Like the guy said, he lost a job. Nothing more.
A developer from a company that was bought for >$200 million surely won't have a problem finding a job somewhere else if he wants (not to mention he also worked for Blizzard). He deserves all the respects for not letting himself be carried away, and making a decision with his heart. That's something you don't see often nowadays.
Exactly. The headline is wildly misleading - he didn't opt out of the buy-out, his small equity stake was bought. The value of the buy-out is irrelevant, and it's unlikely that the offer he got was off-the-charts above what he could get somewhere else - He said it was a standard offer, so most likely it was what he made before + n%.
I also feel that the article was very well written and set an excellent tone in discussing the decision, with respect for the other party, with no personal attacks or other techniques trying to elicit an emotional response.
It came across as very professional to me.
The argument given was also understandable and deserving of my respect.
Was he really using 100% heart here or capitalizing on the gravity of the situation to slingshot himself in to the limelight and boost his app sales and reputation? That's the feeling I got from this post at least.
Surely there were other developers who had "side projects" they really loved who happily went with Zynga. I really have to question why this guy was the _only_ one who didn't jump ship. Sure you can write a post claiming to be the white knight and not another corporate zombie like the rest, but that's very rarely the case.
I see this as a power play. Instead of being a "Zynga acquisition", I think he saw it as much more beneficial to be the David vs. Goliath. Good for him, I guess.
This seems like an exceptionally cynical perspective. While I don't suggest we should ever stop questioning things or explore what possible motivations could be involved, I'd love to see less of this automatically accusing people of having perceptually negative motivations that don't have any empirical evidence to support them.
He seems to be pretty clear that he heavily debated the idea with himself and ultimately realized that his long term beef with the way he understands Zynga to operate doesn't work for him. The rejection of his addendum seemed like it was just icing on the cake. He deserves the praise he's getting for being honest with himself and the reader, not accused of making a "power play" just because you, or anyone else, can't rationalize the decision any other way. This is the kind of reaction that keeps us from having nice things.
It read to me as a bit of both. He had reservations (who wouldn't) but he'd also already had the taste for working for himself.
So he's simultaneously got a reminder that his own work is important to him, a bit of breathing room from his chunk of the buyout and an opportunity to start off with a bit of a "bang" PR-wise.
You have my respect, Shay Pierce.