Many of the &quot;mysterious&quot; deaths that hit people under 50 in this field are, in fact, suicides.<p>Programmers don&#x27;t seem to have a higher rate than anyone else, although there is a lot of burnout due to aggressive cultures. Founders have a very high suicide rate, and the worst thing about it is that it tends to be the few decent founders (not the douchebags in the tech press) who pop off.<p>The problem is that VCs all talk to each other and decide who to fund, so if you fall out with that crowd, you don&#x27;t get another startup and your career is ruined. Consequently, a lot of founders get driven to take obscene risks with their companies (that they wouldn&#x27;t take if they hadn&#x27;t given up control) and get hit on the downside (lots of work, no payoff).