No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees • Hacker News Board

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#491

Post by thordenmark » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 7:49 PM UTC

cambalache wrote: post #268

thordenmark wrote: post #234

Gumroad should have been Patreon. Sahil Lavingia is so much more respectful of creators than Jack Conte.

Why is that?, genuine question

You can watch the episode of JRE to see the contempt Jack Conte has for creators. For example banning people because just because he disagrees with them, not because they violated any terms of service on the platform.

Also, Patreon is sorely lacking in utility for users, so many missed opportunities for social networking, functionality, and usability.

Everything I've ever read or seen by Sahil Lavingia has shown his dedication to fostering creatives.

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#492

Post by quickthrower2 » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 7:53 PM UTC

capableweb wrote: post #441

ElFitz wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then you’d also be able to afford spending it helping your community and giving some to local or non-local charities Heck; I’ve always thought that the first thing I’d do after winning the lottery would be paying off my parents’ mortgage ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (disclaimer: haven’t won yet)

Indeed I could, but I much rather hire two co-workers and cut my salary is three pieces and give them one piece each, if it would come to that. Life's more than money and people jump on the chance to do something they find is meaningful.

You might feel that way but remember how much profit tech companies make. I know of small companies that make millions in profit and don't pay their staff even competitive rates. Diverting a bit more of that profit into someones salary seems fine to me. The example here is Gumroad which is very profitable.

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#493

Post by Abimelex » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 8:27 PM UTC

callmeed wrote: post #280

philipkiely wrote: post #15

I work at Gumroad, mentioned in this article. Sometimes, I read things by CEOs about how a company works on the inside and I wonder if it really looks like that, or if it is a view from the top that doesn't reflect what it's really like. This article, with its discussions of the upsides and downsides, is accurate to my experience and my understanding of other people's experiences. For many people, Gumroad wouldn't be…

> I make more than enough to afford proper health insurance on the open market. Everyone at Gumroad is paid very well and should be able to afford the same. This might be true for everyone at Gumroad , but I wouldn't be so sure. You also seem dismissive (probably unintentionally) of one of the biggest problems we have in the US right now: health care and insurance is ridiculously expensive–especially for people with…

10% is really low. In Germany it's min 14% and you don't have a choice to opt out. Everybody needs to pay this.

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#494

Post by redisman » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 10:32 PM UTC

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #313

biztos wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak for the OP but, since you are a contractor and not an employee, wouldn't you get your health insurance in exactly the same place as all the other independent contractors do in your country? [Edit to clarify because this is being downvoted: many countries require that independent contractors buy private health insurance. Germany, where I live, requires it. As I understand it the situation is similar, for…

In the US, you can buy medical insurance from the same mega corps that offer it through Fortune 500 companies... its just not subsidized by your employer so you pay larger premiums.

You pay the whole premium more like. The plans in the state exchanges are pretty decent at least in WA. Gold level plans are about equal to a decent average company plan (not like a Google level one)

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#495

Post by jsjohnst » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 10:48 PM UTC

skissane wrote: post #393

bash-j wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Food is more expensive in Australia and serving sizes are smaller.

A related factor: US sugar subsidies make sugar expensive, so a lot of manufactured foods in the US contain High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) instead. On a kilojoule-for-kilojoule basis, excessive intake of HFCS is a lot more harmful to health than excessive intake of sugar is. By contrast, Australia has a long history of being anti-agriculture subsidies, and fewer foods here include HFCS (most of those that do are imp…

> excessive intake of HFCS is a lot more harmful to health than excessive intake of sugar is

That's mostly an inaccurate myth that has persisted for decades. Despite the "High Fructose" part of the name HFCS, the balance of fructose and sucrose in HFCS is roughly the same as regular table sugar, 50/50. HFCS 90 is actually worse for you than table sugar due to it's high fructose content (which is primarily only absorbed in the liver, unlike sucrose), but it is rarely used and the taste is very sweet compared to normal HFCS or sugar.

You can easily search for tons of sources (queries as simple as "HFCS vs sugar" will give you decent results), but including one to back up what I said above:

https://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-eating/nutrition/ar...

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#496

Post by markdown » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 11:41 PM UTC

sergers wrote: post #350

markdown wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Canada the waiting lists for mri and other advanced testing can be long where the same tests/operations can be done as a walkin option that day in the US. Are there no private MRI machines in Canada? In many countries with free healthcare, you can still "just walk in" to any private hospital/clinic and get an MRI done.

BC banned private MRI clinics a year ago. They did however bring some under the provincial healthcare fold, so general turnaround times have improved with more scanners... And they are running more often (they weren't running 24/7. I work in imaging, visited 100s of hospitals in Canada and mainly USA. Would be uncommon to see a unreported list in USA with exams 24 hours or older. In Canada it was common to see months…

> BC banned private MRI clinics a year ago.

Would you mind explaining why they'd do such a thing?

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#497

Post by Jommi » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 12:22 AM UTC

cycomanic wrote: post #387

uberswe wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Sweden, about 9% of my salary goes towards healthcare and I pay almost nothing extra for any of my healthcare needs. This 9% also covers things like elderly care and I don't lose this benefit if I lose my job.

How do you get to 9%, I'm also in Sweden but I've never seen a specific breakdown. Genuinely curious.

There is some research done via approximation. I cant find the figures anymore but I remember reading something similar.

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#498

Post by tra3 » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 12:23 AM UTC

eloff wrote: post #229

I've been working like this, 16 hours a week for the past year. About 3 hours of that is meetings, and the rest is straight up coding. I don't make a lot of money, but I've never been happier with a job. I honestly don't feel less productive than when I worked full time. I spend the rest of my energy working on a project I intend to turn into a saas business. I think this kind of thing, where your job doesn't dominat…

I misread "16 hours a week" as "16 hours a day". I've never had pity turn so fast into envy.

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#499

Post by Jommi » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 12:24 AM UTC

philsnow wrote: post #366

DVassallo wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I lived in Ireland I paid 51% of my income in taxes. Imagine that!

I don't have to imagine it, I live in California. Top federal income tax: 37% Top California income tax: 13.3% Federal Medicare tax: 1.45% Additional federal medicare tax*: 0.9% The "additional" Medicare tax is only on whatever income is over $200k/$250k for single/joint filers. Call it "0.55% effective". Adds up to 52.3%. There's also a sizeable additional capital gains tax for three lucky ones who live in Californi…

Are you also making 10M a year?

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#500

Post by novok » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 12:36 AM UTC

Guthur wrote: post #389

novok wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It lets the rich pay for the dental problems of the poor. It's also a form of income redistribution.

And a broken form at that. The vast majority of dental problems are avoidable either via diet or dental care.

Meh over a large population that is not actually true. Some people just don't make that much salvia for example and get dental problems way more than others, even with identical dental care behaviors and diet of someone with pretty much no dental problems.

Also it prevents bigger issues in the future that a socialized healthcare system would have to pay for. Cheap socialized dental care basics I think is a net positive for a society in general. The poor will be more productive and create more tax revenue than the amount of money put into it.