Re:Avoiding Zombie Startups
by toast0 on Tuesday October 02, 2018 @11:06AM
(#18122352)
Proper healthcare (insurance) should be a given. Trinet is a thing. I had all the same choices at big companies and the startup where I was ~ hire 15.
401k match is nice, but it's part of total comp. I don't want to be promoted into a job where I'm responsible for others, thanks -- it's more work, I'm not good at it, I feel bad about fucking up the careers of my subordinates, and it doesn't give me the same fulfillment of doing my normal stuff.
In exchange for a chance of promotion, I get to deal with a purchasing process that makes it nearly impossible to pay a recurring vendor; I get to do performance review cycles twice a year (no wait, there are actually two hidden mid cycle reviews, so 4x a year), and deal with co-workers who don't give a shit about actually getting things done, they just give a shit about appearing to have 'impact'. I get to deal with 'up or out' policies. I get to deal with pass the buck bullshit trying to get my state income tax changed to reflect where I work and where my desk is. Oh and so many meetings, because nobody is willing to be responsible for making decisions.
I'm willing to put up with this shit because of equity from an acquisition, but I was much happier with the typical bs at the startup, which was mostly that I ended up owning a lot of stuff I'd rather have offloaded onto IT because we didn't have IT, and because I worked at a rinky-dink ISP in the 90s so I knew how internet email worked.
But mooreds upthread is right, it's not a matter of finding a place with no BS, it's a matter of finding the BS that is most tolerable. I clearly have a preference.
401k match is nice, but it's part of total comp. I don't want to be promoted into a job where I'm responsible for others, thanks -- it's more work, I'm not good at it, I feel bad about fucking up the careers of my subordinates, and it doesn't give me the same fulfillment of doing my normal stuff.
In exchange for a chance of promotion, I get to deal with a purchasing process that makes it nearly impossible to pay a recurring vendor; I get to do performance review cycles twice a year (no wait, there are actually two hidden mid cycle reviews, so 4x a year), and deal with co-workers who don't give a shit about actually getting things done, they just give a shit about appearing to have 'impact'. I get to deal with 'up or out' policies. I get to deal with pass the buck bullshit trying to get my state income tax changed to reflect where I work and where my desk is. Oh and so many meetings, because nobody is willing to be responsible for making decisions.
I'm willing to put up with this shit because of equity from an acquisition, but I was much happier with the typical bs at the startup, which was mostly that I ended up owning a lot of stuff I'd rather have offloaded onto IT because we didn't have IT, and because I worked at a rinky-dink ISP in the 90s so I knew how internet email worked.
But mooreds upthread is right, it's not a matter of finding a place with no BS, it's a matter of finding the BS that is most tolerable. I clearly have a preference.