Ask HN: The ideal company for programmers, or giving freedom to your programmers
a) Having the freedom to work on something I'm passionate about. And being able to work on it by my schedule (this doesn't mean I'll be working 4 hrs a day, but it does mean that I can choose to work 4 hrs on a day of low creativity). I usually conclude that I'll need to start my own company if I want to achieve this.
b) Building a great product. Working on something like a Google Android, which usually requires a team.
I think the crux of the conflict is this: If given the freedom to work according to my creative instinct and my schedule, my output in one week would far exceed the 40 hr output that my company gets out of me right now. My company (and many others that I've seen), unfortunately, do not realize this, or can not risk having a "maverick" on the team. In the end, its a loss for the company, and frustrating for me.
Programming jobs require creativity. By letting your programmer go for a long ride, grab their favorite drink, go to their favorite hangout etc, they probably will have a much more elegant and solution to a given problem than having to stay chained to their desk for 8 hrs a day and hammering out a solution.
A related issue: I'm not sure why I dont see more work from home IT companies. Why are we still stuck in the industrial age, where working during the day hours, being at a certain location, and hammering away for 8 hrs was equivalent to producing a certain amount of output? We have tools that make working from home easy for employees, and gives them freedom to do other things with their lives.
Some background (kinda boring):
I'm in my mid 20s, have a grad degree from a great school, and have been coding half my life. I work a 9-5 job where I get to work on technologies that I enjoy, but I'm not passionate about the product. I dislike being chained to my desk. I don't see the reason why I should not be able to work in more relaxed settings, and by my schedule (specially since we communicate 90% by email anyway).
I don't see myself taking the YC plunge because I am married and have a kid, so taking a risk is kinda hard at this point. I am working on a product of my own, but between work and other stuff, I don't get to put as much time on it as I want.
Any suggestions? I'm leaning towards saving up and then taking 3-4 months off my job to work on my own product.
- Edit to clean up formatting.
21 comments
[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 62.3 ms ] threadhttp://www.codesourcery.com/
...depending on your interests.
CodeSourcery has no central office. We work when we want in an environment in which we are comfortable. We can work wherever we want: from a coffeeshop, a library, or anywhere else on the planet with an internet connection. We see our friends and families throughout the day; not just early in the morning and late at night.
Good to see that there are companies which are interested more in what you can do and less in forcing their way of working on you. Are you working for them?
It's funny you mentioned working-from-home companies, because that's exactly how I deal with this problem. :) And it's something everyone should ask about at an interview; these days, a company had better cough up a VPN to hire me.
It's simple: I know that I'll think of something at midnight on a Wednesday, and want to log in to flush it out (or sometimes, when I wake up on Sunday). So I work at home at least half the time; and if I'm feeling even slightly lacking in energy, I don't even bother logging in. I know that eventually the drive will return (probably later that afternoon or evening). I have a cell phone, I check E-mail and office voice mail now and then. And I've been finishing at least as much every week as I did years ago when I was in the office all day long, except I'm a lot happier.
Does your company have a policy to let people work from home as long as they are productive, or did you have some convincing to do?
Though, I've seen certain managers have a real problem with people working at home, and they even managed to fire people based apparently on that. Fortunately, those managers are no longer here, because that same intolerance made them ineffective managers.
Why are we still stuck in the industrial age, where working during the day hours, being at a certain location, and hammering away for 8 hrs was equivalent to producing a certain amount of output?
If you haven't seen the Ted talk below, it's a must watch:
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html
Now, to forward to boss or not to forward....
Couldn't you do both? Seems like you could save up and go for YC while working on your product. Either way you'll have a similar amount of risk. One could even argue that with YC's network you'll have less risk since you'll be around like minded people and more opportunities will open up for you if your original idea fails.
Whatever you decide, go for it!
- Something where I can interact directly with the client/consumer. I dislike having to program by specs, when I know that they are written by someone who doesn't understand end users. Simple, effective touches are usually missing, and the feedback loop is so long that apps take years to evolve.
- Something challenging. I want to stay up at night visualizing possible solutions. That kind of excitement makes the time spent worth every second. And with the opportunity to think and implement a solution that works really well for the problem.
- Something that makes a difference. Doesn't have to be something ground-breaking, but it shouldn't be a CRUD front-end either.
This is harder to quantify than I thought. I guess it depends on the novelty of the idea, the silken smooth end-user experience (think iPhone- I own a G1 myself, but man does the iPhone provide a great experience), and the quality/succinctness/simplicity of the code.
I think one of the things he's looking for is the ability to work from home.he mentions it very clearly.
When it's repeated a thousand times, it starts sounding like a cliche, but it is true - life is short. Do something which fulfills you.
So no, there's nothing particularly grand about making money. That's not what makes startups worth the trouble. What's important about startups is the speed. By compressing the dull but necessary task of making a living into the smallest possible time, you show respect for life, and there is something grand about that.
- http://paulgraham.com/startuplessons.html
But seriously, back to your post, if you do take time off to work on your own product, I suggest you don't burn any bridges employment-wise, and maybe set it up as an unpaid sabbatical with your existing employer, with an agreed upon return date. That way, you have the option of returning to them and that steady paycheck if your experiment doesn't get traction. This is more important because you have wife and kid. Also, use tools/tech that are good for rapid development and experimentation (Python, Ruby, etc.), make a Minimum Viable Product, launch/feedback/tweak/repeat, and don't underestimate the importance of marketing & advertising.
Another option for striking out on your own is to ease into it gradually by first becoming a contractor/consultant. The work you do is similar to salary/staff in that you're writing software for other folks, fixing bugs, etc. except you have more freedom/time/control to work on other stuff, like a product/service startup. And you can blur the line by developing a product/service whose design was informed by, driven by common demands from, or was a by-product of, your contracting work. That was the 37Signals route I think, and lots of similar stories out there.
Re: your point about isolation, this is why I like the WFH approach. You give people freedom, but you still work as a team. It seems more win-win to me overall, than striking out on my own.