Ask HN：当你的初创公司业务萎缩时，你是如何应对的？
6 分•作者: jasonephraim•21 天前
这种情况我经历过两次了，我想知道这是否是我能摆脱的困境，还是这就是创业公司的本质——或者别的什么。在我担任技术主管的初创公司里，似乎总会出现一种情况，导致投资枯竭。两次都是，事情看起来进展顺利，但两年后，由于我/产品无法控制的因素，就会出现一轮轮的裁员，结果都一样。我最终成了最后一个技术通才。我需要尽可能多地编写代码，管理（如果还有的话）我部门的工程师，基本上独自承担支持工作，负责大部分产品路线图，与客户就支持和实施进行沟通，与集成合作伙伴合作，以及随着新事物落到精简的团队头上，责任清单还在不断扩大。我能很快掌握新的领域（金融、保险、合规），并且能很好地切换上下文。我一直都是那个“搞定一切”的人——一个能承担责任并将其完成的人。但是，我没有得到奖励，反而只是保住了工作，同时承担了那些不幸同事的工作。
在这些收缩时期，工作量从未减少。客户、集成、支持量都一样（目前是这样）。我注意到的另一件事是，审查力度反而增加了，而不是减少了。我认为一个很大的因素是创始人或高管会更积极地参与进来，或者试图填补空缺。这会引起各种各样的问题。
在上一轮裁员后，公司给我提供了一个修改后的职位和职位描述，重点是管理现在基本上只剩下我一个人的部门，而一年前这个部门还有六个人。其中充满了“领导团队达成目标”之类的职责。我确实有点想接受，因为这正是我当初被聘用的那种角色，而且以后找工作也会有帮助。但无论如何，我无法接受，因为我基本上就是这个团队。这感觉像个陷阱（或者至少是愿望成真，但一次又一次地被证明是徒劳的，因为我无法控制的因素）。
我也可以直接离开，但就业市场和经济看起来非常糟糕。上次我花了八个月才找到一份工作。这主要是因为我的经验和背景。我曾涉足工程、产品、支持、销售、客户成功、集成和用户沟通。我看起来像一个什么都能做/做过的人，但这反而会让人觉得我什么都没真正拥有。事实上，随着事情的发展，我拥有了太多太多的东西。
有三件事我想仔细思考，并希望得到一些帮助：
1. 这仅仅是公司的问题和我的运气不好吗？我选择的初创公司所在的行业或提供的产品是否容易受到风险投资趋势和炒作的影响？这两家公司看起来都是很好的机会，我完全理解总有风险——但目前/过去的结果，就我所扮演的角色和裁员后的处境而言，令人惊讶地一致。
2. 我应该坚持立场吗？我有一个习惯，就是试图解决问题并想办法。在上一次收缩期间，我曾向公司总裁提出，希望坐下来审视我们团队的职责和正在使用/销售的项目，看看哪些是必不可少的，哪些可以被覆盖等等。但这一切都没有发生——我是否应该更坚定地要求，而不是默默地承担？
3. 抛开公司不谈，我是否应该拥抱这个角色并尝试发展它？我是否应该接受自己是一个了不起的通才，“万金油，但样样不精通”，并使其成为一个更明确的角色/职业？我知道需要这样的人，但没有公司能真正为他们制定职位描述。我看到人工智能正在帮助弥补我无法投入时间去发展的越来越多的空白。我也有足够的经验和知识知道人工智能是一个工具，需要密切指导并在专注/合适的领域应用。（举个例子——我花了过去两个小时阻止它在我们 Go 的黄金测试框架中失控，因为它想忽略我们的测试模式）。
我很想知道其他人是否在初创公司遇到过类似的问题。另外，是否有其他像我这样的“红法师”技术人员，因为被要求负责的领域太广泛而难以在就业市场上找到工作？
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The same general situation has happened to me twice now and I am wondering if it’s something I can break free from or if it’s just the nature of the Startup beast - or what. There seems to be some kind of bubble that starts drying up investment in a startup where I am a technical lead. Both times, things seem to be going well and then 2 years in there are rounds of layoffs due to factors outside my/product’s control where the result is the same. I end up as the last tech generalist. It falls to me to write as much of the code as I can, manage (if any are left) engineers in my department, running support basically on my own, owning a large part of the product roadmap, working with the customers on support and implementations, working with integration partners, plus a slowly expanding list of responsibilities as new stuff falls on reduced teams. I pick up new domains pretty quick (finance, insurance, compliance), switch contexts well. I’ve always been the person who just figures it out - someone who takes ownership of something and just does it. But, instead of being rewarded, I just get to keep my job while absorbing the work of others less fortunate.<p>During these contractions, the work never shrinks. Same clients, same integrations, same support volume (for now). Something else I’ve noticed is the scrutiny goes up - not down. I think a big factor is you have founders and upper managers stepping in to be more engaged or attempting to cover gaps. This causes all sorts of issues.<p>After this last round of cuts, the company offered me a revised title and job description that focused on managing the department that now was essentially just me down from 6 a year ago. It was full of responsibilities like “leading team to meet targets”. I did kind of want to accept it since it is the sort of role I was hired for and would help in a job search later. Regardless, I couldn’t because I am basically the team. It felt like a trap (or at least, wishful thinking that has been proven as much time and time again due to factors beyond my control.)<p>I could just leave, but the job market and economy look scary as hell. It took me 8 months to find a role last time. This is primarily due to my experience and background. I’ve been involved in engineering, product, support, sales, customer success, integrations and user comms. I look like someone who could/did do everything but that comes off as someone who owned nothing. The reality is I owned way way too much as things evolved.<p>Three things I am trying to think through and could use some help with:<p>1. Is it just the companies and bad luck? Am I picking startups in industries or with offerings that are just vulnerable to VC trends and hype? They both seemed like great opportunities, and I completely understand there is always risk - but the current/former result as it pertains to my role and situation once cuts were made is surprisingly identical.<p>2. Should I stand my ground? I have a habit of trying to work things out and get scrappy. During the last contraction, I spoke out to the president of the company that I wanted to sit down and look at our team’s responsibilities and projects that were being used/sold and see what was essential, could be covered, etc. That never happened - should I have been more firm and demanded it versus just absorbing it?<p>3. Ignoring the company, should I lean into the role and try to develop it? Should I accept I am an amazing generalist “jack of all trades, but master of none” and make it a more deliberate role/career? I know these sort of people are needed, but no company can really put out a role description for them. I’m seeing AI helps cover a growing amount of the gaps that I can’t dedicate the time to developing. I also have enough experience and knowledge to know AI is a tool and needs to be closely guided and applied in focused/appropriate areas. (Case in point - I’ve spent the last two hours fighting it from going off the rails in our Go golden test framework because it wants to ignore our test patterns).<p>I’m curious if others out there have found similar issues with Startups. Also, if there are other “Red Mage” technical folks that have a hard time in the job market because they’ve been asked to cover such wide areas?