68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice • Hacker News Board

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#271

Post by wenc » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 2:51 PM UTC

thomk wrote: post #250

wenc wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try moving to a different field, especially a high-value one where raw intelligence is less important than "street smarts"/intuition/flair. There are many fields where the smartest person in the room doesn't have a Ph.D. or impressive academic/technical credentials. I often try to reinvent myself every couple of years. Moving from technical fields that I'm comfortable with into less technical fields where I'm forced…

Like?

The business-side of things.

Verticals like retail or part of the business that center on customer interaction. Marketing. Understanding funnels etc. Business development. Understanding the metagame that is being played.

The people side of things. Organizing and managing workforces or fleets. Understanding carrots and sticks. Understanding how things can fail in the field and how to quickly organize and execute workarounds. Physical world ops instead of devops.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#272

Post by anthony_r » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 3:53 PM UTC

ashtonkem wrote: post #137

anthony_r wrote: post #100

> Never use a credit card for credit. The only kind of credit, or debt, that is acceptable is debt to acquire something whose exchange value is extremely likely to increase, like in a home. The exchange value of most things diminishes or vanishes the moment you purchase them. Don’t be in debt to losers. While true on credit, I would like to point out that the statement "something whose exchange value is extremely lik…

Owning a home is useful in that you must have somewhere to live, and ownership can reduce your cost of living. That’s separate from the price rising, even stable prices allow you to build equity and lower your CoL. My unpopular opinion is that home prices should fluctuate around inflation, barring sudden changes in local population. The utility of a home is effectively fixed, most of us will never afford two, making…

It's maybe an unpopular opinion but it is the truth - Robert Shiller has gathered a lot of data that confirms it (prices go along with inflation if you don't compensate for maintenance costs - meaning that the actual value depreciates over time). He writes about it extensively in Irrational Exuberance.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#273

Post by projektfu » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 6:25 PM UTC

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #222

projektfu wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry about the other response. It was flippant like yours was, but two wrongs don't make a right. The real issue is that in many industries you don't just walk into a top job with no experience. If I'm hiring a technician, it's going to be someone with experience because in this profession they will have started as a kennel keeper, then moved up to assistant, then started doing more technical work, usually as they a…

I certainly wasn't trying to be flippant. The approach you previously (something like "I need to get people who've already acquired the experience") is very common in the USA today, but less so in e.g. northern European countries. The approach you explicity describe here (the existence of a training/experience pathway) is something that you currently require to exist, but seem less willing to be the provider of. I un…

I see what you're saying. But let's put it a different way. Let's say I need a technician. If I have an existing employee who can move into that role, great, but I'm a small organization, like many others. Otherwise I have to hire one. Some technicians will have no experience as a tech, others will have 1 year experience, others will have more. If I can hire one with more, it's likely a better hire, even at a higher rate. Otherwise I have to hire the inexperienced one. This is where I disagree that aptitude is more important. The experienced tech has probably already demonstrated aptitude. The new grad/career riser's aptitude I'd have to guess based on references and interview. The inexperienced person would not be able to hit the ground running.

In order to have that person ready for the moment they were needed, I would have to have a lot of slack in a very small organization. It'd be a lot different if I were a manager at Siemens needing a new mechanical engineer.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#274

Post by Torwald » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 7:30 PM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #208

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn. Sure would have been nice if they assumed a automiscorrect rather than a nasty comment.

Yeah I never talked to that manager again. They wouldn't return my calls or emails.

That is a form of bullying. She bullied you.

Edit: To clarify. If you just cut the chord to someone, negating any chance of a constructive resolvement of the conflict, than that is bullying. It is not the same as to terminate communication, you can do choose to agree on that.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#275

Post by Torwald » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 7:31 PM UTC

CivBase wrote: post #129

tom-thistime wrote: post #89

Stunningly accurate but greatly exceeds promised 68b limit.

Shame. I was really looking forward to how he would achieve that last half-byte. Maybe 8 ASCII characters and a 4-bit flag for formatting?

that's the sort of thing you would expect from that URL

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#276

Post by glangdale » Fri, May 01, 2020, 2:01 AM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #269

glangdale wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They "make sense", but they aren't really true . They are not such much "overcompressed" as subject to whatever interpretation makes them sensible, but as such, they are dependent more on the good sense of the person unpacking them than on their inherent virtue. So, for example, the "Rule of 7" is a ludicrous exaggeration (by the time you actually go through a chain of 7 people you're talking to a random stranger and…

I am fascinated that you are sure you know more about journalistic research than Wired's founding executive editor, a guy who has written a half-dozen successful books. But I think we get a little closer to the truth about what's going on when you admit that you just really don't like this kind of thing. Which is fine! Nothing's for everybody. But your problem here isn't the article, it's your expectations. Reading t…

You have a point about "journalistic research" (very likely what he means by "research" for obvious reasons) - I am applying my value-smuggling and reading "research" (which is all it said) as either academic or "post-academic" (i.e. the sort of research you might do as a working practitioner with a PhD). A generalist writing for Wired might well be more reasonably expected to take 7 steps (give or take) than someone already practicing in an area.

That being said, you're histrionically exaggerating for no apparent reason. When did I call these "evil" or call for the death of the promulgator? I have never wished death on anyone from Wired, not even for those responsible for the very worst color schemes in the earliest days.

I think it's reasonable to read my response at the same level: "OK, so here are some things you found to be true? Well, fine, here are some things you wrote that I find to be a load of bollocks".

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#277

Post by PaulDavisThe1st » Fri, May 01, 2020, 3:12 AM UTC

projektfu wrote: post #273

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I certainly wasn't trying to be flippant. The approach you previously (something like "I need to get people who've already acquired the experience") is very common in the USA today, but less so in e.g. northern European countries. The approach you explicity describe here (the existence of a training/experience pathway) is something that you currently require to exist, but seem less willing to be the provider of. I un…

I see what you're saying. But let's put it a different way. Let's say I need a technician. If I have an existing employee who can move into that role, great, but I'm a small organization, like many others. Otherwise I have to hire one. Some technicians will have no experience as a tech, others will have 1 year experience, others will have more. If I can hire one with more, it's likely a better hire, even at a higher…

That makes sense as far as it goes. But it also means that you are implicitly relying on the existence of other organizations to train people to a level where you feel you can hire them. That's OK, as long as you don't try to deny this. Why do I think that's important? Because those other organizations are carrying the costs of training for you. Should they want some sort of social payback (of any kind) to reflect this, it seems wise to me that you'd recognize the benefit that you accrue from this sort of thing, and be supportive of it.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#278

Post by luord » Fri, May 01, 2020, 4:35 AM UTC

> Rule of 3 in conversation. To get to the real reason, ask a person to go deeper than what they just said. Then again, and once more. The third time’s answer is close to the truth.

This is one where I see how it can be very helpful, but I don't have the first clue on how to go about it. Simply asking to "go deeper" is often met with a "what?"

> Before you are old, attend as many funerals as you can bear, and listen. Nobody talks about the departed’s achievements. The only thing people will remember is what kind of person you were while you were achieving.

This one might be true for funerals, but definitely not for obituaries.

> Art is in what you leave out.

As an aspiring writer of fiction, this was the only one I could not understand at all, yet really, really wish I did.

> You really don’t want to be famous. Read the biography of any famous person.

True, but I believe there's a difference between "fame" and "distinction". Striving for the latter might not be all that bad.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#279

Post by prawn » Fri, May 01, 2020, 6:33 AM UTC

jstanley wrote: post #71

> Pros are just amateurs who know how to gracefully recover from their mistakes. This is very true. Last year I saw a motorcycle stunt display in the Isle of Man. It was all very impressive, and the chap had extremely good control of the bike, but the time that his skill was most apparent was when he had the rear wheel of the bike on a car bonnet and it started sliding off to one side. I thought he was for sure going…

Another look at that stuntman might've been if he did botch it and fall, how he'd play that to the crowd. A professional performer would handle that better than someone falling and entering a panic.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#280

Post by Torwald » Fri, May 01, 2020, 7:22 AM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #46

> The purpose of a habit is to remove that action from self-negotiation. This is very powerful. Reminds me of the "system 1 vs system 2" discussion, and some descriptions of e.g. ADHD and depression causing what could be described as "failure to terminate in self-negotiation".

scheduling also works for that. (if you keep your schedule)