Tag: entrepreneurship

  • 10 Joys Of Small Business Ownership

    Don’t fret about those woes! For on a daily basis… You are building something greater than the sum of its parts. You set the mission, vision and values. You define the right people, right roles, and right rules. You will push constantly to explore and learn to think outside your comfort zone. You will often…

  • 10 Woes Of Small Business Ownership

    You work more than anyone else. You cannot take time off at leisure. You carry constant stress. You get paid less. You get paid last. You pay for other peoples taxes and benefits. You always deal with the “problem” cases, not the fun ones. You are asked for more-more-more, often by those who already have…

  • Financial Primer For Self-Funded Startups, Part 1

    You’ve considered starting your own business–ExampleTech–and have pondered the initial investment, opportunity costs and personal risks. Here’s a brief financial primer on what you need to understand before taking the big leap, and key issues you’ll need to grok for after ExampleTech begins operations. My big leap is OpenRain, for which I manage financial planning and performance amongst a…

  • Handling Self Doubt

    I’m an engineer. Always have been. I cronically worry about small flaws which could spiral into unsalvagable disaster,  and spend a great deal of time focusing on risk mitigation. I can thus completely identify with Riyad’s “cronic almost-achievement” issue because I felt like a raging victim of self-imposed mediocrity up until several years ago. I…

  • Identifying Senior Software Engineers: Six Critical Differences

    For HR and legal purposes, most development companies classify Software Engineers into ranks from I to IV (or V). The higher the rank, the higher the responsibilities, expectations, independence and pay grade. To cut it as an interviewer and manager, you’ll need to classify people accurately with a minimum amount of direct personal exposure: a…