Ask HN: Tired of startups – want a normal job. Help

All but the first few years out of school I spent the better part of my 20's working in startups. I've networked well enough, had some ups and some downs. Initially just working for startups as an IC eventually moving into product / technical product and later actually founding / co-founding two companies.

One fizzled out, the other was acquired in a way I sort of made money.

Recently the market has been a bit of a mess and although I took a break to avoid burnout I'm realizing startups (at least with my level of ability and intelligence) are likely just not a great way to make money.

I'm newly 30 and starting to realize I kind of just want a life and a reasonable tech salary. Nothing insane, just something that could support me in a b-tier city with my own place where I have enough time to actually have a girlfriend and well... a normal life.

I'm freaking out because the market is beyond fucked and it seems like my only real choice if I want to "grow" as an engineer / product guy is founding another company. Fortunately I got into some solid accelerators in the valley with a friend from a few years back. It feels good, but at the same time, I feel old and just want a normal job. Even shooting around what new college grads are getting would be fine ($120-140k). I feel like a freaking loser given my age and my relative career stagnation / my inability to actually turn my mildly above average skills into any real money.

Last time I interviewed, my litany of previous startups seemed to totally kneecap my chances of getting return callbacks led alone offers. Any advice where I should look next - I feel like between AI and offshoring I might just need to do something else all-together.

Any advice here is appreciated :)

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43122800

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https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43122800