Why It Sucks to Work at a Tech Startup

Turns out working for a tech startup isn't all hanging out with your cool friends and being handed wads of venture capital cash while enjoying all the perks of your awesome office. Lily Hay Newman spoke to anonymous startup workers and presents a list of what she found to be the "six worst things about working at a tech startup," on Slate:

• You work a lot. A lot. One worker notes that the idea of a work-life balance is "actively shunned," and Newman writes that managers typically "measure commitment based on how much time an employee spends at work."
• And for what? You're expected to give it your all, but as one person put it, you could very well be "working very hard for something that has [a] 98% chance of never being a thing."

• Many startup employees struggle with mental health issues. But covering up depression is the norm, workers say, because you don't want to come off as not "strong."
• You're expected to "conform to company culture." Because startups often start as small, tight-knit groups of workers, people who are "likeable," often young, and similar to the current employees are usually the ones who get hired. That's also why women are often not hired—or hired and then bullied or sexually harassed.

Click for the full piece. (More start-up stories.)