22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage • Hacker News Board

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#141

Post by temp8964 » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:30 PM UTC

astura wrote: post #67

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I just wonder how did he afford all this equipment. Living in the US comes with certain advantages like some of the lowest consumer prices in the West including HW equipment being dirt cheap on the second hand market plus houses being big enough for space for such hobbies along with the biggest take home pays yielding some of the highest purchasing power in the West, a formula tough to replicate anywhere else. At le…

A 22-year old full time student can't even afford "dirt cheap" second hand equipment (nevermind the space to store it!) unless: -They have some sort of windfall -They have a trust fund or stipend that they receive just for existing -Their parents pay for everything, or, alternatively, their parents pay for all of their living expenses so their own money is only "fun money." -They, somehow, have a high paying job. In…

I am not sure about his case, but it's not very hard for a talent student to get $1k scholarship every month. That's lot of money to use if he does not need to pay for his living expenses.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#142

Post by sennight » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:32 PM UTC

DarylZero wrote: post #116

sennight wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that long ago the vast majority of scientific progress originated from rich men doing it in their free time. Does it really matter that they published their results for bragging rights instead of a need to fulfill some goofy academic pipeline requirements? Because those that think that money is the only thing standing between them and meaningful achievement... well, no amount of money will change that for them.

I was with you at first but then... > Because those that think that money is the only thing standing between them and meaningful achievement... well, no amount of money will change that for them What? Why couldn't they just be right? You yourself just said: > Not that long ago the vast majority of scientific progress originated from rich men doing it in their free time Is a person still not allowed to understand the…

I worded it exactly as intended when I said "meaningful achievement" instead of "wildest dream". If the scope of your ambition is to push the envelope in astrophysics, you probably already have enough resources at your disposal - and if you don't, a very sophisticated radio astronomy setup is easily within the reach of most individuals and certainly a handful of friends. But if your ambition is very specifically to build a radio telescope on the dark side of the moon... well yeah, that would take a lot of money that you don't have and never will. But even if somebody gifted the amount to you, that radio telescope still isn't getting built - because it was never something that could be achieved at the individual scale in the first place. So the money wasn't the showstopper. Same story with chip fabrication. If somebody is whining about their inability to execute their dream design due to lack of resources - dropping a $500M EUV stepper on them won't fix their problem.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#143

Post by sseagull » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:33 PM UTC

osrec wrote: post #18

TrackerFF wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to compete with FAANG, Finance, and Consulting. Unfortunately, that's where a lot of people end up.

Comfortable money + marketing hype keep it that way unfortunately. If governments really wanted to prioritise innovation, they should consider giving a banker's salary to a research scientist.

The annual budget of the entire NSF is $8.28B. The NIH is $42B

Google's net profit was $40B in 2020. Apple's was $94.6B in 2021. (all according to wikipedia).

Edit: The above is net income, so AFTER paying all the exorbitant salaries.

Apple alone makes enough money that it could fund pretty much all current publicly-funded science happening in the US at the current rate. That is a ridiculous amount of money, and publicly-funded science just cannot compete at that level.

(Currently on publicly-funded grants. Underpaid relative to what I could make elsewhere, but happy to be contributing to the greater good rather than helping some advertising company).

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#144

Post by quantumwannabe » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:35 PM UTC

DarylZero wrote: post #116

sennight wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that long ago the vast majority of scientific progress originated from rich men doing it in their free time. Does it really matter that they published their results for bragging rights instead of a need to fulfill some goofy academic pipeline requirements? Because those that think that money is the only thing standing between them and meaningful achievement... well, no amount of money will change that for them.

I was with you at first but then... > Because those that think that money is the only thing standing between them and meaningful achievement... well, no amount of money will change that for them What? Why couldn't they just be right? You yourself just said: > Not that long ago the vast majority of scientific progress originated from rich men doing it in their free time Is a person still not allowed to understand the…

I think what he is arguing is that someone with a negative attitude ("he can only do that because he's rich!") won't accomplish anything even if they were granted unlimited funding because they are focused on coming up with excuses instead of thinking about what they can do. There are plenty of poor people in third-world countries who have far less than the original commentator (who presumably lives in the first world) who have built very impressive things, especially considering the resources they have available. It is an attitude problem, not a financial one.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#145

Post by toomanydoubts » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:38 PM UTC

astura wrote: post #71

Avamander wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A thousand dollars is an achievable amount of money for a smart kid in a poor family. I have had good friends from really poor families in Europe make more from bug bounty programs. If that's you're trying imply.

No, It's not. I was a poor kid and didn't get financial support from my parents in young adulthood/college. I couldn't even fathom spending $1,000 on non-essential expenses during college. I was living entirely on student loans and minimum wage summer jobs - When that's your life you can't think about anything but pure survival. It's an entirely different mindset that I have now as a financially secure person. If I g…

$1300 is my monthly income as software engineer with 9 years of experience(in a third world country).

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#146

Post by enginoor » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:39 PM UTC

futharkshill wrote: post #25

> Zeloof’s family was supportive but also cautious. His father asked a semiconductor engineer he knew to offer some safety advice. As impressive and independent as this is, you have to wonder if any other gifted child could have done the same feat. The article seems to skip over this point, how many people know a "semiconductor engineer"?

Zeloof's father runs a sheet metal fabrication shop that makes components for other manufacturers. They do excellent work, I've worked with them in the past. I'm guessing his father knows engineers in all sorts of industries.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#147

Post by bpodgursky » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:40 PM UTC

DebtDeflation wrote: post #66

futharkshill wrote: post #25

> Zeloof’s family was supportive but also cautious. His father asked a semiconductor engineer he knew to offer some safety advice. As impressive and independent as this is, you have to wonder if any other gifted child could have done the same feat. The article seems to skip over this point, how many people know a "semiconductor engineer"?

This is a story as old as time. When I was a kid growing up in the 1970s and 1980s and the school held science fairs, the kids whose parents were scientists and engineers had the coolest fair-winning projects while the rest of the kids made baking soda and vinegar volcanoes or lemon batteries.

On the order of millions of kids have parents who know semiconductor engineers, and 1 of them ended up manufacturing chips in the garage.

Please don't try to pick apart his accomplishments to make a point. He's still doing something that almost nobody with equivalent resources took the initiative to do.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#148

Post by markus_zhang » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:40 PM UTC

gitfan86 wrote: post #13

sdze wrote: post #9

Quoted post unavailable.

As someone who grew up poor, but is now not poor, this is what I want for my kids. Taking on projects that they find interesting and challenging, and sharing it with the world. I will be very sad if my kids end up doing nothing with their lives or spend it online making negative comments all day.

It requires a lot of exploration and guidance thus I'm super interested in how his childhood looks like. I myself wasted tons of time when I was young, ended up with a mediocre job and struggling with building a hobby. I have a 16 month boy and definitely wants him walk a different route.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#149

Post by wnolens » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:42 PM UTC

xvector wrote: post #20

TrackerFF wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to compete with FAANG, Finance, and Consulting. Unfortunately, that's where a lot of people end up.

TC isn't everything. I'm pulling truly bonkers TC at 26, and yet I feel a deep void inside me. I recently realized that this void is because I am not living by my ideals/purpose. I know what I want to do in life, I know how I want to contribute to the story of humanity, and yet I am letting my greed overrule me and force me into a different path. Essentially, I am betraying myself, and this causes that feeling of unf…

Sounds like me at 26. I finally walked away from it at 28.

Your window to return to bonkers tech money is wide so you can afford to go away from it a while. But after you do, you probably won't want to return. That's fine! Just sock away enough that you don't feel you have to, otherwise it'll feel like reinserting yourself in the matrix and it SUCKS.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#150

Post by supportlocal4h » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:44 PM UTC

Fissionary wrote: post #122

nicoburns wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and that's why we should be taxing the hell out of these companies. It's not just about raising revenue. It's about allowing other companies to compete with them.

The idea of imposing punitive taxes on some companies, to level the playing field for everyone else, reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron". It wouldn't have the desired effect anyway, since employee salaries are tax-deductible. A better way to promote innovation might be through cultivating a spirit of entrepreneurship in young people, supporting startup accelerators, and handing out grants to promising c…

I heard a story at a recent robotics tournament about a team that had competed together all the way from 7th grade through 12th grade. As the story went, the teammates were hired en masse by a certain high profile company who agreed to pay for all their college, etc, etc.

I thought it was an interesting story as I heard it repeated among the students at the tournament. Many of the teams have sponsors who donate $1000s so the schools/clubs can buy parts, etc. They are trying to encourage interest in STEM. But if the story is true, one company could spend $1000000 and inspire 1000s of students, generating lottery psychology. Of course, one person could just make up such a story for $0 and achieve the same thing. But it amuses me to think of some altruistic billionaire having a little fun and doing such a thing.