Donald Knuth on how he became good at math • Hacker News Board

Re: Donald Knuth on how he became good at math

#31

Post by mahyarm » Sun, Dec 25, 2011, 7:36 PM UTC

palish wrote: post #14

mitsche wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, you're only 23. When you say you have no ability with people, what exactly do you mean by that? When I was 23 I was more or less a complete moron with people, and for years to come. But it has improved to the point where I'm content. And I'm only 29 now. If you were more specific about your problems with social interaction you'd probably get some good advice here.

Sam Altman has what I lack. http://www.paulgraham.com/fundraising.html > You could parachute him into an island full of cannibals and come back in 5 years and he'd be the king. If you're Sam Altman, you don't have to be profitable to convey to investors that you'll succeed with or without them. (He wasn't, and he did.) More than that, I can't seem to inspire confidence in people. I don't know the cause, but it's prov…

Nothing against Sam Altman, I've never met him and I'm guessing you haven't too, but as far as startups go loopt hasn't really exploded or gotten anywhere much in the past 6 years. It seems like it's in a stable state. It's like your mythologizing the local 5 store chain CEO thats been around for 40 years, but has never expanded beyond the state.

Nothing gets people's attention as a product that looks like it's getting somewhere. A prototype is a lot better than just an idea.

Re: Donald Knuth on how he became good at math

#32

Post by lukev » Sun, Dec 25, 2011, 10:32 PM UTC

palish wrote: post #11

smallhands wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok I can relate to that myself I am kind of curious can you list those skills

- full stack programmer. My focus is always on the quality and robustness of the final design, regardless of which specific technologies/components are used. I learn them all. - a deep knowledge of the details. I share Robert Morris' passion for understanding precisely what is going on at every level. My insight into the low-level details of next-gen CPUs came from reading the Intel architecture manuals several times…

If nothing in here is exaggerated, then you don't need people skills. You should be able to easily find a problem to solve that will give you passive income, which will give you time to work on indie games.

Then, if those are as good as you claim, you will have enough concrete proof of skills to land a top slot at a game dev company (or just start/grow your own...) regardless of contacts or negotiating ability.

In other words, you don't need to persuade people to invest in you. You don't need to be "given a chance" or garner support. Just go do something kickass. It's impossible to argue with results.

Re: Donald Knuth on how he became good at math

#33

Post by balsam » Mon, Dec 26, 2011, 12:23 AM UTC

mahyarm wrote: post #31

palish wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sam Altman has what I lack. http://www.paulgraham.com/fundraising.html > You could parachute him into an island full of cannibals and come back in 5 years and he'd be the king. If you're Sam Altman, you don't have to be profitable to convey to investors that you'll succeed with or without them. (He wasn't, and he did.) More than that, I can't seem to inspire confidence in people. I don't know the cause, but it's prov…

Nothing against Sam Altman, I've never met him and I'm guessing you haven't too, but as far as startups go loopt hasn't really exploded or gotten anywhere much in the past 6 years. It seems like it's in a stable state. It's like your mythologizing the local 5 store chain CEO thats been around for 40 years, but has never expanded beyond the state. Nothing gets people's attention as a product that looks like it's getti…

In that quoted article PG said Sam had already succeeded. Making it an interesting question of what exactly is PG's definition of success, because he's been making it seem all along that a runaway nuclear reaction was a necessary ingredient for success in the startup world.