Hello HN!

My name's Brandon, 27, USA, been in the tech biz since graduating college (so 5 years now).

Last month, I quit my job. Big public tech company, great compensation and benefits and snacks and all that, but realized it was really not my bag by my third year there. The set of individual incentives at any company so large can lead to irresponsible or nonsensical roadmaps, taken-advantage-of coworkers, etc -- by the end I was left frustrated and sad most days. I'm happy to say I'm taking a few months off now.

But, I love making software and want to get back into it soon! So the next question is, "if not that, then what"?

The short version is, I want to work somewhere I can feel good about. Somewhere every worker is treated with respect, and we actively cull sprouts of "political" or egotistical behavior -- a place that prioritizes transparency, trust, and psychological safety over revenue growth. For me (and hopefully some others), that's the catalyst for feeling motivated and responsible to deliver excellent work.

(and please no cynical comments like "good luck finding a business that puts culture over money, i.e. its own reason for existing" -- yes, I know what I'm looking for is not the norm, that's why I wanted to try casting a wide net here on HN, thank you!)

So, I figure this immediately rules out public companies. Them having the constant pressure (a legal obligation?) to put shareholder interest above everything else. Besides -- it seems hard to get such a large group of people with similar-enough values all working towards the same goal anyways.

I think it actually also rules out most startups. They take VC money, and are then beholden to those VCs just like a public company is beholden to shareholders -- growth at any cost. Bootstrapped startups could be OK, but those are pretty rare.

Maybe worker-owned tech companies would be a solution? But those are even more rare than bootstrapped ones as I understand it, at least in the US?

Anyways -- as you can see my ideas are pretty scattered when it comes to "where can I find what I'm looking for"! If anyone here has had similar thoughts, or wanted something like this and did something about it, I'd love to hear about your experiences :)

Thanks!

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Ask HN: Where to go after giving up on big growth-obsessed tech companies?

Ask HN: Where to go after giving up on big growth-obsessed tech companies?