The startup life culture is probably killing a lot of talent and taking away peace of mind.

Everything is needed
- too fast
- to work well

Forcing people to compromise on personal life and health.

It also takes away the interest to work on something as an interesting problem and makes it feel like "just another job to get finished".

I probably have wrong understanding of start-up culture but here is how I'd define the culture of start-up I work(and worked) at.

* You're not expected to overwork. However, you're expected to complete the work that's assigned to you on the day *you* promised to complete it.

* You're free to work whenever and however you prefer, so if you have a personal work and away during work hours, the company does not care.

P.S: Both are around 30 people sized start-ups so I probably don't have a full picture.

I kinda agree with Nanos, though I'd spell it out a little different.

The kind of startup pro-grammar probably refers to is the kind you must genuinely be interested in working in, no matter what. What big companies like to hear from you in job interviews (but secretly must know that you are most likely just paying lip-service), that you are "on fire" for the topic at hand, it must really be true in this situation. Work-life balance should not be anything you worry about, rather you should wake up at night with a brilliant idea (since OBVIOUSLY you dream about work, right?) and you grab your laptop to implement it right then and there.

Maybe this kind of startup turns into the next Google or Facebook. Maybe it'll be acquired for a nice sum. Maybe it'll fizzle out. But this period of work being all-consuming will come to an end.

If, at this prospect, you can imagine looking back and having no regrets, you can work there. Otherwise, steer clear.

$0.02.

The thing that bothers me is that you never end up developing something you are happy with.

People who think of development as a creative work get dissatisfied with that sort of unhappiness eventually.

I mean, this is the one thing I am good at. It makes me 💰 but I never end up doing a satisfactory work. Not because I don't want to do it but because the culture expects things to be a pile of bandages.

On twitter, you'll find a lot of people in Software talking about burnout. I believe this is one of the major reasons.

Heh, I feel your pain, but I also relate to that quote referring to storys (or was it poems?) originally: like a story written by an author, a piece of software is never completed, just abandoned.

As with an author, I feel a big part of software development is being able to "let go" and being able to balance the demand for craftmanship with looming deadlines and whatnot.

If you have a way better solution to a problem, but it's impossible to ship it in time whilst a technologically inferior solution CAN be shipped in time, is the better solution really better?

And regarding to the OP, if you feel you cannot get close enough to your desired level of perfection in it, working in a "hear-and-soul-poured-in" startup is probably not the right choice for you.

Startup culture is about trust , not about Killin your dreams and family.

They trust you will do your work, you trust they will make the right choices.

Hence, you can say and do whatever you want.

But, as soon as the trust is lost, the environment become what you described and the culture is lost.