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Ask HN: How to Create Value?

2 points by alpacaillama ↗ HN
I am graduating soon and might end up working at a tech company. Through my internship experiences, I sometimes find tech work to be very passive and not value-creating.

How can I make a switch to more value-creating roles? Is this even possible?

9 comments

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jimmyvalmer
A wise man said premature optimization is the root of all evil. You're 22?

Flight safety instructions suggest putting on your own oxygen mask before helping others.

Optimize along a less lofty axis first (money, experience). The taxes you pay alone create more social "value", statistically speaking.

alpacaillama
That is fair and something that I have not considered before.

I was hoping that it might be possible to find a middle ground, where I contribute to something that creates value and is also decent money and experience.

hos234
Yes it is. Simplest way is to identify value creators in the org and be of use to them. They then will automatically rope you in. Be patient and pay attention to peoples' needs. And then start doing simple, small things for them. Simple and small being key.
alpacaillama
Thank you for a specific suggestion. I have tried doing this and has worked for me, but I guess because of the short nature of internships, its difficult to build on it.
kjksf
There's a lot you didn't say so it's hard to even understand what you mean, much less provide a tactical advice.

What is "tech company" and "tech work"? Are you a programmer writing code? A technician that sets up routers? A sysadmin setting up software for others? Were you setting up

What exactly were you doing? In what way that work was "passive" (and what does it even mean)?

And how do you determine what is "value-creating"?

Is "value" in this context "money" or some more philosophical "value to the world"?

If it's money, do you mean "your salary" or the monetary value of the thing you helped create? (you can be creating very valuable things for your employer but be paid little, and vice versa).

I assume it was paid internship. So someone was paying you to do what you did. Were they idiots (i.e. paying you for doing things that don't create value) or did you create value but it wasn't reflected in your paycheck?

Once we know all that, we can start to give advice.

Without this information: there are plenty of jobs that are meaningful, create value to the world and are well paid. Find one.

Get a job at Google and at the very least you'll be well compensated

jimmyvalmer
A sufficiently non-specific question asked by a greenhorn 22yo does not warrant the rigor you imply. Any answer except "you'll figure it out over time" is handwaving.
alpacaillama
Sure. I can be more specific.

I write code working on CRUD apps and microservices and some security focused roles.

Value-creating would be something that provides utility to society at large so value to the world.

I was being paid money and I was very well compensated but I did not find the work challenging or interesting, I felt like a cog in a well-oiled machine and easily replaceable which I think are the majority of jobs out there.

kjksf
So the issue seems to be the nature of the work ("I did not find the work challenging or interesting, I felt like a cog in a well-oiled machine and easily replaceable").

A simple solution: start your own small business.

Write an app or a web service and sell it to people.

The work will be as challenging and interesting as you want and you'll be the ultimate decider. A supreme leader of your own organization.

Note: by "simple" I don't mean "easy".

I'm doing exactly that, I'm working on a project that I hope will become an income generating business (https://presstige.io, for full transparency) but it's risky and requires lots of work.

Also consider than your ennui is more about how you look at things than objective reality. Many people would be deliriously happy with a stable, safe, well paying job writing code and I'm sure many people are quite happy doing exactly that.