On: Ask YC: Why would someone leave his/her cushy job ...

[truebosko]

It's about doing what you want, taking a risk, and not being afraid. To me, it's about having creative freedom and enjoying your day. Every morning I wake up and am ready to go to work, 9-5, sometimes much longer.

Sitting on my butt doing little to improve my self or a company (ie: being some corporate tool) would kill me

[tptacek → truebosko]

If you want a friend, buy a dog. If you want creative freedom and enjoyment, start an open source project on the side.

There are ways to mitigate all the BigCo problems without gambling 2-5 years of your life on a longshot.

[jrockway → tptacek]

What's wrong with "gambling your life on a longshot"? There are rewards for taking that risk, and it's not like you suddenly won't be able to get a job back in the corporate world. The world is desperate for good developers, so basically as one you have the freedom to do whatever you want.

[richardw → tptacek]

There are ways to mitigate the risk of starting up, as well. The process of starting your own business is exceptionally rewarding.

(Edit - I see you've done some of that. Maybe you're jaded with startups, I'm jaded with BigCo :)

[tptacek → richardw]

What are these ways of mitigating the risk that you speak of?

Also, tell us more about what you found rewarding about your startup. I think: winning is rewarding. Being fully exposed to wins is rewarding. In a BigCo, closing a $100,000 deal feels good. At a startup, closing a $100,000 deal feels fucking awesome.

But: losing feels really fucking bad. Flirting with debt feels even worse.

Who's to say where it ends up on balance?

[richardw → tptacek]

Well, I was worried about leaping into it feet-first and the application was emerging and needed lots of massaging. So I got a contracting gig that requires 1 or 2 days a week but lets me work full-time if I need to. I choose when to work on what, depending on what needs it most. Now that it's getting somewhere and I'm happier to take more risks, I'm spending some money on other people doing stuff for me.

What I love about it: Feedback. Really nice feedback. Meeting people I'd never interact with in my day-job. Not throwing the code away when the project is finished. Each bug fixed is one that matters a lot to me. Payments while I sleep! Lifehacker links that set the server on fire. I didn't work for them - they just arrive.

I finally did it. Who knows how it'll work out, but after a long time of killing myself for projects I got limited benefit from, I finally dragged an application from idea to release under my own steam and it's making money. That's a great emotional boost!