Nice idea, but the site itself is clearly copied from https://weworkremotely.com/jobs/new -- even down to the segment headers. The only notable change is setting the font family to monospaced...
Not Just Any Old Geek
31–40 of 305 posts
Re: Not Just Any Old Geek
#32If Jaromir Jagr, at 44 years of age, can play at the highest level of professional hockey in the world, leading his young team in points (and 2nd in goals) last season [1] just imagine what a programmer can do with the same level of focus and determination at that age and beyond. [1] https://www.nhl.com/panthers/stats/regular-season/skaters/p
Isn't the main argument against employing older developers that they won't have that level of focus and determination? Pointing to an statistical anomaly and suggesting that older people can be that focused is easily countered with an argument that, while that's true, it's far more likely that a younger person will have the traits you're looking for, so you should employ them instead. A rare example of a hyper-focuse…
Well it was not meant to be countered, it is meant to be inspirational. Some say a statistical anomaly, others would say a hero.
I do agree with your expanded point, by the way. Would just add that the veterans can bring that and more; the right person can inspire & impact the performance of everybody on the team.
Re: Not Just Any Old Geek
#33Nice idea, but the site itself is clearly copied from https://weworkremotely.com/jobs/new -- even down to the segment headers. The only notable change is setting the font family to monospaced...
They look nothing alike.
The HTML structure is different
The CSS is different.
What limited JS exists is different.
The layout of each list item is different.
The only similarity, is that it is a list of jobs grouped by location and date. But that is a pretty obvious common pattern for a job site and hardly represents plagiarism.
Re: Not Just Any Old Geek
#34I actually love this.
I've never worked in the valley, and honestly I feel no pressing urge to based on what I hear with regards to the bias in favour of twenty-somethings who can work 15+ hour days and live off of ramen.
I'm pushing into my mid-thirties this year, I'm married with two young children, and I simply can't work the kind of hours that I could ten years ago.
The thing is, I didn't do it then either, even when I could. I've always had the mentality that if I'm going to commit to your project, you're going to compensate me in cash or equity. It may also be why I'm happier in my career now that I contract than I ever was before. A days (genuinely hard) work for a days pay.
I simply never understood why someone would give so much of themselves for free in the pursuit of someone else's goals without a substantial slice of the pie. I still don't. And I suspect this is in large part why older developers are looked over (although maybe there's more to it).
Good job on the site, it certainly looks like its getting a lot of traction!
Re: Not Just Any Old Geek
#35How is 35 considered old?
Re: Not Just Any Old Geek
#36How is 35 considered old?
My question exactly. I'm 35 and do not consider myself to be old, far from it.
Re: Not Just Any Old Geek
#37> I’ve published a dozen articles ... build software with thousands of paying customers. ... work on open source Python. ... read almost 40 business books, and I live and breathe HackerNews. Why not start your own business or become CTO? Why work for someone less experienced?
Because not everyone has the skillset or temperament to be a CTO, nor an interest in the work involved?
Because not everyone can stomach the risk involved in entrepreneurship?
Re: Not Just Any Old Geek
#38I actually love this. I've never worked in the valley, and honestly I feel no pressing urge to based on what I hear with regards to the bias in favour of twenty-somethings who can work 15+ hour days and live off of ramen. I'm pushing into my mid-thirties this year, I'm married with two young children, and I simply can't work the kind of hours that I could ten years ago. The thing is, I didn't do it then either, even…
I simply can't work the kind of hours that I could ten years ago.
I find this is true in two ways; not only do I have better things to do now than donate free overtime to my employer, I am far better at not needing to. My best work in recent memory involved reading and thinking and sketching for a day and a half, and then adding six characters and a space to the front of one line of code; a decade ago, there is a real chance I would have ploughed into the problem with rewrites and architecture changes and all sorts of bad ideas.
This does not solve the perennial problem that a less-skilled programmer thrashing away for days appears to be doing a lot more for the company than someone who sits unmoving for a morning and then strokes the code with a feather.
Re: Not Just Any Old Geek
#39(Not that it really matters, but I'm 27...) A few things came to me after reading the post:
Firstly, how this situation shared by the OP and many others is pure insanity. That the very people who grew up with this technology during the baby years are now struggling to have a place now that it really has taken off.
Secondly, for those in their mid-30's and onward, to realize how immensely skilled they likely are at writing (if not already recognizing this fact). One of my favorite parts of staying up to date in this industry is getting to read every and any type of work/post/article from the older guys (still must admit that 37 doesn't feel old to me). Because your time was spent communicating primarily electronically, this skill has spilled over into creative writing and all other forms, which makes for incredibly well-written pieces which keep me going to this very day. So thank you for that.
Thirdly, how amazing it is that a person can now come up with an idea, build out the details and launch the website within 24 hours if truly determined. Loved the website, definitely think that as younger generations start to take advantage of the current tech and build their own on top of it, that there will be a need to differentiate between the various abilities/experience of devs.
Nice work.
Re: Not Just Any Old Geek
#40I got invited to a YC event - meet companies, they pitched - a recruiting event. More than a few pulled the "we work hard, play hard, are a family" card. If you have friends/family, avoid such. Cultural fit is bull shit. It's about getting people to work more at a fixed rate. I've been there, done that, ran away to better things. As someone expected to write code - make sure "operations" isn't a hidden requirement -…
Claiming "we are a family" in a business environment is always a reg flag for me. Team is a much better metaphor. Sports teams back each other up, but ultimately underperformers get dropped. You don't get fired from a family, you don't stop being a brother, sister, father or mother.