by rjim86 on 1/9/13, 6:13 PM with 80 comments
by drats on 1/9/13, 9:01 PM
I seriously have nothing against them, I wish them more success even: just not success getting to the front page here because frankly they don't talk about interesting algorithms, technologies or business strategies. They are incredibly boring. No mobile, no Google glasses, no new computer game, no crafty actionable patio11 strategy, no raspberry pi hack, no programming language hack, no excellent presentation, no struggling story of success, no rejection and comeback, no scaling of servers, no clever command lines, no new SSH shell, no browser plugin, no investment philosophy, just "I love my business".
75% of their posts are simply not HN-worthy and there isn't a voting ring but there is probably a bunch of social contacts who are up voting this. Please just subscribe to their twitter or RSS because their weekly show here is frankly tragic and they should cut down to 1/4th as much and spend more time with their family.
Edit. Just to note I own a DHH book, so I will pay for the writing of this guy when it's actually worth it. I'm just saying this blog stuff isn't even worth free.
by edw519 on 1/9/13, 6:41 PM
I've had this exact same attitude at every company (many!) I've ever worked at. Until someone or something completely outside my control fucked it up. Then I took my positive attitude and moved on to my next "last place to work".
Kinda makes a difference if it's your company, huh?
by ChuckMcM on 1/9/13, 6:49 PM
When I moved to the Bay Area both my wife and I were scrimping and saving to come up with a down payment for a house. After living there six years we 'traded up' to a roomier house, and in the process of getting our existing house ready for sale, we did a lot of the stuff we had planned to do 'someday' but in this case to make the house more attractive. We redid the hall bathroom, fixed the lights in the den, simple stuff. It was a lot nicer house to live in just before we moved out. We decided our next house would be different, we would do the things that made the house more livable/nice when we thought of them, that way we could enjoy them ourselves.
The tricky bit is doing this even if you aren't "sure" you're going to be in the same place in 10 years. The fear is that if you suddenly are going to be doing something else, living somewhere else, well you could have used those resources better by not spending them on something you wouldn't use/enjoy.
My experience has been that it is always the right thing to invest for the long haul.
by h2s on 1/9/13, 6:47 PM
This was a transformative realisation for me. It empowered me to take the pride in my work that I knew I wanted to, and drove me to push myself a little harder. It was also useful in helping me see my long term career goals more clearly. Once you've thought "this is what I'm going to spend my one and only lifetime doing" all the bullshit falls away.
by jasonkester on 1/9/13, 8:51 PM
The first software job I ever had was pretty much perfect in every respect. Great team, fun projects, respect & support all the way up to the owner, plenty of leeway to experiment with fun tech on the off chance that it might come in handy one day.
But they hired me at the market rate for a junior dev. And I got better fast. Like so fast that the things I built attracted attention elsewhere. And before the first year was out it was abundantly clear that I could make twice what I was making simply by responding to an email or two.
So I talked to management, and they did everything in their power to get me up to the market rate for a regular dev. Which was still way less than I ended up taking when I did eventually respond to one of those emails. (and a ton less than I was making a year after that).
Your value just goes up too fast in this business for a single company to keep up with. Nobody gives 100% raises every other year, but the market as a whole seems to be quite happy to do exactly that.
Unless that changes, I think we'll find that most people end up on a track like my own. We might find our dream job several times along the way. But unless we're pretty near the end of the track, it'll be hard to justify staying there forever.
by logic on 1/9/13, 10:13 PM
If you want me to treat a position like it's the last one I'll take, then show me the same: treat me like a member of the team that you'll fight to keep around. Offer equity, take that at-will clause out of the contract, treat me like a partner in your success.
Anything else is just blowing smoke, I'm afraid. At the end of the day, you can be let go without notice (and, to be fair, you can also walk away at any time); that's the agreement you sign during your first professional interaction with most US-based companies. And it sets the tone for the rest of the relationship: this is a transient arrangement, and can be discarded as situations change on either side.
by kremdela on 1/9/13, 7:56 PM
I'm no longer young, but I've bounced around to quite a few jobs because I've always run into a wall in terms of growth, personal growth within the organization, or professional growth - not expanding my skill set fast enough while limited to one employer.
As the founder of a company, you have a lot more control in pushing the envelope in lots of different ways, but I think the challenge is being able to create that for yourself vs. creating it for those that work for/ with you.
dhh can create 37racing, work from wherever he wants, push the envelope on technology as much as he desires, but I believe the challenge is giving the same to your employees, not just through profit sharing, but sharing the ways your company can grow.
by sergiotapia on 1/9/13, 7:37 PM
Then reached the end and it's DHH. Of course he wouldn't mind working there, he owns that place. That punchline made the entire article insipid.
by SatvikBeri on 1/9/13, 6:59 PM
The funny thing is that I make better decisions even with extremely short term projects. If I'm working on a 1-month software project, I'll get it done better and faster if I have the perspective that I'll be using it for 10 years than if I have the perspective that I'll be using it for 6 months.
So it may be worth putting yourself in a long-term state of mind, even when it's not necessarily true.
by kevinalexbrown on 1/9/13, 7:48 PM
There are worse things in the world than a founder looking to make a company a good place to work for the long term. Consider: If shit is broken, we’ll fix it now, lest we be stuck with it for decades. Now think about people flipping companies, people playing hot potato with toxic assets, or looking for the next vote, or surge in page-views, and this attitude starts to look pretty nice.
by swombat on 1/9/13, 6:51 PM
I'm sure picking up the odd Lamborghini ( http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/coyotes-pulitzer-... ) as a token of last month's worth of effort is also a good plus... :-)
by Skywing on 1/9/13, 8:08 PM
by callmeed on 1/9/13, 6:41 PM
by volandovengo on 1/10/13, 3:55 AM
This guy is soooooo full of himself, it's pretty nauseating. He acts like creating basecamp has somehow solved world hunger... I'm amazed nobody calls him out on it more often.
by johnward on 1/9/13, 7:37 PM
by projectileboy on 1/9/13, 7:40 PM
by zaidf on 1/9/13, 9:25 PM
by r0s on 1/9/13, 7:41 PM
by 6ren on 1/10/13, 2:27 AM
What to invest in, that will still be relevant in decades? People and problem-solving. Maybe unix and web...
by shanellem on 1/10/13, 2:46 PM
It's a good question. This post reminds me of another question: Are your goals worthy of your life? If they're not, I think it's best to find a new company/project.
by eldavido on 1/9/13, 9:55 PM
by gadders on 1/10/13, 3:28 PM
by meerita on 1/9/13, 10:41 PM
by vojant on 1/9/13, 8:20 PM
by ixacto on 1/9/13, 9:43 PM