Big mistake: Joining a start-up with non-technical[1] "idea people" founders as a young father during the last year of my studies. Put a lot of effort into it, got little recognition, burned out all resources (money, friends, family). Have been doing the work of an entire dev team, 12h days, weekend work, and still got like "Oh, you go home already? What about all the work? I've been sleeping in the office and doing super important stuff!" There were days I didn't see my kid for days. Before, my colleagues promised me a super relaxed time, "you can go home early and play with your kid!"
Now I'm freelancing with friends, making good money, flexible hours, feeling much better already! Finally paying off the debts I made during the startup time. Also working at a real company can be quite nice!
Startups are like cults, you only realise what it was after you left. Got myself dragged into this sick mindset of overworking. And as it turned out, we've been working 90% of the time for nothing! Not exaggerating here. Hope it will pay out at least, but not sure about that even... I had better worked half as much time as a freelancer and just bought the shares for money.
Fresh fathers and mothers out there, beware! Startups have to be really family friendly, then it could work. Considering we've only been doing 10% valuable work that eventually contributed to a good product, I believe it's possible to work, say, half as much, have a good work life balance and still get a better product shipped in the end.
[1] With "non-technical" I mean economics people, the "We have a super great idea and are looking for somebody to just do the little boring work of just executing it" bunch. I enjoyed working with non-technical people in general very much, but I've had bad experience with business people, those that only care about money, not about the product or employees.
Now I'm freelancing with friends, making good money, flexible hours, feeling much better already! Finally paying off the debts I made during the startup time. Also working at a real company can be quite nice!
Startups are like cults, you only realise what it was after you left. Got myself dragged into this sick mindset of overworking. And as it turned out, we've been working 90% of the time for nothing! Not exaggerating here. Hope it will pay out at least, but not sure about that even... I had better worked half as much time as a freelancer and just bought the shares for money.
Fresh fathers and mothers out there, beware! Startups have to be really family friendly, then it could work. Considering we've only been doing 10% valuable work that eventually contributed to a good product, I believe it's possible to work, say, half as much, have a good work life balance and still get a better product shipped in the end.
[1] With "non-technical" I mean economics people, the "We have a super great idea and are looking for somebody to just do the little boring work of just executing it" bunch. I enjoyed working with non-technical people in general very much, but I've had bad experience with business people, those that only care about money, not about the product or employees.