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I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

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Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#61

Post by turk73 »

buzzkillington wrote: post #32

>Even my programming has taken a toll even though I do it every day. I find myself abstaining from studying advanced topics in programming and computer science, and instead sticking to this comfort zone of what I know. I contemplate blaming this last issue on the fact that Silicon Valley is quietly cutthroat; you need to be the best at what you do in order to land jobs at e.g. Google. If I stay in my comfort zone, I…

How old are you? I will caution you that such strategies only favor the young, under 40. Over 40 watch out. I have said in other discussions, over 50, better have another whole plan in place.

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#62

Post by knzhou »

The author says he's clever, and I believe him. It's easy to believe, because I've heard this story a hundred times before.

I grew up with lots of clever people, met through math and science competitions and camps. Easily 80% of them, maybe 90%, have gone off to FAANG, investment banks, or consulting firms, and had the exact same fate. Nothing was stopping them from continuing to tinker with ideas. None of them would have gone hungry that way. They made a choice -- a perfectly fine, rational one -- but let no one say the result was surprising.

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#63

Post by flancian »

newshorts wrote: post #58
closeparen wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find I have a pretty stable need for a certain amount of unfocused, low-energy time. Social media and other "junk food" activities are just ways to fill it. They can and should be replaced by more effective forms of rest (meditation, sleep, walking, etc) but intellectual work just isn't happening in that state. Or if it does, it leads to a harder crash later. I have to roll my eyes a little at the "produce X% more…

The most effective form of “rest” I’ve found is 10 minutes of boredom before bed. I don’t meditate, I let my mind wander and don’t judge anything. The only rule is I’m not allowed to physically move, I find a comfortable position and must remain in that position for 10 minutes. It’s excruciating at first, but about 5 minutes in my mind has processes whatever it had stored up and I’m tired. About 8 minutes in I’m shut…

I'm glad that you found something that works for you!

FWIW, that description seems compatible with meditation technique. Meditation can be non judgmental in that way, and just be a matter of experiencing the state of your mind.

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#64

Post by timwaagh »

reikonomusha wrote: post #34

It’s always a little bit risky to write something personal that will inevitably come across as something other than humble. Especially when it’s also mixed with something that comes across very first-world-problemy. Mind you that showing that one can do a little bit of calculus isn’t a testament to being a genius or anything like that. The examples the story describes might as well be equivalent to something more obv…

I tried replying to your article. Since I now notice it's been six years, I wonder whether you did anything with this?

I don't think professional mathematicians would say you shouldn't pursue it. The opposite, actually. If people like myself who never practiced it in their own time can get degrees in it, so could you. You don't need to be any kind of genius.

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#65

Post by tygertgr »

reikonomusha wrote: post #34

It’s always a little bit risky to write something personal that will inevitably come across as something other than humble. Especially when it’s also mixed with something that comes across very first-world-problemy. Mind you that showing that one can do a little bit of calculus isn’t a testament to being a genius or anything like that. The examples the story describes might as well be equivalent to something more obv…

Aristotle articulated all this stuff much better and in far fewer words 2300 years ago in his writings on work and leisure.

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#66

Post by tygertgr »

tygertgr wrote: post #65
reikonomusha wrote: post #34

It’s always a little bit risky to write something personal that will inevitably come across as something other than humble. Especially when it’s also mixed with something that comes across very first-world-problemy. Mind you that showing that one can do a little bit of calculus isn’t a testament to being a genius or anything like that. The examples the story describes might as well be equivalent to something more obv…

Aristotle articulated all this stuff much better and in far fewer words 2300 years ago in his writings on work and leisure.

One of his (and plato's) conclusions was roughly that excellence is not really possible without slavery facilitating. Some needed to be freed from stress of toil by laborers. It's very sad this fellow's father couldn't fund his further development.

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#67

Post by rustybolt »

Thanks for writing and sharing. This articulates a lot of the feelings I have about work as well, and it's put more eloquently than I am able to. It's only now that I appreciate my time at university, where I would actually learn things that interest me, and have a lot of free time as well. If I wanted to try something new, e.g. reverse engineering, I could pick up a solid basis in some weeks (or months). I now have an ever-growing list of projects that I just don't have the time for. The scary thing is that the longer I wait, the more I lose motivation to work on these things.

It also seems related to mathematics and computer science as a hobby. If I want to go running, I can do so in an hour and be done with it. With mathematics or programming, I need a couple of hours before I start being productive. Most people who don't do math or programming don't understand this. They frown when I don't make any noteworthy progress in one or two hours, and when I try to work on something I keep getting interrupted which is detrimental to my productivity. I talked to my girlfriend about the long list of projects I still wanted to do (work on programming languages, operating systems, compilers, assemblers, FPGA's, memory controllers, reading/learning math stuff, and writing). A weekend later she asked me something along the lines of "Well, you've had the whole sunday morning to work on these things; Did you manage to cross some things of your list?". I mentioned that these are not one-day projects, but I won't be surprised if she'll ask again after christmas.

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#68

Post by neuronic »

bluetwo wrote: post #51
reikonomusha wrote: post #34

It’s always a little bit risky to write something personal that will inevitably come across as something other than humble. Especially when it’s also mixed with something that comes across very first-world-problemy. Mind you that showing that one can do a little bit of calculus isn’t a testament to being a genius or anything like that. The examples the story describes might as well be equivalent to something more obv…

Thanks for sharing. I stared in horror at the following: "Here in Silicon Valley, it’s even worse. I have an aesthetically nicer place, but I now don’t even have a desk or desktop machine. I type from a small laptop on my couch, being held up by a pillow. I have no room for a chalkboard or whiteboard, unless I wanted to cover up half of my mirrored closet." I am an east-coast developer and am totally spoiled with my…

I am a German developer with a German developer salary (between 60k€ and 70k€ to provide a ballpark estimate) and I live in the center of a large, well-known German city.

The area is extremely nice except for parking and I live in a ~70sqm modernized apartment with my own home office and enough room for tech gadgets, a large couch, a large bed and a balcony... etc.

In the evening, restaurants, bars, cinema and nice parks are Aside from Apple and depending on what you want, all major Silicon Valley firms provide jobs in at least one of the larger German cities, notably Munich though.

I honestly do not understand why people are drawn to Silicon Valley so much - unless it's simply about the "environment of minds" if you are willing to sacrifice all other aspects of life to it to some degree (worse living situation, worse working conditions...). For innovation and startup life, I suppose it makes sense. But for a normal software engineer?

Can somebody explain this to me?

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#69

Post by rusticpenn »

neuronic wrote: post #68
bluetwo wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for sharing. I stared in horror at the following: "Here in Silicon Valley, it’s even worse. I have an aesthetically nicer place, but I now don’t even have a desk or desktop machine. I type from a small laptop on my couch, being held up by a pillow. I have no room for a chalkboard or whiteboard, unless I wanted to cover up half of my mirrored closet." I am an east-coast developer and am totally spoiled with my…

I am a German developer with a German developer salary (between 60k€ and 70k€ to provide a ballpark estimate) and I live in the center of a large, well-known German city. The area is extremely nice except for parking and I live in a ~70sqm modernized apartment with my own home office and enough room for tech gadgets, a large couch, a large bed and a balcony... etc. In the evening, restaurants, bars, cinema and nice p…

70k might be fine for a single person in munich, but when you have a family (single earner), does it work?

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#70

Post by neuronic »

ldd wrote: post #59
calderarrow wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is excellent advice which has even been echoed by Warren Buffet [0]. Time is a finite resource and therefore everything we do is a trade-off between depth and breadth. In a given day, you could spend 1 hour learning 24 subjects, or 24 hours learning 1 subject. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but it's a constraint we all operate around. Learning 24 subjects may be interesting and fulfilling to some,…

> For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons. ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Gui…

This resonates well with me. I honestly do not understand the benefit of dropping video games in favor of , for example reading. Alternate / do both if you enjoy it!

Before you recoil in disgust, let me note that I have read many many books and love reading. I value literature a lot but when it comes down to what I do in life and what things REALLY REALLY give me in the end, then books don't perform better than a range of selected video games (to my own gusto). In then end, a book doesn't propel to new positions more than a game does, unless it'sa book meant to teach me new technology or so.

It's simply another form of media, another form of story telling and conveying experiences. And while I enjoyed "Marc Aurel's Meditations" and took a lot of benefit out of it, Persona 5 also provided me with some good, memorable experiences that make me rethink life. Even just the "Take your time" loading screen spinner... If I put them on a scale it's simply even for me in value.

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