I am 35 years old and this is my life: wake up 6:00 am breakfast 6:10 am till 6:20 am sprinting session 6:30 til 6:40 shower and get dressed 6:45 to 7:00 am work on startup (highly technical work) or Thai language lessons 7:00 am till until 8:45 am drive to day job and arrive at 9:00 am / 9:15 am or later depending on traffic work all day on highly technical things ($ very expensive supercomputer administration, WSUS, corporate print management, software packaging, complex security software amongst other complex technical tasks including VDI, Citrix work) till 5:15 pm drive home 5:15 pm to 5:30/5:40:6:00 pm arrive home, 2nd cardio session & weights session to keep the fat off (sit down job remember) small meal work on startup (more highly technical work - getting tiresome now) or thai language lessons 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm practice thai language skills and talk with Thai friends online repeat every week day Total startup hours: round off to 3 hours a day x 5 days a week = 15 hours a week Weekend - average 10 hours both days - sometimes much more but say 10 on startup (did i mention how technical it is?) Total hours a week = 25 x 46 weeks say = 1150 hours Thailand trips x 3 per year x 6 weeks total - all programming and database development work during the day - there’s another 150 hours on startup. Total of approx 1300 hours a year x 3 years to get the company to where we are now = 3900 hours Not to mention all the rest of the time that the TEAM has put in on weekends and after hours - blood, sweat and tears over 3 years which has been an IMMENSE amount of work. Why is it taking so long? Do I look rich to you? Who do you think is doing all the development work whilst holding down a full time job? How old do I look to you? How many people my age do you know who are doing what i’m doing? I realise you walked 10 miles to work and back with no shoes back in your day but come on now! Why is it taking so long? The next time I hear this from somebody who has not built anything or been involved in BUILDING anything complex themselves - as an engineer, ICT professional or technical person - (NOT as a manager, team leader, digital strategist and the like for a big corporate with big pockets and the ability to waste huge amounts of time and resources) and highly technical with very small amounts of capital nowhere near enough to quit your day job I will politely explain the reasons why it is taking so long. It’s only now I can hand more work off to other people (overseas). Whats with the makeshift shower? Are you living out of this office? See above travel time saving and add that up over the course of 3 years - that is enough time to learn Hindi. How many people do you know who are proficient in Thai, Hindi AND fluent in English? That could be advantageous in my field of work. Let’s bottom line it - working at a startup is very, very hard, very demanding, takes a long time, is highly technical, is highly risky, is emotionally draining and will require you to do what to others seem like crazy, ridiculous and risky things. You are trying against all odds and fighting every day. By the way - this is nothing compared to what teachers, police officers, doctors and other front line people have to deal with. You have my sincerest respect. Some perspective: Google: 40,000 employees Facebook: 8,348 employees LinkedIn: 6,000 employees Wotmed: 1 technical part time employee. That is 1. One. ONE. Why is it taking so long? See you tomorrow night Pattaya - I need a good holiday! Rant / tears over. It could be worse I know - I made a conscious decision to walk away from this other life I was leading (shudder): https://youtube/watch?v=aq33c6FhRes
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 08:26:50 +0000