Publishing your work increases your luck

#1

Post by aarondf » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 3:12 PM UTC

Publishing your work increases your luck
github.com

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#2

Post by mijustin » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 7:15 PM UTC

Great post!

I often say that most of my career advancements came from knowing the right people (or having the right people know me).

Many of the people that helped me advance found me through something I made (blog post, tutorial, podcast, project, etc).

Creating stuff (and telling people about it) is a great way to connect with more people.

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#3

Post by fideloper » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 7:15 PM UTC

It’s true, I can attest! The idea of “increasing your luck surface area” is real.

You can create a lot of opportunities for yourself by being public about what you’re up to.

It got me a job working with Taylor Otwell, before his businesses took off, and now working at Fly to help with Laravel adoption.

My side projects have made helped people learn, given me an audience, and earn extra income.

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#4

Post by aarondf » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 7:17 PM UTC

fideloper wrote: post #3

It’s true, I can attest! The idea of “increasing your luck surface area” is real. You can create a lot of opportunities for yourself by being public about what you’re up to. It got me a job working with Taylor Otwell, before his businesses took off, and now working at Fly to help with Laravel adoption. My side projects have made helped people learn, given me an audience, and earn extra income.

The concept of "luck surface area" changed my life, no joke. It's the best framing I've ever heard for it.

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#5

Post by ge96 » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 7:24 PM UTC

Legacy too, something I think about. Granted code hosted on a server probably has less lifespan than a book.

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#6

Post by tnorthcutt » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 7:28 PM UTC

I agree with this for sure. The concept of luck surface area is incredibly powerful and can significantly impact how you interact with the world in a ~professional context.

Great article.

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#7

Post by ushakov » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 7:37 PM UTC

fideloper wrote: post #3

It’s true, I can attest! The idea of “increasing your luck surface area” is real. You can create a lot of opportunities for yourself by being public about what you’re up to. It got me a job working with Taylor Otwell, before his businesses took off, and now working at Fly to help with Laravel adoption. My side projects have made helped people learn, given me an audience, and earn extra income.

as an open-source developer, i can confirm this is a real phenomena

best gigs i’ve got are because of relevant contributions and from companies depending on my software

if you have a strong open-source profile, many companies will skip the screener and invite you straight to interview (i believe this is called “red carpet treatment”)

public work makes you trustworthy and you will stand out among other candidates

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#8

Post by vax425 » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 7:45 PM UTC

I’ve been hesitating to publicize my project because there’s always something more I can add, or a bug to fix. I think things like: If I do a “Show HN” post, will I get too many users at the same time? Is there a better way to quietly get the first few customers and fix the issues that they uncover?

I’m reading “The Mom Test” now to learn how to talk to potential users.

Here’s what I’m working on: https://headlamptest.com

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#9

Post by jstanley » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 7:46 PM UTC

vax425 wrote: post #8

I’ve been hesitating to publicize my project because there’s always something more I can add, or a bug to fix. I think things like: If I do a “Show HN” post, will I get too many users at the same time? Is there a better way to quietly get the first few customers and fix the issues that they uncover? I’m reading “The Mom Test” now to learn how to talk to potential users. Here’s what I’m working on: https://headlamptes…

> If I do a “Show HN” post, will I get too many users at the same time?

In my experience, what's far more likely is that you won't get any users and you'll feel disheartened.

Just look in https://news.ycombinator.com/shownew to see how many "Show HN"s have no votes and no comments.

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#10

Post by ushakov » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 7:52 PM UTC

jstanley wrote: post #9

vax425 wrote: post #8

I’ve been hesitating to publicize my project because there’s always something more I can add, or a bug to fix. I think things like: If I do a “Show HN” post, will I get too many users at the same time? Is there a better way to quietly get the first few customers and fix the issues that they uncover? I’m reading “The Mom Test” now to learn how to talk to potential users. Here’s what I’m working on: https://headlamptes…

> If I do a “Show HN” post, will I get too many users at the same time? In my experience, what's far more likely is that you won't get any users and you'll feel disheartened. Just look in https://news.ycombinator.com/shownew to see how many "Show HN"s have no votes and no comments.

disagree

if it doesn’t work out the first time, you can give another try later

you can check my posting history, a handful of projects i posted got responses from the community

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...