Readings

The readings for Tuesday, February 2 are:

Careers

• How To Make Wealth
• Advice for ambitious 19 year olds
• You'll Always Miss Being in the Basement
• How I Created A $350 Million Software Company Knowing Nothing About Software
• Don't Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career Advice
• Big company vs. startup work and pay
• Beware of the Silicon Valley cult
• When a Unicorn Start-Up Stumbles, Its Employees Get Hurt

Work-Life Balance

• Family:

  • Why Women Still Can't Have It All

    A followup: Why I Put My Wife's Career First

    A reaction: Can modern women "have it all"?

  • The Work-Family Imbalance

  • Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace

    A reaction: I Had a Baby and Cancer When I Worked at Amazon. This Is My Story

    A response: Full memo: Jeff Bezos responds to brutal NYT story, says it doesn't represent the Amazon he leads

  • Silicon Valley: Perks for Some Workers, Struggles for Parents

  • Silicon Valley's Best and Worst Jobs for New Moms (and Dads)

• Burnout:

  • Regretting the Golden Handcuffs
  • The Research Is Clear: Long Hours Backfire for People and for Companies
  • Marissa Mayer: Why Work Burnout Is About Resentment
  • Avoiding Burnout
  • The other side of paradise

Bonus

Maybe relevant. Maybe not.

• On Parenthood

Questions

Please write a response to one of the following questions:

1. From the readings and from your experience, why is creating startups all the rage at the moment? What are the benefits of creating or joining a startup? What are the dangers or downsides? Did joining or creating a startup factor in your employment decision or do you hope to create one in the future? Why or why not?

2. From the readings and from your experience, can men and women have it all? That is, can parents have successful and fulfilling careers while also raising a family and meeting other non-work related goals? What can companies do to support their workers to find this balance and are they ethically obliged to do so? Is this balance important to you and if so, how do you hope to maintain it?

3. From the readings and from your experience, what are the causes of burnout? Have you ever experienced burnout? How did you overcome it or mitigate its effects? As you enter the workforce, how do you plan on preventing burnout or becoming overly stressed and burdened by work and responsibilities?

Feedback

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the course, please provide your feedback at the end of your response.