Yes, it is a dick move. I wrote this post in response to a YCr asking about quitting their job to work on a startup in the face of this possible recession.
Not to be a jaded asshole, but there are many companies that don't really care about their employees and cutback etc to increase profits. Sure 2 wrongs don't make a right, but this raise will fund your company which can care about employees. Also, asking for a raise is empowering and a boost to your self confidence. In my example this comes at a time when you are overworked and a bit uncertain about your future.
You're correct. Surely I'm not arguing that. That would be a stupid argument. What I am arguing is that deliberately stiffing your employer for a raise while spending all your real cycles building your own company can fuck over your teammates.
Look, you just said you agreed it was a dick move. Great! Do you agree with what you yourself said, or not?
Yes of course. I would guess that you check out YC News or Reddit throughout the workday. Most people take care of personal business or watch funny videos on company time. Nobody works 8 hours straight.
We are describing 2 different employment situations. You are picturing a team environment where everyone has to carry the load to reach a common goal that you feel is meaningful, I'm not. The job I'm thinking of is more like Fight Club or Office Space.
People that have truly team oriented employment where coworkers are working towards a worthwhile goal are less likely to be jumping ship for a startup.
It can be a dick move to the company, but I've seen companies treat people a lot worse.
I'm not trying to prolong this, or be petulant or pedantic, but you don't have to be working for Greenpeace to have dependencies and shared goals. Your project slips 6 months because you were dead wood during dev and QA while you learned Rails, and you just fucked over everyone else whose bonus and raise depended on the project.
We don't have to argue about this because I think we agree.
The more important point is, if you need to come up with an elaborate plan to figure out to engage your new company, you haven't figured out what your new company is. There's a YC meme going around here, along the lines of "is now a good time to start my company?" or "what's the best way to smoothly transition into my new startup?". None of that means shit. 2 months into your startup you are going to face some problem that is going to be an existential threat to your project, and it's all going to go badly, and you're going to have to figure out how to work through it anyways, and all this talk about how to "start the startup" and "milk your last job" is going to sound pretty silly.
Cheers, we agree. I'm not a programmer so I don't have that perspective (probably added to the confusion). As I said on your previous comment, I wrote the post in response to someone asking about quitting their job.
I definitely agree that people asking for random advice on YC about tiptoeing in may be in trouble when problems occur, and they will occur early in the startup.
I'm having the 2 month problems now. If I would have quit my job when I was overly excited earlier in the journey I would be facing some seriously hard times.
Perhaps they know that "Is this a good startup idea?" and "Is it a good time to start a startup?" are two different questions that should be asked in two different discussions.
Hmm, and I think I'm gonna cheat on my girlfriend before she has the chance to cheat on me. That sounds like a perfectly healthy relationship. Right?
Not so surprisingly, maintaining a positive work relationship and a positive romantic relationship requires the same skill set. Not so surprisingly, poor performance in the first facet seems to correlate with poor performance in the other facet.
By the way, I tendered my resignation last Tuesday. I am starting my own business because I am holding myself to a higher standard. Making money is easy. Being congruent with what you value in life is the hard part.
