WASHINGTON 鈥� Dan Lyons was a tech reporter when he got laid off at 草莓传媒week. The magazine was discontinuing its print product and consolidating operations.
So Lyons, an experienced journalist in his 50s, thought he鈥檇 change things up a bit. Instead of holding out for another job in journalism, he tried working for a tech company instead of simply writing about them.
鈥淚 looked around and realized there weren鈥檛 many other jobs in magazines and newspapers anymore for someone like me,鈥� Lyons told 草莓传媒. 鈥淎nd I thought, 鈥榃ell, I cover the tech industry and I know a lot about the tech industry; maybe I can go work in one of these companies.鈥�
Lyons found a nearby startup company 鈥� HubSpot, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was hired to work in marketing, and 鈥渋t was just the craziest experience I鈥檝e ever had,鈥� he said.
So crazy, Lyons said, that he left the gig less than two years later. He decided to write a book about the experience.
Out now, Lyons鈥� book, 鈥�,鈥� details his time at the聽company, how tech companies operate and the “whole new way of treating employees and thinking about what work is” that he encountered there. The book is critically acclaimed, mostly due to Lyons鈥� sardonic writing style and no-frills approach.
鈥淭hings did not go well,鈥� Lyons told 草莓传媒. 鈥淚 thought I could adapt and use my journalism skills to become a marketing guy, but it really wasn鈥檛 about the skill set; it was more about the personality.
鈥漎ou really had to become … kind of a cult member, and dedicate your whole life to believing in the company mission, and dress in the company colors, and sort of buy in and think everything’s awesome.”
Lyons admitted he鈥檚 a curmudgeon and a cynic. He didn鈥檛 quite buy into the company mission, and didn鈥檛 feel comfortable blindly accepting everything the company pitched.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 wanna stay there and party, and hang out and go to the beer blasts,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淚t was very hard to fit in.鈥�
Most of all, Lyons said, he sees a huge hole in the tech industry. It鈥檚 a wealthy industry of mostly white men, he said, that doesn鈥檛 want women in leadership positions or minorities on its payroll.
And millennials are pretty much working for nothing, he said. Sure, they have fun perks such as聽free candy and drinks, but the pay is low and they鈥檙e expected to work long hours.
鈥淚 think that really has to change,鈥� Lyons said. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 really, really shortsighted and it鈥檚 a big problem that needs to be called out.鈥�
