DISQUS

Giles Bowkett · 2 years ago

Personally, I would amend this to say "Why You Have To Work For A Startup At Least Once." Or expand it to the general case of doing something new and tremendous. I got into the Web in 1994. The dot-com boom might have been underway by then, but that's not what people were calling it. They were calling it "What are you talking about?"

But it's true, the experience you get creating stuff that hasn't existed before is so much more useful than the experience you get implementing somebody else's ideas or going over ground that's already been thoroughly explored.

(Of course the 37 Signals guys would probably amend that even further, given their famous anti-VC stance.)

Reg Braithwaite · 2 years ago

"the experience you get creating stuff that hasn’t existed before is so much more useful than the experience you get implementing somebody else’s ideas or going over ground that’s already been thoroughly explored."

Giles, no truer words were e'r spoken. Or as Orson Welles put it, Always have a dream. Why spend your life building somebody else's vision?"

John Jeese · 2 years ago

WTF do you mean "cool"? If you are still impressed by how computers work, you are not a programmer, but a scripter. You sound like someone who just discovered computers. There is nothing cool about Ruby, it's just a tool like any other. Fun can be found at a startup or at a big company - you just have to recognize that the fun does not lie in typing the text in, but in interaction with others.

You: Grow Up.

Pat · 2 years ago

@Giles: I agree, somewhat, but if you work at a startup, why would you want to go to a bigger company later on? Of course you should do creative, interesting stuff "at least once" but do you want to let it go once you've had that experience? I don't see why you'd want to.

@John: "There is nothing cool about Ruby" - I would say that YOU aren't the programmer

Reg Braithwaite · 2 years ago

John Jeese:

I am still very much impressed by how computers work, thirty-two years after I first started programming.

Is this any different than an Astronomer who is still impressed by how the Universe works after decades of research?

And Ruby is a tool like any other. True. But why do you suggest that tools can't be cool?

Hank Miller · 2 years ago

In a startup they are always worried about money, so they demand you get something out the door now. All hoping that the investors see the progress and don't pull out before you can turn a profit.

Been there, done that. Got a fancy t-shirt, and then a few months latter the investors decided to pull out (even though things were pretty much on track to the business plan) and I got showed out the door.

Richard Cook · 2 years ago

I have Fred Brook's quote about programming (from the Mythical Man-Month) on my cubicle wall for inspiration. From it: "The magic of myth and legend has come true in our time. One types the correct incantation on a keyboard, and a display screen comes to life, showing things that never were nor could be."

Some people read Harry Potter - we ARE Harry Potter. Yeah, this stuff is cool.

Giles Bowkett · 2 years ago

I do interesting, creative stuff all the time. Sometimes I do it at my job, sometimes I do it outside my job, sometimes I do it in spite of my job. Startups are great, but they require too much time, and the thing is, compared to the days when nobody had even heard of the Internet, startups today just aren't doing anything truly revolutionary. The only genuinely revolutionary startup I'm aware of is iRobot. Every other company out there is still busy fulfilling the visions of William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and Bruce Sterling.