> "I had this idealism that if I hired people who seemed motivated, enthusiastic about technology, good well rounded people then nothing could go wrong and my company would be sure to succeed."
I often wonder when seeing job adverts that ask for a motivated and driven self-starter who is good under pressure and organising and prioritising and willing to work overtime and on-call and has skills up and down the tech stack, etc. etc. ... why would a person like that be applying for a job as an employee, instead being a founder or consultant?
The fundamental trade of being an employee is a kind of subservience - "I give you my time and effort, you tell me what to do. If it doesn't work out then you take the hit, and if it does work out then you take the bulk of the profit". At the extreme of "I've hired you, can y'all just self-organise into a profitable company and I will still take the bulk of the returns" it all falls apart. It's trying to push leadership and management down onto employees, without any of the money or social status or potential returns or even the ability to put "manager" on their resume and leverage it for promotions in future.
I often wonder when seeing job adverts that ask for a motivated and driven self-starter who is good under pressure and organising and prioritising and willing to work overtime and on-call and has skills up and down the tech stack, etc. etc. ... why would a person like that be applying for a job as an employee, instead being a founder or consultant?
The fundamental trade of being an employee is a kind of subservience - "I give you my time and effort, you tell me what to do. If it doesn't work out then you take the hit, and if it does work out then you take the bulk of the profit". At the extreme of "I've hired you, can y'all just self-organise into a profitable company and I will still take the bulk of the returns" it all falls apart. It's trying to push leadership and management down onto employees, without any of the money or social status or potential returns or even the ability to put "manager" on their resume and leverage it for promotions in future.