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I don't disagree, except that you've taken ambitious to mean climbing the corporate ladder, which is a relatively narrow reading. It can also mean wanting a ac

by amouat 29d ago

I don't disagree, except that you've taken ambitious to mean climbing the corporate ladder, which is a relatively narrow reading. It can also mean wanting a achieve a large dream or goal e.g. writing a book.

code51 29d ago
Or the dream of keeping a stable job.
- deleted 29d ago
  [deleted]
- tonyedgecombe 28d ago
  The trouble with that is it's always someone else's decision whether you keep your job.
Aurornis 29d ago
Or the dream of financial security and early retirement, which are both highly valuable in the context of having a family. I couldn’t care less about the external validation part of it or my job title.
spicyusername 29d ago
Focusing on your passion for writing is more likely to produce the book than focusing on your desire to be able to say you were someone who finished a book. And who is being able to say you were someone who finished a book for? You? Or is it for someone else?
glitchc 29d ago
I think the OP's logic applies. Every author is hoping their book is a best-seller and/or wins awards i.e. the approval of others.
- sokoloff 29d ago
  I know a couple of O’Reilly authors. I don’t think any of them expected a best-seller or awards from their work, just “I get a high-four or barely-five figure payment for a competent treatment of a technical topic.” Maybe you could argue that’s a lightweight version of “approval of others”
  - theF00l 28d ago
    Surprised to hear that an O'Reilly book will net you less than a month of work for a SWE in the US and some parts of Europe. But I guess the reward is not the money but the expertise and signal.
    - geodel 28d ago
      That plus, online, in-person training opportunities.
    - FuriouslyAdrift 28d ago
      Here's an authors account of royalties received from the no. 2 best selling O'Reilly book at the time (around $500k over 6 years) https://martin.kleppmann.com/2020/09/29/is-book-writing-worth-it.html https://martin.kleppmann.com/2020/09/29/is-book-writing-wort...
- deleted 28d ago
  [deleted]
- j45 28d ago
  It might not be as common, but some authors do write something to get it out of their head.
tyre 28d ago
I can +1 who you're replying to in the context of founders and achieving a large dream (building a massive company.) I was in the Summer 2016 batch. Ten years out feels like long enough for some reflections on lives well-lived. There were people in my batch who were ambitious, not in climbing someone else's corporate ladder but in building their own massive/successful/wealthy company. For those who separated it from what they were passionate about—and here I mean the impact, not "passionate about building a big business”—there have been more than a few crash outs. Existential crises, Extremely Online Syndrome, pulled into a world where what VCs say or competition with press releases on Tech Crunch define their self-worth. These people are generally not happy. Some are! But many are not. The founders who worked on things that they care about—with technology or company-building as a _means_ to achieving some greater end—are doing much better. They might or might not still be at their start-ups. Many have gone on to work at other impactful companies or organizations. They seem much more content with life and their contributions to the world. That's the type of ambition that is healthy _and_ meaningful _and_ lasting. It's not that these people aren't ambitious—they very much are! But it's not "big company good". It's "big positive impact good."
- cjblomqvist 28d ago
  In my experience, this is the kind of thing that one should explore when choosing co-founders. Misalignment here, at least the kind where you're not fully (100%!) okay with, and you're up for a painful journey. Maybe not at the beginning, but most likely at some point in time. The kind of thing that can ruin a lot, including causing an identity and life crisis.

by amouat 29d ago

code51 29d ago

Or the dream of keeping a stable job.

deleted 29d ago
[deleted]
tonyedgecombe 28d ago
The trouble with that is it's always someone else's decision whether you keep your job.

Aurornis 29d ago

Or the dream of financial security and early retirement, which are both highly valuable in the context of having a family. I couldn’t care less about the external validation part of it or my job title.

spicyusername 29d ago

Focusing on your passion for writing is more likely to produce the book than focusing on your desire to be able to say you were someone who finished a book. And who is being able to say you were someone who finished a book for? You? Or is it for someone else?

glitchc 29d ago

I think the OP's logic applies. Every author is hoping their book is a best-seller and/or wins awards i.e. the approval of others.

sokoloff 29d ago
I know a couple of O’Reilly authors. I don’t think any of them expected a best-seller or awards from their work, just “I get a high-four or barely-five figure payment for a competent treatment of a technical topic.” Maybe you could argue that’s a lightweight version of “approval of others”
- theF00l 28d ago
  Surprised to hear that an O'Reilly book will net you less than a month of work for a SWE in the US and some parts of Europe. But I guess the reward is not the money but the expertise and signal.
  - geodel 28d ago
    That plus, online, in-person training opportunities.
  - FuriouslyAdrift 28d ago
    Here's an authors account of royalties received from the no. 2 best selling O'Reilly book at the time (around $500k over 6 years) https://martin.kleppmann.com/2020/09/29/is-book-writing-worth-it.html https://martin.kleppmann.com/2020/09/29/is-book-writing-wort...
deleted 28d ago
[deleted]
j45 28d ago
It might not be as common, but some authors do write something to get it out of their head.

tyre 28d ago

I can +1 who you're replying to in the context of founders and achieving a large dream (building a massive company.) I was in the Summer 2016 batch. Ten years out feels like long enough for some reflections on lives well-lived. There were people in my batch who were ambitious, not in climbing someone else's corporate ladder but in building their own massive/successful/wealthy company. For those who separated it from what they were passionate about—and here I mean the impact, not "passionate about building a big business”—there have been more than a few crash outs. Existential crises, Extremely Online Syndrome, pulled into a world where what VCs say or competition with press releases on Tech Crunch define their self-worth. These people are generally not happy. Some are! But many are not. The founders who worked on things that they care about—with technology or company-building as a _means_ to achieving some greater end—are doing much better. They might or might not still be at their start-ups. Many have gone on to work at other impactful companies or organizations. They seem much more content with life and their contributions to the world. That's the type of ambition that is healthy _and_ meaningful _and_ lasting. It's not that these people aren't ambitious—they very much are! But it's not "big company good". It's "big positive impact good."

cjblomqvist 28d ago
In my experience, this is the kind of thing that one should explore when choosing co-founders. Misalignment here, at least the kind where you're not fully (100%!) okay with, and you're up for a painful journey. Maybe not at the beginning, but most likely at some point in time. The kind of thing that can ruin a lot, including causing an identity and life crisis.