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Abstract

nancial freedom to start your startup dream maybe the best idea. Hopping jobs fits perfectly in this strategy. In fact, I advocated this strategy some times ago:</p><div id="ecdb" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/programmers-stop-faking-your-passion-instead-run-for-the-money-5eb07056c2e5"> <div> <div> <h2>Programmers — Stop faking your passion. Instead, run for the money</h2> <div><h3>Crypto Shaolin, a Nigerian soft drink seller was chasing tourists. Today he earns $50K a year in Crypto. That was never…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*dw_zbQh5fDVIG88GyY7ogg.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="4299">However, job hopping puts extra pressure on your time you could be spend thinking about your (own) next product. It puts a lot of pressure on you to nail the next interview. Interview successes boosts your motivation, but drags you into anxiety of newer job atmosphere. Interview failures not only demotivates you in your job performance, but also grips you into an endless loop of prepare, try, apply until you succeed to nail the next offer.</p><p id="f1c2">Job stability is extremely important to:</p><ul><li>Keep the flame burning. (keep sucking at same grueling routine without change of scene)</li><li>Push your limits of creativity around same unworkable product / tech / teams</li><li>Build network (job hops will more likely burn bridges if you can’t handle them well)</li></ul><h1 id="3a7b">2 - Toil for a product company, even if it pays less:</h1><p id="4491">Toiling for a service company that caters to variety of clients is worse than hopping jobs, minus the salary boost. Your skillset is taken for a ride. Service companies are more likely to have toxic managerial environment.</p><p id="bcde">If you aren’t one of them, you suffer.</p><p id="e2ea">If you become one of them, it’s the final nail in the coffin of your startup dream.</p><p id="f4ee">Overcoming pressures of a service company is a task very few lucky / extraordinary / suave developers can achieve.</p><p id="8a84">Product companies could have all those disadvantages too, with one exception: It provides you with stable stack of functionality, so you can focus on building your skills around your startup idea. You no longer have to deal with different teams, or technical stacks. Even if you have to, the frequenc

Options

y & probability of such overhauls is far less than service company.</p><p id="1ae9">If you think you are underpaid / undervalued in a product company, you get better at your skillset.</p><p id="2c4e">In a service company, even if you intend to build it, you won’t get control of your time.</p><h1 id="c771">3 - Learn skills and add value to your existing (last) job:</h1><p id="a329">Escaping 9–5 because you loath that routine / team / boss is completely fine. When you are ready for it.</p><p id="e273">But premature escape without fulfilling the essence of your current job takes a very important advantage away from you: <b>self-belief.</b></p><p id="57a7">If you don’t agree, think of the very first moment when you were welcomed past successful interview.</p><p id="98bf">Since that time, in that long, boring, crushing journey, you were wronged about your image of the company and colleagues.</p><p id="c1fa">But you made a promise to yourself at that time. Or you made it when your first project was kicked off. Or your first JIRA ticket. Or your first feature development.</p><p id="72da">You were committed to be the master of back end development and to deliver the highest performance using GraphQL.</p><p id="9c5c">You were committed to optimize entire CI pipeline using scripts, so that neither you nor your colleagues / successors get midnight phone calls from nosy boss.</p><p id="c414">How much did you really achieve?</p><p id="ca88">Without it, it is all useless.</p><p id="4d47" type="7">Even if you profess in all those skills, delivering it till a point changes your self-perception. A point called completion.</p><p id="d737"><b>Not very different from success.</b></p><p id="aa41"><i>This</i>, <i>and only</i> <i>this</i>, <b>will hold you</b> in your future startup struggles. It’s an everlasting feeling of excellence, if not glory. <b>But it’s not just the excellence alone.</b></p><p id="e302">It’s <b>Karma</b> too. If you deliver, the world delivers to you with compound interest. Pay it forward.</p><p id="08aa">Integrity doesn’t only lie in following contractual rules. It lies in delivering what you were hired for. And then quit, gracefully (if destiny allows).</p><p id="12e8">It’s far better to be undervalued than underdelivering.</p><h1 id="042d">Conclusion:</h1><p id="c591">Escaping 9–5 requires significant amount of skills, but enormous amount of will power. Genuine will comes only from continued commitment to your goals, and commitment to your commitments to the world.</p><p id="247c">All you need is focus. Everything else will follow.</p></article></body>

How Programmers Should Turn into Entrepreneurs

Due to infinite possibilities posed by digital revolution, millions are seeing their future in businesses instead of day-jobs. Since programmers are nearest to this revolution, programmers have become the biggest chunk of population who want to be entrepreneurs.

Why programmers should think about entrepreneurship?

Without them, startup-meta industry will not survive. 😉

If you don’t have an idea what it is made of, don’t just think of startup coaches, forums, summits, or MBA schools. Or SAAS helping out founders-VCs-Angels come together.

Think also about cloud providers, TED speakers, free-to-access communities on reddit, NGO volunteers et al. The list is endless.

Programmers are spoiled for choices. It has never been so easy.

Their biggest advantage is: On-the-job official internet access. (As of 2018, at least 3 billion people on earth still did not have Internet access)

If you have second thoughts, alternatives (read 9–5) aren’t that lucrative. Developers are already facing phased obsolescence:

Developers — here is the most convincing reason for quitting your 9–5 job

A senior dev whom I respect for his technical prowess called me this morning. He called to fret over the meagre 12%…

medium.com

Below goes some primary tips that can enable your journey to entrepreneurship.

1 - Stop hopping jobs

It may sound counter-intuitive at first. Sometimes, gaining financial freedom to start your startup dream maybe the best idea. Hopping jobs fits perfectly in this strategy. In fact, I advocated this strategy some times ago:

Programmers — Stop faking your passion. Instead, run for the money

Crypto Shaolin, a Nigerian soft drink seller was chasing tourists. Today he earns $50K a year in Crypto. That was never…

medium.com

However, job hopping puts extra pressure on your time you could be spend thinking about your (own) next product. It puts a lot of pressure on you to nail the next interview. Interview successes boosts your motivation, but drags you into anxiety of newer job atmosphere. Interview failures not only demotivates you in your job performance, but also grips you into an endless loop of prepare, try, apply until you succeed to nail the next offer.

Job stability is extremely important to:

Keep the flame burning. (keep sucking at same grueling routine without change of scene)
Push your limits of creativity around same unworkable product / tech / teams
Build network (job hops will more likely burn bridges if you can’t handle them well)

2 - Toil for a product company, even if it pays less:

Toiling for a service company that caters to variety of clients is worse than hopping jobs, minus the salary boost. Your skillset is taken for a ride. Service companies are more likely to have toxic managerial environment.

If you aren’t one of them, you suffer.

If you become one of them, it’s the final nail in the coffin of your startup dream.

Overcoming pressures of a service company is a task very few lucky / extraordinary / suave developers can achieve.

Product companies could have all those disadvantages too, with one exception: It provides you with stable stack of functionality, so you can focus on building your skills around your startup idea. You no longer have to deal with different teams, or technical stacks. Even if you have to, the frequency & probability of such overhauls is far less than service company.

If you think you are underpaid / undervalued in a product company, you get better at your skillset.

In a service company, even if you intend to build it, you won’t get control of your time.

3 - Learn skills and add value to your existing (last) job:

Escaping 9–5 because you loath that routine / team / boss is completely fine. When you are ready for it.

But premature escape without fulfilling the essence of your current job takes a very important advantage away from you: self-belief.

If you don’t agree, think of the very first moment when you were welcomed past successful interview.

Since that time, in that long, boring, crushing journey, you were wronged about your image of the company and colleagues.

But you made a promise to yourself at that time. Or you made it when your first project was kicked off. Or your first JIRA ticket. Or your first feature development.

You were committed to be the master of back end development and to deliver the highest performance using GraphQL.

You were committed to optimize entire CI pipeline using scripts, so that neither you nor your colleagues / successors get midnight phone calls from nosy boss.

How much did you really achieve?

Without it, it is all useless.

Even if you profess in all those skills, delivering it till a point changes your self-perception. A point called completion.

Not very different from success.

This, and only this, will hold you in your future startup struggles. It’s an everlasting feeling of excellence, if not glory. But it’s not just the excellence alone.

It’s Karma too. If you deliver, the world delivers to you with compound interest. Pay it forward.

Integrity doesn’t only lie in following contractual rules. It lies in delivering what you were hired for. And then quit, gracefully (if destiny allows).

It’s far better to be undervalued than underdelivering.

Conclusion:

Escaping 9–5 requires significant amount of skills, but enormous amount of will power. Genuine will comes only from continued commitment to your goals, and commitment to your commitments to the world.

All you need is focus. Everything else will follow.