Abrash on Valve: How I Got Here, What It's Like, and What I'm Doing
Preface: Valve is one of those companys I admire and wish I could buy stock in them.<p>Saying that, Its too bad they have said they will never go public/sell. Working there would be even more awesome if you knew there was a possibility to become a millionaire before working there for 20-30 years or getting lucky and advancing up the corporate ladder to where you could make 200k+ a year.<p>I wonder if facebook would have been such a hot place to work at if zuck said right at the start he would never go public and never sell the company.<p>Its obviously in a startup guys DNA to look at day jobs and retirement plans in disgust ( we are all trying to make tons of money now, right? ). I accept that type of thing is fine for most people and thats cool with me. I could personally never work for a company knowing that the most I can hope for is a higher salary though. (Unless you climb to the truly top of the ladder, where bonuses and whatnot await you). Working at valve, I wonder if there is going to be any stories of chefs/masseuse's who become millionaires because they took the risk early on. Probably not.<p>Again, not that there is anything wrong with that. Valve is never claiming to be a startup. Just saying, I wish they were.