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Publishing your work increases your luck

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Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#11

Post by aarondf »

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…

Doing a Show HN and getting too many users would be a great problem to have! In most cases it takes a lot of work to get any users, so I wouldn't be trying to limit it at all if I were you. Good luck!

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#13

Post by ushakov »

aarondf wrote: post #11
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…

Doing a Show HN and getting too many users would be a great problem to have! In most cases it takes a lot of work to get any users, so I wouldn't be trying to limit it at all if I were you. Good luck!

HN is not the only place to post

main reason many Show HN posts are not getting upvotes is because they are either: boring, bad fit for this community or most people can’t understand what problem they’re solving (eg. lack documentation, too technical)

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#15

Post by abathur »

ushakov wrote: post #7
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

Edit: I meant something more more like, "What would you say makes an OSS profile strong?", but I'll preserve the original question below so that the responses still make sense. :)

---

Where would you say a strong OSS profile begins? (Feel free to give a fuzzy low-stakes answer. Haven't experienced this but curious where the ballpark is.)

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#16

Post by abathur »

aarondf wrote: post #4
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.

I like the framing. I've been trying to blog more and publish more personal projects over the last ~4 years than I had before that, but speaking to the proverbial empty room is a little disheartening.

I think it's because I'm pining for perspective, which is a fairly high-value thing.

I can't say "luck surface area" has changed my life, yet, but I suspect seeing it that way provides a more stable and intrinsic (if small) motivation. I've thought for a while that I'll need a less-external motivation to be able to keep it up in the long term.

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#17

Post by angarg12 »

I love the concept of luck surface, and I believe it's a great mental model. However

> FOR EVERY SNARKY COMMENT, THERE ARE 10X AS MANY PEOPLE ADMIRING YOUR WORK.

This is the opposite of my modest experience. Negativity has outweighed positivity in most of my online interactions. For every encouraging or promising interaction you have, you'll receive more nasty ones that will sap the motivation out of you.

I think it's still worth it, but not for the faint of hearth. Putting up with online toxicity to find those diamonds requires a thick skin and mental fortitude I haven't achieved quite yet. Or maybe it gets easier down the line.

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#18

Post by ushakov »

abathur wrote: post #15
ushakov wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Edit: I meant something more more like, "What would you say makes an OSS profile strong ?", but I'll preserve the original question below so that the responses still make sense. :) --- Where would you say a strong OSS profile begins? (Feel free to give a fuzzy low-stakes answer. Haven't experienced this but curious where the ballpark is.)

i’d say with exposure!

most of the exposure you’ll be getting is from organic search

you might not realize, but people are literally searching for solutions all the time

companies also search for projects they want to build/use to see who’s already building it (this is where you can get hired)

so, a good idea would be to work on your README so when your prospects describe the problem to the search engine your project comes up as a solution

then make sure the technical side and the documentation are solid, so that people can depend on it

a plus for you would be to have projects across multiple domains, this increases your exposure

if you want to go a step beyond that, try to post your projects to relevant communities (note: this should come secondary after search)

Re: Publishing your work increases your luck

#19

Post by viraptor »

angarg12 wrote: post #17

I love the concept of luck surface, and I believe it's a great mental model. However > FOR EVERY SNARKY COMMENT, THERE ARE 10X AS MANY PEOPLE ADMIRING YOUR WORK. This is the opposite of my modest experience. Negativity has outweighed positivity in most of my online interactions. For every encouraging or promising interaction you have, you'll receive more nasty ones that will sap the motivation out of you. I think it'…

I don't think that line disagrees with your experience. It's not saying you'll get 10x admiration comments. Just that there are 10x admiring people.

It's a bit like HN comments, the discussion happens when someone disagrees, or adds more context. But if you like something you should just upvote instead of posting a trivial comment. Even the rules say so.

I guess if you publish something where you can see the traffic stats, it may be easier to see. So you get 5 comments how your content is dumb - check traffic stats - ah, it's 5 out of 500,000 visitors.

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