exempli gratia

companion post to “success is hard” #

Allow me to regale you with a story from my own sordid past.

I was just a wee lad, and had barely gotten my Rails feet under me (though I’d already submitted a patch to Rails itself). I was ready to move on from InsiderPages, where I learned a great deal but felt I had outgrown. A recruiter sent me on my first interview somewhere surprisingly far away from SOMA.

I arrived deep in the Mission at an office, let’s call it TinyCorp. The interview process was really bad. They were unprepared, asked me questions that had nothing to do with Rails or web development, and didn’t even offer me water. They asked a computer science question that even they couldn’t answer (don’t worry, I explained it to them). When they finished interviewing me a couple hours later, they wanted to send me home with “homework.”

Worst of all, they hadn’t even told me what their company did.

When I asked them what their company was all about (“So… what exactly is it you guys do?”), they were flustered. They apologized and explained that they built mini-sites that would SEO well and extract user information which they would then auction off to insurance companies.

Wow. I wouldn’t have wanted to tell candidates about the business either.

In this particular case, it was easy for me to pass. They failed in all three areas (people, technology, product), no need to discuss further.

But sometimes it’s not so easy. When one or two of those things look promising, and the possibility of stake in a company that might just get funding is dancing like sugar plum fairies before your eyes, take a moment and remember.

Failure is most likely.

Do something that matters. Not tomorrow. Today. #

Because if you fail, at least you can do it while trying to improve people’s lives, with colleagues you love and technology that is fun and exciting.

We live in a golden age of opportunity as Rails developers. You have no excuse to be working somewhere that isn’t awesome.