If you're having trouble with the idea that there is a real human behind this article, someone with feelings and motivations for writing what she did and not just some anonymous internet commenter who "takes a long time to get to the point" or "has a boring writing style", I recommend watching this video she published on Youtube in which she responds to questions people had about her article:
Like the article, it's very honest and personal. It takes guts to broadcast or publish something like that about yourself on the internet and face the music, as is apparent by some of the responses here and on Youtube. Consider thinking about it next time you decide to post a snarky comment or a TL;DR.
I think the primary reason that people here are so negative about it is that they personally aren't living authentically, that is to say true to themselves. If you're not living authentically yourself, an encounter with authenticity in someone else will bring up bad feelings, and so the default response will be to come up with all sorts of reasons to shame the other person.
This was one of the best things I've read on Medium. I liked the writing, I liked the emotion, I liked the imagery, and I liked the self-reflection. It's true that stories of angst over leaving the corporate world are nothing new, but the execution was good. It was particularly interesting to hear about her experience at Google in that light, given their cachet as the be-all and end-all of big corporate tech employers.
She's lucky she's able to listen and respond to her intuition about what's right for her personally. One of the great tragedies of Western society is that consumerism is encouraged over the pursuit of meaningful work.
Very well-written article. I was half-dreading that this would be a humblebrag about how they're achieved so much more since leaving Google.
Anyway the campfire incident resonated with me, and I completely believe it. I recently finished the book "Autopilot" by Andrew Smart, in which he describes a brain center called the "default mode network" (which was new to me). http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/autopilot/
The default mode network works when nothing else is occupying the brain. Hence to "listen" to "yourself" aka DMN, you have to literally be silent and in silence etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_mode_network
I bet if she threw in some awkward Homeric references (instead of the boyfriend one), and wrote it a bit overly analytical and detached, then HN would be satisfied.
Personally I wasn't a fan of the article because it used an attention grabbing title which had nothing to do with the article. I get it, she decided that there was an alternative path to self fulfilment, more power to her. This could have been a great read if set in the correct context, but what on earth does this article have to do with Google?
I'd be genuinely interested in reading the motivations for writing it, imho personal articles pertains to more private venues. And definitely not on HN, especially when light on content (but that's not her fault).
HN is a pretty negative place these days. Ellen Huerta, if you're reading this, I applaud that you decided not to accept the path that was laid out for you.
Also, I suspect that most HN readers won't understand the maturity & security in one's own self-worth it takes to walk away from that level of career success, and particularly a company like Google.
Aside from the article having no real connection to hacking or the startup world; the prevalent self absorption is what I assume to be the biggest factor in the negative reviews this article is receiving here on HN.
Was it well written? Absolutely. Could someone take away something beneficial from it? Most likely. But is it worthy of being on the front page of hacker news? I'd guess not.
Again, though I've seen a drastic decline in the quality of posts in the short time I've been here, which is most likely indicative of the overall decline in quality since combining hacker news and startup news.
I don't know of what level of "success" are we talking here, but most HN readers won't understand? I'm sure instead that they understand what it means to leave a safe career path to embrace the "unknown".
I don't really feel like I ought be a critic of anyone's writing (given that I am not one myself) but college boyfriends, wandering away from the campfire to look at the stars... it seems like the author takes a really long route to get to the point.
If it feels like she took too long to get to the point, maybe it's because you missed it.
Her point (as I took it) was that she had such a strong habit of living her life entirely in terms of her accomplishments that she was living her life inauthentically without even realizing it. And it took a whole lot of space away from her life just to become aware of it.
Not everything can be reduced down to a three-word "TL;DR."
Try reading 1800s literature. It'll awaken a certain appreciation for modern writing in you.
But the point is that there's a certain box smart people today in the 1975-1990 generation are put in.
* Get good grades
* Go to college
* Get job at company (alternatively, start your own company. That's pretty trendy today.)
* Find spouse
* Buy house
* Have kids
...etc.
Why bother? That's a good question. Why not simply drop out and go surfing? What's the point of the job? What's the point of having the money to buy stuff? Why use your intelligence, this intelligence that so many people have complimented, in the same way every other person like you has been doing?
It's a variant on the age old question - who are you, really? Why bother being you as you are now?
Maybe that explains it better. But the article really resonated with me.
Here's why I think it's such a frustrating article... It's ultimately an immature sentiment expressed by an immature person enclosed in a veneer of maturity.
The subtle thing here is that she's blaming being at Google for her lack of fulfillment when a mature person would look inward first. I'd bet dollars to donuts that a similar thing happened to her ex-boyfriend. No rationale, vague sentiments, very little actual introspection, except what might make her happy.
Real maturity is about character, finding how to be a better person and not what the world can do for you.
That said, I'm sure she'll go far in life. I sincerely hope she lerans to improve herself as a person in order that she can be a fulfilled human being.
Yeah, for somebody so bright and talented (she can't help mentioning her spotless cursus honorum), her writing is incredibly dull.
I expected useful insights in what Google was doing wrong, losing such acclaimed talent, but... nothing. It's all about her wanting to fuck up for once, after a life of unmitigated success. I guess this means Google is actually doing something right by losing her, lest she fucks up the company just because.
The real bottom line here is that the author doesn't really know why she left Google yet. She is still discovering this.
I really strongly believe as a left-coast culture put a lot of emphasis on amazing out of the ordinary experiences as THE ONLY WAY to get "perspective". But the reality is if we learned more about how our brains work, we'd be able to get that sense of perspective in daily life on a regular basis.
This is why I'm more impressed by people who meditate every day while maintaining their previous life, over people who attend a yearly meditation retreat but don't do anything different. The hardest part is changing your daily life without going highly radical.
Because to make society better, having everyone defect and leave to a monastery is not going to be a good idea. We still need people doing their "normal" jobs and getting things done. I need lunch damnit!
You talk about this like if it was easy. I don't think it is. For a single person which choose to resign from his / her benefits to pursue a distant dream, how many will not have this courage ?
Of course we're on hn, so there is here a lot more people prepared to this than anywere else but still. I like this kind of post, which reminds us that we should be able to focus on what really motivates us.
Of course I'm still pretty young, it could seems obvious to you or others, but if it's in frontpage I assume that I'm not the only one inspired by these posts.
That's because she wanted you to get a feel of the process she went through. The frustrations that she felt and how exactly the AHA moment happened. Even the 'Staring at the stars' story you scoffed at has a message. When you are stuck and having trouble figuring things out, stop for a moment, get a change of scenery, that just might do the trick. Clearing out your head like this, as cliched as it sounds, is a remarkably effective way of figuring out the tangled web of choices ahead of you. I guess you just got bored and missed the point entirely. Pity !
Agreed, the conclusion was somewhat nebulous to me (and I'm probably a bit dense as well) but the tl;dr I got was that the author left to "[build] a start up that is risky and deeply personal (Mend)". We all have to subsist, and how she chooses to do it is a large part of how many of us will define her identity.
I feel like the authenticity she refers to is very much a 1st world problem (though I'm sure she's worked hard for her success). Most of us work to pay the bills and don't feel like charlatans if our industry doesn't happen to be our life's dream if we even have one.
BTW, anyone have a link to this authentic startup she's referring to?
>...breaking up with my college boyfriend. He was brilliant, good looking, respected, and everyone loved him — I even loved him — but he wasn’t the one.
I'm not even thirty yet, but I feel like most people within my generation are just spoiled children. It's like we need another world war so people can learn to properly appreciate what they have, again.
What struck me more is how somebody can get that far in life without properly examining themselves and their relationship with the world. Isn't she aware of the stereotype that corporations are full of drones that will suddenly realize that they've wasted their life when they're forty? Hasn't she picked up a copy of Be Here Now on a coffee table somewhere? Was that really the first time that she's gazed at the stars and felt like she could do anything – doesn't everybody do that when they're 15? I suppose not everybody has hippy parents, not everybody is allowed to go to bonfire parties in their teens, not everybody takes LSD before their first corporate job.
It's like we need another world war and then another 60's and 70's, but then no 80's to erase all the lessons we learned.
Most people that I know who are in my generation (millennial) are incredibly self-aware and make life choices according to what they want out of life first and foremost. Sadly that often leaves them stuck without the skills to make a significant impact on the world and on the lives of those around them.
It feels like she has made the first genuine choice about her life. Most people seldom, if ever, make a genuine choice, but follow the obvious path in front of them. In this case, top of class, great college, fantastic job then career and so forth.
This site is rightly focussed around people who have made or are thinking about making genuine choices, founding or being part of a start-up.
It took me until I was 29 to make my first real choice, and then, and ever since then, I've gone about in the same way.
The key is to create real options that are all desirable, and to make a real choice that is for yourself, your family, and for the societal right reasons, not (just) for others' expectations.
So what I did, and advise people to do, is to prioritise three completely different options areas, such as travel, starting a company and going corporate. Next, work on each of them as hard as you can to make them as compelling as possible.
If you've done a great job, then the three options will be equally good, yet very different, and the choice will be incredibly hard. At this stage it's about refining your criteria and choosing the one that opens the most doors and leaves the least closed.
Set a date to decide by, maximize the value of each option by pushing hard, and then pick one.
And I recommend always having a plan B and C, no matter what you are doing.
I'm all for personal fulfillment, but this seems like it could apply to anyone working any job they don't like/love. There is nothing specific to Google in this. Actually, there's very little specific in this at all. I guess somebody found it helpful though because it's at thirty points right now and it was at three ten minutes ago.
This is the definition of angst. Quite a good example in fact. The most important line though is:
"The caveat here is that studying hard my whole life and saving for almost 5 years afforded me the opportunity to have this time completely off payroll[.]"
Great write up, I really want to learn what the next chapter brings.
Ultimately, living an authentic life is the only thing that ends up mattering. There are many ways to do this, and you don't have to make grand moves to get there, although it can certainly help.
A think a lot of academically gifted folks ultimately can have this problem... you become so focused on what you DO you forget that you're a Human BEING not a Human DOING. (props to my friend who gave me that one)
I've never understood what it means to live an "authentic" life. I really wish I did, because it sounds nice.
Is it slowing down to enjoy life? Is it finding the things that make you happy and pursuing them? Is it doing what your inner voice tells you to do?
Maybe my inner voice is more confused than most, because mine is simultaneously telling me to get a degree and to drop out of college, to start a company in the hopes of being wildly successful and to find a nice, stable job somewhere so I can spend my free time relaxing.
This is a fairly standard story with a modern twist. Taking the story at face value she seems as though she was academically very bright from an early age. With that comes a full set of expectations. "Oh, she'll be really successful at whatever she does because she's so bright!" comes in a bunch of variations from teachers, family and friends. Many children want to please their parents and so follow that path and get oddles of social approval. (good grades/schools/careers) Google is the West Coast flavor but it could be a great law firm, Goldman Sachs, medical field etc. At around 30 the majority of these folks don't have too many more hurdles to clear and they start to question the "Why" of what they're doing for the first time.
The modern twist is the fact that the author is a little self absorbed and many people are reacting to that. 8 minute YouTube follow up videos etc. A very long winded story that could be tightened up.
What's most interesting is how little she's really challenging herself by changing her environment. Same field (tech) and same state (SoCal vs NorCal) She saw how a single weekend with people not from her field impacted her life. Why not take that weekend and stretch it into a year! Imagine what could happen then? Right now with this path I'd say 50%+ chance "relative" poverty will set it in 12 - 18 months and she'll be back in the womb of a large technology company again.
I don't understand all the negative people. I truly don't.
You weren't forced to read about her problems. You weren't forced to upvote this post to the front page. Yet all you people do is complain.
The post made it to the frontpage because maybe it hit home for a lot of people here? Perhaps people are fascinated by her very personal story? There could be a number of reasons.
HN gets very tiring very fast because of all the negativity. It's terrible. Stop and reflect and realize that HUMAN BEINGS are on the other side of the words written here.
I rarely comment on HN or post stuff here and the response to this post is a reminder of exactly why. The negativity is mind boggling. Here is someone with an exceptionally told, brilliantly written, truly moving story of why she left a secure, outwardly perfect life to pursue something she personally found actually fulfilling.For everyone sitting pretty on their comfy couches, know this is not easy. Staring at your bank account and seeing it getting close zero to everyday, while dealing with the all the shit that comes with pursuing your dreams is truly gut wrenching.You know the lights are about to go off, and you are giving up everything for it, and you are desperately trying to keep going. THAT is not easy. It takes guts.
I honestly think HN needs a 'Be Nice' Policy like Quora. I love writing, sharing and commenting on Quora because people are genuinely warm, cordial, friendly and very very constructive in their feedback. On HN however it seems there is a race to see who can post a more Snarky comment. Sad !
I appreciate the author's transparency. The past 200 years of innovation have created a world that is hard to connect with sometimes. You used to wake up every day looking for food ... hand to mouth ... build a fire or freeze to death. The most joyous times were found simply being with friends and family with no presumptions of better-ness because you knew how much their horse cost. There were times to be alone too.
Today its hyper-information, hyper-jobs, hyper-success, hyper-sugary foods.
And what is success? What is living? Why is there one ice-cream stop in every town instead of every town having its own ice-cream shop? This new generation wants to understand themselves and how they fit within the spaces they frequent. They don't want to live inside a commercial anymore.
This is an introspective essay describing a difficult mental process, involving a complete questioning of one's motivation in life.
Rather than condemn the author for being a narcissist, people should take the opportunity to study this excellent example of human introspection. I think a lot of people would benefit from having a close look at their goals and motivations. Seems like every other week I see a post on Hacker News about depression or burnout which could have been avoided if the author was able to look at him/herself from a distance.
The entire narrative is intensely self-focused. You have to keep in mind that she is basically writing in the same dialect that driven careerists think with. Having so freshly made this decision, you can't expect her to relate the transforming experience in any other way.
Well, since this seems to be really more of a personal meditation on what is effectively aimlessness in life amidst a world of endless career building, I don't think the focus on herself is unjustified here. This wasn't really about Google, even though the name featured prominently in the article.
Finally, a "Why I Left Google" post that doesn't focus on the company. A lot of people are saying, "This girl has a lot of angst"...well, at least for once she talks about herself and her reasons for leaving, rather than the reasons a company failed her. It's a nice change.
That was good writing. The people that complain about it being too long are probably young and don't appreciate a good personal story. This is not about google, but about author's personal choice to leave something seemingly good behind in order to do something more meaningful/fulfilling; and how she made that choice.
I love this post, I really do and it's because it resonates so deeply with me. Ellen is really able to put into words what I could only babble on about in nonsensical conversations with people over the past 6 months. I left Google this year too as have many others (if only you could see the internal epitaph). There were many reasons why I left but none are noteworthy. Many have found themselves in similar situations, facing adversity in their lives, achieving the dream and then wondering what next, the quarter life crisis. Google is the dream but what happens when the dream becomes a reality? Does the reality live up to what you had imagined it to be? Now what? Do you spend 10 years at Google trying to level up? Do you work on complex problems at Google scale? Do you even get that opportunity?
I kind of saved myself lots of frustration, by not reading this article. As soon as I read, "i will have to leave my boyfriend" and I assume, this is one narcissistic article, trying to get people listen her babbling because she has used "google".
Sometimes it's a blessing to be in a job that you can't tolerate, or even despise, as opposed to a job that feels prestigious, but still doesn't feel right.
With the former, at least you don't feel the pressure to stay because everyone wants to work there.
[+] [-] primigenus|12 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qeyt2Mw4sK4
Like the article, it's very honest and personal. It takes guts to broadcast or publish something like that about yourself on the internet and face the music, as is apparent by some of the responses here and on Youtube. Consider thinking about it next time you decide to post a snarky comment or a TL;DR.
[+] [-] foobarbazqux|12 years ago|reply
This was one of the best things I've read on Medium. I liked the writing, I liked the emotion, I liked the imagery, and I liked the self-reflection. It's true that stories of angst over leaving the corporate world are nothing new, but the execution was good. It was particularly interesting to hear about her experience at Google in that light, given their cachet as the be-all and end-all of big corporate tech employers.
She's lucky she's able to listen and respond to her intuition about what's right for her personally. One of the great tragedies of Western society is that consumerism is encouraged over the pursuit of meaningful work.
[+] [-] taway2012|12 years ago|reply
Anyway the campfire incident resonated with me, and I completely believe it. I recently finished the book "Autopilot" by Andrew Smart, in which he describes a brain center called the "default mode network" (which was new to me). http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/autopilot/
The default mode network works when nothing else is occupying the brain. Hence to "listen" to "yourself" aka DMN, you have to literally be silent and in silence etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_mode_network
[+] [-] psbp|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mbell|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drtse4|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] neilk|12 years ago|reply
Also, I suspect that most HN readers won't understand the maturity & security in one's own self-worth it takes to walk away from that level of career success, and particularly a company like Google.
[+] [-] ryanSrich|12 years ago|reply
Was it well written? Absolutely. Could someone take away something beneficial from it? Most likely. But is it worthy of being on the front page of hacker news? I'd guess not.
Again, though I've seen a drastic decline in the quality of posts in the short time I've been here, which is most likely indicative of the overall decline in quality since combining hacker news and startup news.
[+] [-] drtse4|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] untog|12 years ago|reply
I don't really feel like I ought be a critic of anyone's writing (given that I am not one myself) but college boyfriends, wandering away from the campfire to look at the stars... it seems like the author takes a really long route to get to the point.
[+] [-] haberman|12 years ago|reply
Her point (as I took it) was that she had such a strong habit of living her life entirely in terms of her accomplishments that she was living her life inauthentically without even realizing it. And it took a whole lot of space away from her life just to become aware of it.
Not everything can be reduced down to a three-word "TL;DR."
[+] [-] pnathan|12 years ago|reply
But the point is that there's a certain box smart people today in the 1975-1990 generation are put in.
* Get good grades
* Go to college
* Get job at company (alternatively, start your own company. That's pretty trendy today.)
* Find spouse
* Buy house
* Have kids
...etc.
Why bother? That's a good question. Why not simply drop out and go surfing? What's the point of the job? What's the point of having the money to buy stuff? Why use your intelligence, this intelligence that so many people have complimented, in the same way every other person like you has been doing?
It's a variant on the age old question - who are you, really? Why bother being you as you are now?
Maybe that explains it better. But the article really resonated with me.
[+] [-] altoz|12 years ago|reply
The subtle thing here is that she's blaming being at Google for her lack of fulfillment when a mature person would look inward first. I'd bet dollars to donuts that a similar thing happened to her ex-boyfriend. No rationale, vague sentiments, very little actual introspection, except what might make her happy.
Real maturity is about character, finding how to be a better person and not what the world can do for you.
That said, I'm sure she'll go far in life. I sincerely hope she lerans to improve herself as a person in order that she can be a fulfilled human being.
[+] [-] toyg|12 years ago|reply
I expected useful insights in what Google was doing wrong, losing such acclaimed talent, but... nothing. It's all about her wanting to fuck up for once, after a life of unmitigated success. I guess this means Google is actually doing something right by losing her, lest she fucks up the company just because.
[+] [-] ryanobjc|12 years ago|reply
I really strongly believe as a left-coast culture put a lot of emphasis on amazing out of the ordinary experiences as THE ONLY WAY to get "perspective". But the reality is if we learned more about how our brains work, we'd be able to get that sense of perspective in daily life on a regular basis.
This is why I'm more impressed by people who meditate every day while maintaining their previous life, over people who attend a yearly meditation retreat but don't do anything different. The hardest part is changing your daily life without going highly radical.
Because to make society better, having everyone defect and leave to a monastery is not going to be a good idea. We still need people doing their "normal" jobs and getting things done. I need lunch damnit!
[+] [-] arcatek|12 years ago|reply
Of course we're on hn, so there is here a lot more people prepared to this than anywere else but still. I like this kind of post, which reminds us that we should be able to focus on what really motivates us.
Of course I'm still pretty young, it could seems obvious to you or others, but if it's in frontpage I assume that I'm not the only one inspired by these posts.
[+] [-] khalidmbajwa|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] libria|12 years ago|reply
I feel like the authenticity she refers to is very much a 1st world problem (though I'm sure she's worked hard for her success). Most of us work to pay the bills and don't feel like charlatans if our industry doesn't happen to be our life's dream if we even have one.
BTW, anyone have a link to this authentic startup she's referring to?
[+] [-] Keyframe|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vph|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] StandardFuture|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nahname|12 years ago|reply
I'm not even thirty yet, but I feel like most people within my generation are just spoiled children. It's like we need another world war so people can learn to properly appreciate what they have, again.
[+] [-] msutherl|12 years ago|reply
It's like we need another world war and then another 60's and 70's, but then no 80's to erase all the lessons we learned.
Most people that I know who are in my generation (millennial) are incredibly self-aware and make life choices according to what they want out of life first and foremost. Sadly that often leaves them stuck without the skills to make a significant impact on the world and on the lives of those around them.
[+] [-] ams6110|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] doyoulikeworms|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smtddr|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lancewiggs|12 years ago|reply
This site is rightly focussed around people who have made or are thinking about making genuine choices, founding or being part of a start-up.
It took me until I was 29 to make my first real choice, and then, and ever since then, I've gone about in the same way.
The key is to create real options that are all desirable, and to make a real choice that is for yourself, your family, and for the societal right reasons, not (just) for others' expectations.
So what I did, and advise people to do, is to prioritise three completely different options areas, such as travel, starting a company and going corporate. Next, work on each of them as hard as you can to make them as compelling as possible.
If you've done a great job, then the three options will be equally good, yet very different, and the choice will be incredibly hard. At this stage it's about refining your criteria and choosing the one that opens the most doors and leaves the least closed.
Set a date to decide by, maximize the value of each option by pushing hard, and then pick one.
And I recommend always having a plan B and C, no matter what you are doing.
[+] [-] psbp|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jamesaguilar|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iandanforth|12 years ago|reply
"The caveat here is that studying hard my whole life and saving for almost 5 years afforded me the opportunity to have this time completely off payroll[.]"
[+] [-] ryanobjc|12 years ago|reply
Ultimately, living an authentic life is the only thing that ends up mattering. There are many ways to do this, and you don't have to make grand moves to get there, although it can certainly help.
A think a lot of academically gifted folks ultimately can have this problem... you become so focused on what you DO you forget that you're a Human BEING not a Human DOING. (props to my friend who gave me that one)
[+] [-] benesch|12 years ago|reply
Is it slowing down to enjoy life? Is it finding the things that make you happy and pursuing them? Is it doing what your inner voice tells you to do?
Maybe my inner voice is more confused than most, because mine is simultaneously telling me to get a degree and to drop out of college, to start a company in the hopes of being wildly successful and to find a nice, stable job somewhere so I can spend my free time relaxing.
[+] [-] th0br0|12 years ago|reply
Great quote from John Scatman's "Scatman's World"
[+] [-] jusben1369|12 years ago|reply
The modern twist is the fact that the author is a little self absorbed and many people are reacting to that. 8 minute YouTube follow up videos etc. A very long winded story that could be tightened up.
What's most interesting is how little she's really challenging herself by changing her environment. Same field (tech) and same state (SoCal vs NorCal) She saw how a single weekend with people not from her field impacted her life. Why not take that weekend and stretch it into a year! Imagine what could happen then? Right now with this path I'd say 50%+ chance "relative" poverty will set it in 12 - 18 months and she'll be back in the womb of a large technology company again.
[+] [-] onedev|12 years ago|reply
You weren't forced to read about her problems. You weren't forced to upvote this post to the front page. Yet all you people do is complain.
The post made it to the frontpage because maybe it hit home for a lot of people here? Perhaps people are fascinated by her very personal story? There could be a number of reasons.
HN gets very tiring very fast because of all the negativity. It's terrible. Stop and reflect and realize that HUMAN BEINGS are on the other side of the words written here.
[+] [-] khalidmbajwa|12 years ago|reply
I honestly think HN needs a 'Be Nice' Policy like Quora. I love writing, sharing and commenting on Quora because people are genuinely warm, cordial, friendly and very very constructive in their feedback. On HN however it seems there is a race to see who can post a more Snarky comment. Sad !
[+] [-] pcunite|12 years ago|reply
Today its hyper-information, hyper-jobs, hyper-success, hyper-sugary foods.
And what is success? What is living? Why is there one ice-cream stop in every town instead of every town having its own ice-cream shop? This new generation wants to understand themselves and how they fit within the spaces they frequent. They don't want to live inside a commercial anymore.
[+] [-] pvdm|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marvin|12 years ago|reply
Rather than condemn the author for being a narcissist, people should take the opportunity to study this excellent example of human introspection. I think a lot of people would benefit from having a close look at their goals and motivations. Seems like every other week I see a post on Hacker News about depression or burnout which could have been avoided if the author was able to look at him/herself from a distance.
[+] [-] enneff|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oinksoft|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nilkn|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] elliott34|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dylangs1030|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] imsofuture|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _pfop|12 years ago|reply
In other words, it's called being a twenty-something.
[+] [-] ardit33|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chuhnk|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ajainy|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AznHisoka|12 years ago|reply
With the former, at least you don't feel the pressure to stay because everyone wants to work there.