

Ask HN: Working in a startup - StylifyYourBlog

I have recently graduated from college and taken up a job as a frontend developer in a startup. The job itself is fulfilling but I do find that I am missing out on something in life. I have learned lots of new things in the past 3 months and had the opportunity to work with great people on one hand but find that the other things that I like to do (blogging , participating in meetups and doing exercise) have taken a back seat due to the sheer amount of time and energy required for working. Any advice on how to cope with this
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MichaelCrawford
Stick with the company for at least a year. You'll learn a lot of valuable
skills. Staying with any one employer for at least a year makes it more likely
you'll get hired somewhere else. Also everyone wants to know how many years,
not months of experience you have with each skill you claim to have.

Be advised that it is quite uncommon for startups to actually succeed. The
chances are quite good that your stock options - if any - will not be worth
anything at all.

Do the very best you can to stay connected - or GET connected - with a
professional network.

Take a long, hard look at whether your startup really will succeed. If you
don't think it will, start sending out resumes towards the end of your first
year on the job.

If you really do believe it will succeed, then decide for yourself whether it
is worth all the effort and sacrifice.

Find some older, more experienced industry people who can give you some
insight as to whether your startup will succeed.

Leave the office at least once per day, preferably twice, to go get a coffee
or a smoothie. Do this on your own sometimes, so you can think, or invite a
colleague. If you never leave the office during such a hard workday, you will
burn out for sure.

Say you're having trouble on some code. Ask your boss out for coffee then
discuss your problem with him. At Working Software, my boss and I did that
every single day for three years.

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StylifyYourBlog
Thanks for this advice Michael

