Don't be a startup martyr | Hacker News Reader

Don't be a startup martyr

differential.io

26 pointsrywalker7 comments

I'm getting tired of this "everyone should work as I do" mentality.

Does everyone work well past 8 hours? No. Do some people fucking love it, live for it, are great at it, and wouldn't do it any other way? Fuck yes.

Every single one of these pieces reads as a justification for why the writer doesn't work as many hours as the person he's writing about. He creates this gangly strawman who's overworking for all the wrong reasons, and inevitably burns out, but this just doesn't represent reality.

Sure, people burn out, sure people overwork, but that is not the inevitable conclusion everyone's trying to paint it as. Some people have more work endurance than others, period. Sure, you work hard for 8 hours and go home, but the guy you bash worked just as hard as you did for the same 8 hours, and then he stuck around for another 5 or 6 hours and kept working just as hard.

There's unnecessary glorification in getting no sleep and eating like shit - that's a signaling problem, and has nothing to do with the acts themselves.

I just don't get why people refuse to accept the fact that there are others out there who can do more than they can. It's true for literally everyone (except one guy. In the world.).

Since it's easy to confuse, it's worth explicitly highlighting the benefits of, above all, ultimately, maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

You and the author, together, are correct.

Someone may achieve 'balance' at 30, 60, 80 hours a week. YMMV. But the operative phrase is 'balance'.

I also consider the phrases 'unnecessary' and 'signaling problem' far too light to describe the ill effects of '[glorifying] getting no sleep and eating like shit'. It is a fucking cancer.

As an industry and a niche, we're really bad at promoting this.

To that end, what is 'balance'?

Some may argue the weight on the other side of the seesaw - the startup or product you work on - has such dismally low possibility of 'taking off'/earning you life-changing money/etc that it's not worth putting a premium on work hours, as opposed to living and enjoying your youth.

That, right there, is the substance of debate.

There seems to be a lot of people that probably don't work well past 8 hours, and hate eating ramen, but brandish it as a point of pride, and there's a shared culture of misery that seem to imply that these things are necessary evils in order for startups to succeed. Kinda like a warrior charging off into a likely death bellowing, "For God and Country!"

I believe it was this martyrdom the author was attacking.

I don't read this post as celebritizing an industry that rewards self abuse - I read it as a cautionary description that while one is ABLE to abuse themselves within a startup, it is not REQUIRED.

At the same time, he is not suggesting that one is correct and the other is wrong - he is saying that glorifying either is wrong. People should stop seeking encouragement.

Well said. It seldom is about the number of hours someone puts on building something. It's the experience, journey and the continuous learning curve that matters. :)

So true, thx for sharing!

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