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Thank HN: From Google form to $1k in revenue in one month

blog.oldgeekjobs.com

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Re: Thank HN: From Google form to $1k in revenue in one month

#211

Post by baytrailcat »

emodendroket wrote: post #192
Annatar wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I'm not clear on what you mean: they think that the old guy will write the specification and architect everything, or they think he will hack stuff together with them?

I think the implication is they think he'll be a slow-moving dinosaur before they even talk to him.

Having been on both sides of the table, I can attest to it. When I was a young developer interviewing more experienced developers, I would foresee the hassle of arguing with him on everything day to day and that would instantly give negative weight to his candidacy. The irony is that I realized I had this subconscious bias only after I got older. On the other hand, when an older guy is getting interviewed by a potential peer, he should do everything in his power to appear coachable (gasp!) and flexible. The situation may be slightly different if you are being interviewed by a mid-level exec or a senior manager for a senior role in the team.

Re: Thank HN: From Google form to $1k in revenue in one month

#212

Post by life_is_short »

stevesearer wrote: post #40
life_is_short wrote: post #36

I found a bug. Job postings aren't sorted by date correctly. For example https://oldgeekjobs.com/jobs/California?page=2 shows jobs posted '2 days ago' while the front page shows jobs posted '30 days ago'.

It looks like it may be listing 'Old Geek Jobs' posts first and then the backfilled job posts from StackOverflow second.

Yeah, probably.

Now I wonder which of the job posts are 'Old Geek Jobs', for old geeks, and which are not.

Re: Thank HN: From Google form to $1k in revenue in one month

#213

Post by triangleman »

alpeb wrote: post #204
rsp1984 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. Can you explain why that is and why DO is more secure?

DO is VPS, so there's not the slightest chance for tenants in the same machine to see or modify stuff from other tenants (besides attacks through the network); also you have a guarantee on the amount of CPU and memory allotted to you. The best kind of shared hosting only relies on unix user permissions for security and that's not enough, plus you don't get the CPU and memory guarantees VPS offers.

I actually had a DO instance hacked, via Wordpress exploit. I guess I wasn't keeping my Wordpress up to date, or not running a security plugin I didn't know I needed. Had to shut the whole thing down, start up a new droplet, reload the website from backup.

Meanwhile my WP sites on DreamHost are happily humming along, automatically upgraded, any problems are promptly attended to by their support team. $12/month, unlimited sites/storage/bandwidth. I do not work for DreamHost.

Re: Thank HN: From Google form to $1k in revenue in one month

#214

Post by billmalarky »

_joel wrote: post #157
billmalarky wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, DO is cloud. The instances are virtual and can be resized dynamically.

Not sure I follow that ontology as that doesn't necessarily make something a cloud. API's to interact with the ecosystem make it more like a cloud. Whilst I understand DO have API's, just saying the machine can be dynamically resized doesn't justify the cloud tag. Cloud doesn't need to be virtual, either.

To me, I think of cloud as a business term that describes infrastructure that can be easily manipulated with software (or dashboards). That's what DO provides albeit with WAY less functionality than AWS (but at a much lower price point).

Re: Thank HN: From Google form to $1k in revenue in one month

#215

Post by tdb7893 »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #206
chillydawg wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really is not a waste. It's a) cheap and b) can improve morale in companies.

It can but there's some downsides. Not everyone likes drinking beers and parties with coworkers. For those people it does the opposite of improve morale. The best way to improve morale is ample vacation time and good work-life balance.

That's something I learned while interviewing at tech companies. They all have tons of perks but when I talked with the employees 2/3 of the people I talked to (I actually counted) complained about work/life balance at some time. I would rather work a sane amount of hours a week and have more vacation than have a rock-climbing coffee bar at work or whatever the perks are now.

Re: Thank HN: From Google form to $1k in revenue in one month

#216

Post by ikeboy »

jmickey wrote: post #108
ikeboy wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now that I think about it, I've seen a bunch of complaints on HN about Amazon having fake goods for sale (most recently https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12743316 , but it comes up pretty much every time there's an article remotely related to Amazon). Maybe I should mention something about how we're only sourcing from legitimate suppliers like retailers or direct from manufacturers, which might alleviate that issu…

I think it would be useful to give examples on how or where you your site finds an item at a price that I, presumably, was not able to find? It sounds sketchy. :) Also not sure if the whole workflow of your clients providing prices for items and then hoping your site delivers will work. How do I know the price I provided is realistic at all? If you already have the capability to find items cheaply, just list those it…

Thanks for the feedback.

>I think it would be useful to give examples on how or where you your site finds an item at a price that I, presumably, was not able to find?

Right now I'd be checking other retailers, other price comparison sites, some tools, plus using a handful of tricks to save off the posted price. It's deal-finding-as-a-service.

I want the flexibility to be able to source differently later; e.g. if there's a lot of demand for one brand I might get direct from the manufacturer, or wholesale, etc. You as the customer should be agnostic as to where I get the product from, as long as it's the right price.

>Also not sure if the whole workflow of your clients providing prices for items and then hoping your site delivers will work. How do I know the price I provided is realistic at all?

I don't know either. I believe I'll be able to fulfill a significant portion of orders, but I won't know that until a bunch of orders come in.

If you a put in a price within a few percent of retail, there's a good chance we'll be able to meet it.

Also, I'm not charging tax out of NY, and most states have a dropship sales tax loophole. That means you could save 3-4% off the Amazon+tax price on most items even if I don't find a deal.

>If you already have the capability to find items cheaply, just list those items on your website and let people purchase them :)

Well, I've sold through Amazon and other channels and have had over 100k in sales, all from being able to find items cheap enough to resell. But to launch a website to sell you either need a narrow niche (which prevents mass appeal), or a huge investment to list many products (or big partnerships with sellers with lots of products). Allowing the customer to name the product lets me not worry about product pages, and I do think the Name Your Own Price mechanism is beneficial to all parties (priceline is valued at $73 billion because they brought a ton of value to users).

Eventually I'm going to want to open up to sellers/retailers, but even without that I think I can add value.

Re: Thank HN: From Google form to $1k in revenue in one month

#217

Post by Kiro »

emodendroket wrote: post #189
Kiro wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that's one of the reasons I don't use an ad blocker. Not even uBlock Origin, which receives all the praise, is reliable in that sense. I don't understand the crusade against people not using ad blockers by the way. I believe I have good reasons not to. Why do people seem to have a problem with that?

What "crusade?" I don't care if other people don't use ad blockers; in fact, it's probably to my benefit.

I was getting downvoted before adding the second paragraph and it always happens when I say similar things.

Re: Thank HN: From Google form to $1k in revenue in one month

#218

Post by jstanley »

pc86 wrote: post #209
goatherders wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I usually decline to interview people that ask my recruiter too early about salary. We work hard to post very clear job descriptions and requirements so if you read it and apply and get through the initial screening, then that's a pretty good indicator that we are in range on salary even if we've never discussed it.

> if you...get through the initial screening, then that's a pretty good indicator that we are in range on salary even if we've never discussed it. What possible evidence could you have that shows that to be the case?

Maybe the initial screening is designed to weed out people who are good, so that the only people who pass screening are not worth very much money.

Re: Thank HN: From Google form to $1k in revenue in one month

#219

Post by johnwheeler »

b212 wrote: post #135

Can you do another good deed and require your posters to include salary range in their job ads? It's the norm in the UK and we successfully forced this in Poland (though posters almost NEVER post salaries here). How? The companies need IT staff so much that almost all IT job boards (at least the most popular ones - like FB groups or https://nofluffjobs.com ) started requiring the salary range. I think your idea is pr…

No. A salary range requirement isn't customary in the U.S., and I'm in no position to enforce one at such an early stage.

I'll make it an option though, and I'll include the salary data that StackOverflow ads make available when they do. I definitely prefer seeing a salary range when I look for jobs.

>> I'd never ever create a website like this with hidden salaries. ...what if they do so, because they're offering 10, 20, 40% less because it's a place for "old geeks that noone wants"?

In my experience, the risk of wage exploitation decreases with age. Unfortunately, a lot of younger workers are paid lower than less skilled, but older workers simply because of lack of seniority and/or negotiating skills.

But, I must say such "what ifs" are silly in business. What if your anticipation of a nonexistent problem is the cause of your inaction?

I'm not being snarky so much as serious. I've been in a number of meetings where I had to cede to someone's "what if" when the alternative was a cheap and measurable test. Cheap and measurable tests are the primary thrust of my blog post.

Re: Thank HN: From Google form to $1k in revenue in one month

#220

Post by mgkimsal »

z3t4 wrote: post #127
mgkimsal wrote: post #28

I wish folks like Bray had championed this cause 20 years ago. It may not have done much, but... it feels a bit weird to hear old people complain about discriminatory impact. I can't say he was a contributing factor to the ongoing 'youth culture', but... it wasn't hard to see this coming. My situation may be somewhat unique, in that I've had grey hair since I was 18. Not a HUGE amount at 18, but... people noticed. By…

It's just as annoying to have the opposite problem, where you will be dismissed right away, despite having twenty years of experience in the field.

not having the problem, it's hard to empathize, but I'll take your word for it :)
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