separate
entrepreneurs and employees."

And this is exactly why telling people that this is not for everyone is
harmful to everyone. If all the applicants for a job can walk away and find
something else, the company has to be far better at keeping them and the
companies which add too much BS end up dying rather quickly.

------
pnathan
I work for someone else because today, my expertise is in software
development, not in

* sales & marketing

* graphic design

* finance

* business law

All of the above can be obtained and I plan to obtain enough expertise in
those over time so that I could start my own software shop. But _today_ , I
assess my risk of total failure to be very high, with no soft landing.

~~~
einhverfr
You can also ask lawyers legal questions, pay graphic designers where you need
to, and hire marketing firms......

The finance you'd need to learn enough to do, but you could hire a bookkeeper
for day to day stuff, and learn enough to make sure you aren't being robbed.

------
rickmode
The most striking bit: he found a Borders to sit at.

OK, just kidding. This post is a year old. Naive? Sure. Doesn't mean the
sentiments aren't correct. I wonder how he's doing one year on.

The "just do it" theme is good to hear once in a while for those of us who
have shelved their startup dream temporarily.

------
r0s
I tried to hack out my ideas for the last three years with zero development
experience.

Eventually I hit a wall of ability, because I was working alone, completley
self taught. I felt like my options were 1) work with other developers, or 2)
back to school.

So last month I got a development job. I'm learning a ton everyday, but it's
leaving me with almost no energy to pursue my own ideas. I hope to save some
money this next year to kickstart my own projects.

~~~
kiba
Hacking out your idea is more resistance than genius. I would say, 99%
persistence.

I got my first job a few month ago doing programming, and I learn a lot.
However, how I learn is mostly banging my head day after day. When I am at
work, I have no choice but to bang my head against the code, trying to figure
out why it is not working.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
Banging your head is not the best debugging technique; many people try to
learn programming but neglect learning the fine arts of debugging.

~~~
OstiaAntica
I disagree, struggling with your own bad code is an important part of learning
the art.

------
gatlin
I'm going to plug worker cooperatives here. Small agile companies fit the
model perfectly. If anyone does reply to this with questions, I'll answer.

~~~
WayneDB
I love this idea. They can also get big too, here is one from Spain that
employs ~80K people - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation>

Where would you recommend looking for help and information on doing this in
the US?

~~~
gatlin
thirdcoastworkers.coop is a Texas based group that might be helpful.

<http://usworker.coop/front> is also good. Mondragon is cool; another group
with the same name operates in Quebec. Worker coops can be flat structures or
simply be companies where the board is elected. Either way, the members
control profits and mission.

------
strlen
I want to work on challenging problems that have a real world impact. Right
now, I personally thinking that building distributed data infrastructure is
such a problem. If I were to start or join a small web/business software
startup chances are I'd never actually get to solve this problem: I know I'll
never be happy if I'm not solving what I think is the most fascinating problem
I have the aptitude to solve. I've left companies in the past for this reason
and (as pg had said a number of times) lack of determination to succeed is
more important than raw intelligence.

I could start a systems startup, but having worked for such a company in the
past, I know I don't want to start one, especially at this stage in my career:
finding funding (this isn't something you can bootstrap), customer support,
doing business development (to find a sales channel) and/or sales/marketing
(the sales model is not self-serve) would be what I'd spend huge portions most
of my time on. Note how that list doesn't include "solving actual technical
problems" -- doing something I love would only be a minority of my time. Nor
would I have access to true scalability challenges (i.e., to envision
scenarios that my customers would encounter further down the line) like I do
at my current employer.

Might I do a startup one day? Sure, if it's the best way for me to solve the
problems that I find meaningful and interesting. As for the money? Not really
a motivating factor, plus statistically it's just not likely that I'll make
more as an entrepreneur than as a software engineer.

------
Karellen
I tried starting a business with a few friends. We made a pretty good go of it
for a year or so. We didn't get rich, but we broke even compared to having
regular jobs, which ain't bad. But, even though I wasn't really one of the
business people in the group, I still had to be aware of and keep up to date
with a whole lot of "running the business"/"schmoozing customers" crap that I
had absolutely no interest in. I don't care. It's not interesting, or
rewarding, or fun. I just want to build stuff. I'm not that bothered who
decides what I'm building, so long as it's not an obviously complete waste of
time.

So I work for someone else. It's a small company, and I'm a big cog in it, but
I don't have to worry about any of the crap I don't want to worry about. I
just build stuff that our clients want.

Yeah, I'm not raking in mad coin. Big fscking deal.

------
awolf
"My point is: an hour here and an hour there adds up! You have time, its just
a matter of what you choose to do with it."

This trivializes the situation for full time employed programmers. Sure, you
have spare hours intermixed throughout your work day, but these are not
_productive_ hours. Your brain is worn out due to the effort spent in your 9
to 5 and distracted since when you're not at your job you have all sorts of
other life responsibilities to manage (eat, exercise, socialize, family).

The author has a busy family life and a full time job and is still able to
find 20 hours a week to work on his own thing. I find this very impressive.

I worked like this for a time before leaving my full time job last August. I
found full time + half time + the rest of life was unsustainable. At first I
made progress but quickly the rest of my life began to suffer. My relationship
with my girlfriend became strained. I barely saw my friends or did things I
enjoyed. Burnout started to appear. I got to the point where I realized that
none of my programming hours were as productive as they once were. I was
working more but getting about the same amount done.

I'm not saying it's not possible. It's just not as easy as he is making it
sound. He is right that as a developer I was sitting on a gold mine but the
mining didn't really begin until I quit my day job and focused.

------
notatoad
Exactly. I'm a developer, not a businessman. I don't want to deal with the
problems of running a business, all I want to do is make cool things. Letting
somebody else run the business allows me to do that. I'm not here for the
money - my employer pays me enough that I don't have to worry about money.
That's all I want.

My boss spends all day answering emails and dealing with clients, while I
write code. I see no reason why I would want to trade places.

~~~
freemarketteddy
If your boss actually lets you make cool things then you are lucky....chances
are that you are a salaried bitch who can code!

How can you be happy when your boss makes much more money than you writing
emails all day...point is that you should really be the boss having an
assistant who can write emails!

~~~
notatoad
I don't care how much my boss is making, I make enough money. How can you be
happy worrying about everybody else's salaries?

~~~
bluedanieru
I understand your opinion here, and in fact I sort of share it, but having
myself been in a situation where I affected the balance sheet in the low
seven-figure range (in a good way) and received in return a good review and a
'keep it up', i.e. no raise or bonus, I can completely sympathize. It is
maddening when people are buying expensive cars and nice homes with profits
made possible by your work.

------
simonbrown
Some people have signed contracts that assign the copyright of anything they
create to their employer, so starting a business on the side isn't possible.

[http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/19422/if-im-
working-...](http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/19422/if-im-working-at-a-
company-do-they-have-intellectual-property-rights-to-the-st)

~~~
regularfry
I appreciate that this is often a geographical and jurisdictional question,
but that falls firmly in my "Don't do that, then" category.

------
spacefungus
Sometimes building something entirely on your own takes you away from the
craft you love. If you are master chocolate maker, but have to focus on
business, accounting, marketing, etc., maybe you'd rather just work for an
awesome little chocolate company and focus on your craft, ya know?

~~~
bluedanieru
Maybe you'll end up working for Hershey's.

------
211231321
I think this debate has been had several times before. And I respect the
opinion of everyone who has an opinion, but there is one topic which I have
never seen discussed, and it arises from the fact that bigger companies have
more money. If you are working for companies like google, amazon, facebook,
IBM etc you get a lot of opportunities that only money can buy. Traveling the
world being one, high salary and holidays being two, we should throw in
working on much larger projects as three. This list is only limited by my
experience. The point is, if you are working for a good company, you get to do
a lot of stuff a startup wouldn't even dream of.

------
jwatte
There's a whole class of interesting, valuable challenges that you'll never
get close to working on when you're alone and bootstrapping. Building value at
a larger scale, as part of a larger team, can be equally fulfilling, as long
as the team is great.

Also, while Google, Twitter and Facebook are great outcomes, there's a 1000:1
chance against your particular idea. It's 10:1 you'll be able to start it at
all, then 10:1 you'll survive until funding/bootstrap, and then 10:1 you'll
exit. If you want the best expected value (in dollars) for your time, go work
for wall street firms!

------
vanni
> Myth #1: I don't have any time. This is a common excuse (...)

This is a really common case. When you are alone with your startup idea, you
often fail to give the right priority to the tasks you need to complete to get
to something of value finished. Advisors are the best solution to me.
<shameless-on-topic-plug> And I'm working on a solution for all the (would-be)
single founders to get help with this issue: <http://www.asaclock.com>
</shameless-on-topic-plug>

------
jamesgagan
I bet for a lot of people, you don't have to look much further than the
current #1 story on HN for the answer: Programmers Salaries at Google $250k
(and up)

------
wooyi
The main reason is that most startups fail, and being a developer and
transitioning to an entrepreneur is a huge leap. The gap is big. It takes a
lot of effort, money, emotional strength and perhaps, some luck. So getting a
job and decent salary ($250k in Google from today's top post) is usually the
prudent thing to do. I wouldn't advise every developer to try and be an
entrepreneur. That's just bad advice.

------
reuven
The author of this blog posting seems to equate being self employed with
having a startup or online business. This is certainly a great thing to do,
but there are other paths to self-employment. And self employment isn't for
everyone.

Take me, for example: I'm a developer, and I've been an independent
Web/database consultant for 16 years now. I feel incredibly fortunate to be
able to have my job. I work with half a dozen different companies and
organizations each week, I meet new people and businesses all of the time, I
get to learn and work with a variety of technologies, I work as a senior
technical person rather than as a manager (which would be expected at most
companies), and I have a fair amount of control over when and how I work --
although with three kids, a mortgage, and a bunch of clients, I definitely
work more hours than I would if I were an employee somewhere. (But I really
enjoy what I do, so that's OK.) I don't have to ask anyone for permission to
go on vacation, to go to a conference, or just to pick up my kids from school
once per week.

That said, I remember when the current recession started, and high-tech
companies were laying people off in droves. I told my accountant that I was
worried about a large crop of these laid-off workers starting to compete with
me. He told me that I shouldn't worry, that most people want to just have a
steady paycheck, and don't want to deal with all of the things that a small
business owner needs to worry about.

And indeed, being in business for yourself means dealing with the month-to-
month worries of ensuring you have enough income, that you're marketing
yourself in the right ways (and yes, I market myself, although it might not be
obvious at first glance), that you know how to choose clients, that you can
negotiate with clients and banks, and that you can balance the various demands
that your clients put on your time. It's definitely not for everyone; my wife
has gotten used to the ups and downs of our income (and we live pretty well
overall), but it's not nearly as straightforward or relaxed as having a
paycheck come in every month.

If you can pull it off, though, then being self-employed (whether in a startup
or a business like mine) is incredibly rewarding and exciting. I've been
offered full-time jobs by a number of companies, and while I've always said,
"I'm willing to consider anything," the fact is that I'm really enjoying
myself now, and can't imagine returning to the days when I went to the same
office, with the same people, and the same tasks day after day.

------
orochimaru
I think with all those exclamation marks, it would have been fit if he had
ended with "Let's quit together. I just forwarded my resignation to my boss."

However, since he didn't, I assume writing a blog post about this was just a
way to let out the pent up frustration, thereby taking away from the
credibility of the post.

------
dblock
I think it's similar to owning vs. renting a house. Working for someone else
is like renting. When rats are running through your kitchen you pickup your
crap and leave. But while you live in this rented house you might repaint the
walls and generally take great care of the place.

~~~
thecage411
And most of the time, renting is a better investment! :)

------
drivingmenuts
Because they have money and I don't?

Additionally, any time spent running the business (ie., all that other stuff
that isn't programming) is time not spent programming.

It's not like I ever plan to stop. I figure I can still do this when I'm 80 or
90, barring complications.

------
PaulHoule
I'm working in a sector where several companies have spent $50M and produced
things worse than what I want to produce.

It's sobering, and makes me think that there's a lot to know about business
that I don't know.

------
VonLipwig
This guy finds 20 hours week. This means he is spending 60 hours a week
working. Its not healthy.

He names 5 tech companies. How many developers are there in the world? So what
hundreds of thousands of developers have the potential to make a Google? I
think not.

In reality you will probably be happier sticking to employment and working on
and launching a side project as and when inspiration strikes. Burning 20 hours
a week of your free time will likely lead to - in this guys case - divorce and
for other people burnout.

~~~
rick888
"In reality you will probably be happier sticking to employment and working on
and launching a side project as and when inspiration strikes. Burning 20 hours
a week of your free time will likely lead to - in this guys case - divorce and
for other people burnout."

That will work until your employer makes the wrong business decision and the
company goes out of business or there are budget cuts and you get laid off.

Oh yeah, and if you work for any technology company and have a side project,
you better check any contract you signed. Most say that anything you work in
your off time is company property.

~~~
VonLipwig
"That will work until your employer makes the wrong business decision and the
company goes out of business or there are budget cuts and you get laid off."

That doesn't matter. This is no different from being self employed and making
bad decisions yourself.

When you are employed you typically know if you job is safe enough as you have
a fair idea of how the company is doing and have a feeling about how important
you are to the company.

If you know you are dispensable and your company just lost a big contract you
would worry. Otherwise you wouldn't. Self employment is very similar.

Regarding contracts, this is why it is very important to read your contract
before signing. I have turned down a number of jobs due to unrealistic non-
compete agreements and the potential employer owning discoveries I make in my
own time.

~~~
rick888
"That doesn't matter. This is no different from being self employed and making
bad decisions yourself."

The difference is that you have control over your own path. There were many
bad decisions at my previous job that I warned my managers and bosses against.
They wouldn't listen to me and the company ended up losing money or the idea
was a complete failure. I could see the company on a path of failure and the
only thing I had the power to do was ride it out. Every good idea was
squashed.

"When you are employed you typically know if you job is safe enough as you
have a fair idea of how the company is doing and have a feeling about how
important you are to the company."

This is sometimes true and it sometimes isn't. I've been in the dark about how
well the company is actually doing. It happened at my last job: They kept
assuring us that the company was still profitable and everything was fine. Two
weeks later, I got laid off.

In the end, it was actually positive, because I used it as an opportunity to
start my own company. I was always on the treadmill of a 9-5 and it was tough
to really get anywhere.

"Regarding contracts, this is why it is very important to read your contract
before signing. I have turned down a number of jobs due to unrealistic non-
compete agreements and the potential employer owning discoveries I make in my
own time."

Very true. However, most of the big tech companies require this (Microsoft,
Google, Facebook).

------
zem
precisely because i'm a developer. i want to spend my day writing code, not
dealing with the myriad other concerns of running a business. (and, to a
lesser but still significant extent, i want the security of a steady salary
while i do so; i'm not by nature much of a risk-taker)

------
hessenwolf
Because I am a great problem solver, but, without a problem, I have no ideas.
:(

------
recursive
Because they pay me. Why not work for someone else?

------
billpatrianakos
The sentiment sounds nice but this isnt helping the vast majority of people.

People work for others because they need that steady paycheck. Maybe they like
it! Not everyone has a terrible job. Not everyone hates their job. Not
everyone wants to start a business. This assumes that just anyone has what it
takes to start a company and it isn't so. I agree with the guy who said that
those who who actually can do this don't need to read this.

The biggest problem with articles like this is that it feeds unrealistic ideas
to all those idiots out there with terrible ideas, the ones who want to be the
next JobZuckerbergParkerBezos for the sake of being a billionaire because hey,
its cool and they think they have what it takes too. They're gonna be the next
big thing! Yeah! But not really.

This makes people think that just because they can, they should and glosses
over all the harsh realities of getting into business like the enormous
personal risk, the high odds of failure, and the fact that, quite frankly,
most people aren't competent enough to run a business.

It also does a disservice to those of us who have started a company. It makes
it look like we're slave drivers making money off the backs of our poor
employees when really our poor employees are getting as much as we can give
them without having to deal with the problems we do which are far more than
theirs. We take on the stresses they do plus the ones they don't have to. It
also makes us look kind of, well... Common.

You know, I used to read articles like these before I started my business and
now that I see things from the other perspective, I sometimes wonder if I'm
one of those idiots I rail against that have no business being in business. I
wonder if I'm delusional and if I'll ever get where I want to be or if I'll
have to close up shop and say I was wrong and I'm not one of those people who
are cut out for this. I'd tell people don't start a business. It's an ungodly
amount of stress, the risks can far outweigh the rewards, and it's incredibly
egomaniacal to think you're one of the special ones who will make it. This
isn't something where you just open up shop, collect money and live large. You
struggle, it can suck, and your personal relationships will suffer. Your ideas
aren't special either. Everyone has a website or app idea that they think is
the next big thing and it just isn't. I know because my clients are those
people. That said while I often think these things of myself, the rewards have
been worth it. But I must stress that it's not like that for almost everyone
else.

The article lacked a warning to people to tread carefully into
entrepreneurship with a supremely grounded attitude. Think realistically. Life
isn't like The Social Network. It's ugly as sin and encouraging the masses to
take a leap like this is scary.

------
dotcoma
You're not good enough, that's why ;-)

