So I stumbled across this article the other day on Hacker News and thought it was worth responding to. I’m fairly certain this is satire, but I’ve hard a few friends at the soulless corporations basically echo these thoughts, so I’ll respond anyway.

While I definitely agree with some of what he says here, I think he’s looking at most of these things through the wrong light. There are plenty of things in the startup world that are a pain, but they are outweighed immensely by the positives. On top of that, some of the things he’s listed here are wayy off.

The startup culture is definitely fast paced, frustrating, difficult and yet the most enjoyable work environment I’ve ever been apart of.

Yeah, you might not be going into space, but with that attitude you definitely won’t be.

Yeah, you might be working long hours, but you enjoy what you’re working on.

Yeah, you might be surrounded by unique people who push you to be a better version of yourself, but that’s good.

Yeah, you might be asked hard interview questions, but it will help to weed out the engineers who actually care about working hard on cool projects.

I’ve worked at the soulless corporations and the boring midsized companies. Real challenges, fun projects, TRUE responsibility can really only be found in a startup. There’s definitely some things that I’m not wild about in the startup culture, but I’ll be surprised if I ever leave.

Maybe this is just the ramblings of a 20-something who hasn’t burned out yet. I haven’t ever had to deal with a shitty manager, a difficult board/investors, an in-experienced architect. I’ve had difficut problems put in front of me, but they’ve always been more fun than the boring stuff I’ve seen before. It’s an exciting thing to be apart of a new and growing company.

I enjoy what I’m working on. I enjoy being challenged. I enjoy being around people who are obviously way smarter than I’ll ever be. If you don’t enjoy your job, maybe you should go find another one.

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With all that said…

I’m with him on the eating disorders. You’re either a pizza guzzler or a soylent starver. This is spot on.

- Glick