I cringe to think of myself as a "lifer" but I've been doing this for 10 years so draw your own conclusions.
Above all, the thing that makes me stay is having creative control and freedom over how I do my job. I've done enough things to know how rare that is, and how frustrating it is not to have it, and what a blessing it is to have the trust of the people I work for and with. It's so important to me that I feel it as a different baseline state in my body.
Wow, don’t think I’ve seen a comment from you as not-a-mod! But what’s so cringe about lifering? After having jumped from job to job every few years, I’m so tired of doing the first couple years of a job over and over and over. I’d rather get deeper into a product, build deeper automation and analysis, participate in building more of the culture. Maybe that doesn’t happen in practice and tech churn still keeps people on a hamster wheel of constant rebuilding, I wouldn’t know :/
The answer to that is probably just "attachment disorder'. There's nothing wrong with stable relationships, and the way you describe your preferences sounds completely healthy to me. It definitely does happen in practice, even if it's not the default, so don't give up!
(I post not-a-mod comments semi-regularly, but they drown in the ocean of "if you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd sure appreciate it ̶g̶r̶r̶r̶r̶r̶r̶r̶r̶r̶r̶r̶r̶̶".)
I hope they pay you very well. The value YC has gotten from HN has got to be immense and I imagine that without you HN would be a very different place.
Wow, an honest and interesting take. Moderating (managing?) HN seems like a dream job in many respects, I can imagine many people being super envious of your position. It's funny to think that you "cringe" about thinking yourself as a lifer in this position, I'd be hanging on to this job with everything I've got :)
I do understand your feeling though, even the funnest situation can at some point stop letting you grow as a person, which is why a job you can also grow in is crucial. That and the creative control / independence you mentioned are both very important IMO.
Side note: many people seem to misunderstand why tech companies tend to seek growth. One of the reasons, even in non-startup companies, is that companies that grow mean growth opportunities for employees, which means better employees and keeping your good employees. Companies that don't grow tend to eventually lose their best employees, because there's literally no room for growth in their job.
There is a joy associated with acquiring a high value product. There is a different and greater joy associated with acquiring a high value product which is made be people that have fully enjoyed making that product. From what I can gather you were not alone but made an outsized contribution to this product (HackerNews), and while I can’t know your experience, it sure seems that there was a lot of joy experienced in its making. I’m happy we can both be served by this equilibrium :)
Above all, the thing that makes me stay is having creative control and freedom over how I do my job. I've done enough things to know how rare that is, and how frustrating it is not to have it, and what a blessing it is to have the trust of the people I work for and with. It's so important to me that I feel it as a different baseline state in my body.