Wage Slaves - December 11, 2007

Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do
-Oscar Wilde

Working for a startup can be an awesome experience. It gives you the chance to get away from 90% of the bullshit that makes getting up for work a miserable experience. I don't even really have to "get up" for work. I don't have hours, I don't have a dress code, I don't have TPS reports or bullshit meetings. I just work that needs to be done and as long as it's getting done, it doesn't matter if I'm working an hour a day or twelve and it doesn't matter if those hours are nine to five or midnight to eight.

But on a deeper level working for a startup lets you work on something you believe in. It gives you the chance to work on building something you can be proud of, instead of just putting in a day of work for someone else and going home with nothing to show for it but a pay check.

And there are times that working for a startup can profoundly suck. Like when I don't know how to do something. There aren't other departments I can call, there's no money for fancy consultants. There's just a small team of people that have to get a bunch of shit done. Or we can fail to do it. No matter what excuse gets made, success or failure aren't abstract concepts when you work for a start up. Success or failure is something you influence, day in and day out. So you end up having conversations like this:

Rudius: Can you take over some of the tech duties?
Me: Sure, but I'm not a coder.
Rudius: But you can fix stuff right?
Me: I mean, I can look at code and see if I can fix it, assuming that something breaks but I'm not a coder.
Rudius: How about HTML, can you do HTML?
Me: Sure, but that's about my limit. I'm not a coder.
Rudius: Ok great. We need a website for RingandCage.com
Me: I'm not a coder.
Rudius: ...
Me: ...
Rudius: ...
Me: Fine.

I'm really not a coder and at any other job I would have either stalled, waiting for someone else to pick up (or get assigned) the lead, or I would have just done a shitty job so next time I wouldn't get asked. Twenty minutes in dreamweaver, a website, a couple of shrugs and "I don't know how to fix that" and I could go back to concentrating on things I liked doing, like taking early lunches and leaving for the day.

I don't really get the luxury of doing shitty work. Our ultimate success or failure doesn't depend on how well Ring and Cage does but I believe that our success or failure depends on how hard we work and how much we care. Even with the most dedicated and hardworking people ever born we may do everything right and still fail, but with sloppy work and unmotivated slobs there's no way we're ever going to succeed. If I want to be writing for Rudius next year (much less drawing a paycheck), I don't get the luxury of doing shitty work.

We create content, but you give us something much more valuable than that. You give us your attention. We're not a truck company. We're not going to trick you into thinking that our truck is cooler / better / tougher / more American than their truck because we have a slick ad campaign and some asshole singing country music over flapping flag. You know if our shit sucks. If it's inauthentic or we're trying to sell you something that has no value. There are literally millions of websites out there you could be reading instead of the Rudius websites. I'd like to think you read us because we deliver something of quality, not because our slick ad campaign convinced you that we're way cooler than blogspot. Ring and Cage is an MMA clothing company. I want you to buy shirts, a lot of shirts, from them. But not because I tell you the shirts are awesome but because you genuinely believe that the shirts are awesome.

So instead of stalling or stealing a copy of dreamweaver, I googled "css for beginners" and started reading. Four hours later I thought "how hard can this be?" and I ended up working sixteen hours that day and the next day and the day after that. And at some point Ryan emailed me at eleven pm or so and I absolutely lost my shit on him because I'd been sitting in the same chair writing broken code since eight that morning. And after I spent that week learning CSS*, I worked all weekend getting the site to look how it's supposed to look and by Sunday night I was so burned I just went home and slept 12 hours. But the site's like 90% done and it looks really good.

And even though I've worked probably 80 hours in the last six days, there were awesome moments. Like drunken muay thai lessons at one in the morning. Or just getting things to work the way they're supposed to. Or knowing that you've got highly motivated people around you who you can count on, that's pretty slick as well.

Of course, I'm typing this at three in the morning. I'm going to get some sleep.**

---

*For the record, I'm still not a coder.

**Sorry for the navel gazing. I promise not to make it a habit.

Posted by Ben Corman at 1:10 PM

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Comments

Do you know how to code?

Posted by: Ryan Holiday at December 11, 2007 02:08 PM

Does this mean you accept that I might have a desk?

Posted by: Ben Corman at December 11, 2007 02:22 PM

Ben,

Your second paragraph completely encapsulates why the corporate world sucks, at least in my opinion. I think its also why most college graduates are less than ecstatic their first year out in the working world.

Posted by: Bryan at December 11, 2007 05:55 PM

Putting a board across your knees is not a desk.

Posted by: Ryan Holiday at December 11, 2007 06:15 PM

Ryan: Then I don't know how to code.

---

Bryan: Yeah, it sucks a lot. I hate that feeling of just being another cog in the machine. I have friends who have managed to make the corporate world work for them but then they have healthy relationships and hobbies. Things that, along with a desk, I lack.

Posted by: Ben Corman at December 11, 2007 06:32 PM

So...you get a nice bonus or something right? Haha. Who am I kidding? You get the satisfaction of creating a really cool page and I'm ready to see what you've done bro.

Posted by: Wayland at December 12, 2007 06:26 PM

My favorite thing about start-ups is that they allow you to reach for whatever you want. There's almost no end to the personal growth or responsibility you can take on if you're willing and able. The only real limiting factor in that kind of environment is yourself. Success is recognized and rewarded. You get to be an integral part of the process and provide unique input and addition. There aren't 10 people at the door waiting for your job. And while almost everyone is eventually replaceable, you're contribution is more difficult to replace than a standard issue cog from the local hardware store / college. That's hard to find in corporate jobs.

"Even with the most dedicated and hardworking people ever born we may do everything right and still fail"

And that is the worst part of it. A start-up is so much work and effort that it seems to require personal involvement as well as professional. It's hard to walk away from one and it's even harder to watch one fail, particularly if you did everything you could to get it off the ground.

Posted by: Tim at December 13, 2007 06:21 PM