Comment by weslleyskah
1 day ago
Why this industry has such a claustrophobic atmosphere? If he was a doctor and had a calling for the profession, I would understand. I was doing an unrelated degree (Econ), but now I am doing a tech degree and I never saw such a depressive mentality towards life among peers.
It is like these people are hell bound to the work culture, diehard workaholics. They don't know anything else outside of a computer screen.
Honestly disgracefully.
> It is like these people are hell bound to the work culture, diehard workaholics. They don't know anything else outside of a computer screen.
This is a founder/CTO. You don't get to be a founder or C-level without making work a lot more of your life than just a 9-5.
As much as people complain about the C-suite not doing anything and spending all their time golfing, they're basically on work mode 24/7. I've never worked with a C-level who didn't check emails on the weekend, wasn't willing to travel at a moment's notice to close a deal, not willing to work to resolve business or tech emergencies at 1am, etc.
On top of that they always represent the company, even in their off time. Stuff that wouldn't matter for a regular employee might lead to termination or forced resignation. For example, kissing a woman who isn't your wife at a concert.[0]
This is all true even outside of tech. Ever talk to someone who owns a restaurant? They spend weekends and nights talking to suppliers, figuring out staffing, etc...
This doesn't represent typical non-executive jobs in the software industry. Most are largely 9-5. The ones with oncall expectations tend to pay more.
[0] https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/19/business/andy-byron-astronome...
Everybody wants to be the CTO until it's time to do CTO things.
I agree with this 100%. The thing you have to watch out for is when they try to pin similar levels of responsibility on you for very little upside.
Perhaps I'm just a naive young imbecile.
Even with such a golden ticket ride to the heavens? You could do anything, focus on your family and build your little castle or depersonalize even, change countries, change your identity, make new connections, live a completely different life...
I don't think you're an imbecile. People just like living differently. "Work to live" vs "live to work" and all that.
Some people like working a stable but boring 9-5. Some people like working a challenging job, even for longer hours and lower pay. Some people like building things; some people like coordinating teams and managing people; some people like maximizing financial returns and seeing numbers go up.
As to why this specific person didn't take a 9-figure cashout (assuming it's true); I would imagine it's at least partly because this person thinks it could be worth more in the future. Crazy as it sounds, he may not be wrong. Remember that Larry and Sergey tried to sell their "Google" research project to Yahoo for a life-changing amount of $1 million (in 1998, they could have each bought a house!). Or a million-dollar sale that did happen, Roy Raymond selling Victoria's Secret for a million in 1982. (Multiple houses!)
Obviously 9 figures is a lot different than 7, especially in 2025. But he's also the CTO and has access to financials and company strategy. Who's to say that the $100,000,000 he would get won't be $250,000,000 in an acquisition next year? Even "just" a 25% bump in a year would be an extra $25 million, which in itself is life-changing. It's obviously a risk, but saying "this guy is crazy and/or an idiot for not taking a 9 figure cashout" isn't fair unless you can peer into the future.
1 reply →
Some people have made being the boss their entire personality.
Ive worked with a lot of people who sent emails at 2am and in each case it was not necessary but it was performative.
Night owls who check in before they go to bed probably. I've done it, and I wasn't like "oh I will get some points for this!"
Totally.
There is a real mentality in many of the teams I've worked with that the "grind", "sacrifice", as the pound of flesh that must be offered up for success.
In reality it's far different. We need to make something of value and charge fairly for that value.
Teams can do this without the grind, and still be wildly successful. Teams can do the grind only and are typically not.
It's a false idol, and a lot of folks in the industry only have this to look up to so they don't know better.
It's because those of us doing the opposite, getting there with balance, aren't writing career focused articles around the holidays. Virtue signaling our work ethic. We're spending time with ourselves, our families, quietly succeeding.