Not sure if this is the best comm for this post, but it really hit home with me, and is getting some good discussion in my circles.

  • PorkrollPosadist [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    4 years ago

    There are a lot of well endowed kids who go through private university and land high paying jobs in tech, but a college degree isn't the only path to working in the industry. Often times a portfolio of open source work will also open the door. Things are a bit more wacky in the start-up scene though.

    Before a start-up receives any kind of institutional funding, it will have to go through a bootstrapping phase where workers often work for free in exchange for equity in the company. You could spend several months working on software trying to build a minimum viable product while trying to nail down some first round investors. I spent three months working in a start-up like this for a 10% stake in the company and went completely destitute in the process. We never managed to raise any capital and by the end of the process I owned 10% of nothing.

    • IlIlIlIlIlIlIl [any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      a bootstrapping phase where workers often work for free in exchange for equity in the company

      what the actual fuck? is this common?

      • pppp1000 [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        4 years ago

        Unfortunately yes. You can go on Angelist and check out some of the job description.

        • spectre [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Literally a [potential] ticket to the ruling class. Still takes a ton of privilege to attempt, but it's a high risk-high reward type deal (sorry it didn't work out Porkroll). Of course it shouldn't work this way, but I definitely don't see it as a worker exploitation type thing personally.