W2 work feels more stable and secure than startup land. If you worked for Google for 20 years you don't expect to be let go with no notice by an automated system. But that is exactly what happened to thousands of people just now. You kind of expect this kind of thing in startup land. Recent events show this downside is not unique to startups, and can affect any worker anywhere. It's chilling, and it should take some of the glow off of W2 work in comparison to startup work. But like I said, there is a third alternative which is, IMHO, far more fullfilling and grounded anyway, which is bootstrapping and working directly with customers.

I don't think this is responsive to my comment.

Your comment implicitly asserts the faulty premise that downside is purely loss of income, which I implicitly contradicted.

I don't think you even implicitly touched upon what downside might mean in this context, aside from loss of income. Re-reading your comments, I still have no idea what downside you're describing. And certainly nothing explicitly addresses my comment.

> If you worked for Google for 20 years you don't expect to be let go with no notice by an automated system.

Why? From the executive's perspective at megacorps like Google, employees are completely replaceable, and even for a megacorp, Google is incredibly scared of discrimination. The safest way to conduct layoffs is to do so completely randomly.

> You kind of expect this kind of thing in startup land.

No. In startup land, you should expect that there is a good chance that your entire company is dissolved. Your equity is completely worthless. You have no 6 month severance. You have nothing to show for the longer hours you worked besides a very sub-market salary.

Perhaps they believe working for big tech will lead to the eternal damnation of your soul.

I work for big tech and I believe this

I invite them to say what they mean, so we can stop speculating. Until then, it is impossible to say.

Yeah, when I think uncapped downside, I think of shorting something that can go up any amount and being on the hook for that. When I think of losing a job, I think of loss of income (including benefits like healthcare (at least in the US) and stock grants), possibly loss of networking with colleagues (though social media exists), and not a lot more. So I’m with you. I have no idea what they’re talking about and would appreciate a detailed explanation.