> This is where people are so holistically mid that they agree not to criticize each other for fear of their own mediocrity being found out.
Or simply no reason to care. A lot of the difference in attitude is explained by "my company". The author of the article views themselves as part of their employer. Many employees take a substantially different view.
For example, one of my jobs (I am overemployed) is as a dev for a small startup that first tried to outsource development and then had to hire devs in house as that was a disaster. We have a certain amount of runway. Project is pretty chaotic. Customers are bailing as we cannot meet our commitments.
I would argue rational management would push hard to fix things quickly and spend the money to do so even if it meant raising money sooner, as key customers are fleeing, our reputation is mediocre, and stability is nowhere close. As an employee, I am fighting hard for a mediocre controlled flight into the ground to drag out how long the paychecks for this mess keep flowing.
Why?
As an employee, I have no meaningful upside unless my options suddenly get valuable and I long ago learned that you can be laid off with limited recourse, so I value equity at zero. My interests are entirely in prolonging my employment so the cash keeps flowing.
I will take the 100% certain death of my employer over 3 years rather than a 50/50 chance of success as a business.
throwawaysleep•2h ago
Or simply no reason to care. A lot of the difference in attitude is explained by "my company". The author of the article views themselves as part of their employer. Many employees take a substantially different view.
For example, one of my jobs (I am overemployed) is as a dev for a small startup that first tried to outsource development and then had to hire devs in house as that was a disaster. We have a certain amount of runway. Project is pretty chaotic. Customers are bailing as we cannot meet our commitments.
I would argue rational management would push hard to fix things quickly and spend the money to do so even if it meant raising money sooner, as key customers are fleeing, our reputation is mediocre, and stability is nowhere close. As an employee, I am fighting hard for a mediocre controlled flight into the ground to drag out how long the paychecks for this mess keep flowing.
Why?
As an employee, I have no meaningful upside unless my options suddenly get valuable and I long ago learned that you can be laid off with limited recourse, so I value equity at zero. My interests are entirely in prolonging my employment so the cash keeps flowing.
I will take the 100% certain death of my employer over 3 years rather than a 50/50 chance of success as a business.