The most expensive lottery ticket in the world
"engineers are invariably happier when they’re working for a big company"I stopped reading right there* .  I've worked for a few big companies, a small lifestyle company, and a few startups, and I'm invariably happiest at a small company.Financially, the book may be right: I'm not going to get rich as a startup employee, and I'll probably fail if I start my own.  However, the thing I do for more than half my waking hours for the duration of my working life is something I enjoy.  I get up reasonably interested in going to work, and go home feeling like I'm building something.You can phrase it cynically if you want.  You can say I'm deluded; that I'm building someone else's dream; that I could be making more money doing something else.But I enjoy what I do, and I make enough money to support myself, so don't tell me I'd invariably be happier at a big company.  I've been down that road, and it's the only time since middle school I ever considered not being a programmer.* Ok, so I actually continued reading, but you get the point.