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Comment by clpm4j | Hacker News Reader

What type of work do you do?

I wear lots of hats right now; I was employee #1 so I did whatever engineering needed doing to get our platform created and functioning. Frontend, ops, backend, selecting vendors, eventually hiring, working on compliance, helping define strategy, project management... basically anything that needs technical expertise I'm leading.

...and I'm loving every minute of it. I committed to seeing this through at least until they don't need me anymore, and I fully intend on meeting that obligation, and possibly well beyond that if the work continues to be fun.

It seems pretty obvious that you work at a very small company with little or no layers of management, and most likely, without any other typical constraints that most workers deal with -- like fixed hours, an inconvenient office or commute, lots of unproductive meetings, limited amount of annual PTO, lack of knowledge/understanding whether anything you do has actual impact at the company, etc. Putting in 70-80 hours week after week in a scenario like that where it's very clear you're simply an employee is pretty crazy. But for a passion project, where it's just you and a few close friends/coworkers, sure, go for it. Hell, for about 3-4 months during Covid I was easily putting in 90+ hours on a project I loved working on. It's not really as heroic as you're making it out to be.

Not sure why you think I believe it to be heroic, I just think I shouldn't be shamed for spending my time how I want to.

You'll note how the shame is being attempted in this very comment thread. It makes me sad. :(

I think "shame" is a needlessly inciteful description. The main issue is that, in a company with multiple employees, your behavior is not happening in isolation. When one person is working 80 hours a week, it is very common for management to see everyone who chooses to structure their time differently (e.g. because they have kids or elderly relatives to care for) as a slacker.

If it turns out that management is not thinking this way in your company, then great! But I think most people commenting skeptically here are familiar with situations where one over-achiever in the team sets an impossibly high standard for everyone else and thus unwittingly causes them harm.

This is also why it is usually not considered a problem when a person pursuing their individual passion project puts in crazy hours. If you work for yourself, you're not setting standards for anyone else.

He is just working himself to death making somebody else rich and thinking that this is a win-win situation. It would be hilarious if it wouldn't be sad. Also he seems to be working in a startup which means he will most likely go bust and all his work will have been for nought.

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