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Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

matthewgrohman.substack.com

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Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#251

Post by 6510 »

nickvanw wrote: post #5

I would put it even more simply: just knowing Engineering isn't enough if you want to excel past a certain point, unless you're going to go extremely deep and become a subject matter expert in something (storage, hardware, etc). That is something most people are not going to do, because it requires dedication and to be extremely intelligent. Instead, you can go very far by understanding a job one "hop" from your own…

I imagine if you are really good at the other job the software can teach people a lot. You can force patterns where they should exist (do things in the right order) and not force them where they shouldn't be.

I think with less skilled labor the developer knows even less than they think.

Say the job is stacking boxes, you have an order 4 hours worth of heavy boxes and 4 hours worth of light ones. In software one is tempted to think there are 2 ways of doing the job. First order 1 then 2 or first 2 then 1. Push this button when order 1 is done!

It might not be humanly possible to stack heavy boxes non stop for 4 hours but it is definitely a bad idea. Thanks to the new software it's going to take 6 hours and cut the "resting" time (time doing light boxes) in half.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#252

Post by dsq »

doubleg72 wrote: post #250
dsq wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unsurprising, as the standard workplace is toxic, otherwise WFH would not be so popular.

I doubt WFH is so popular solely because all workplaces are toxic. A toxic workplace is one like that at American Radium in first half of 20th century, or the building of transcontinental railroad, or Hoover Dam, or Mt Rushmore.

If I had to compare the standard modern workplace (I've been at a few) with the building of the railroads, of course I’d prefer the standard. Sitting n AC pressing keys is better than being crushed by stones or heavy metal bars, all in scorching heat.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#253

Post by learningmore »

SassyGrapefruit wrote: post #150
hinkley wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like I have to disagree, on the grounds that many companies mistakenly label indirect profit centers as 'cost centers' and end up cutting off their noses to spite their faces. They strangle R&D and get outclassed in the market. They strangle infrastructure and get nasty surprises that tarnish their reputation. And then there's mistaking users for customers. If you're a McDonald's customer you might think their…

This is exactly what I'm talking about. It can surprising why a business actually exists. It can be counterintuitive(i.e. the mcdonald's is actually a real estate company conundrum). Even the "Product Engineer" guy who can probably talk up a storm about the financials of what he is doing, but in a Fortune 500 business does he really understand how that rolls up to the company's strategy? Is it a side line, is the lan…

Really digging your insights. Do you have a blog or newsletter? I’d love to ask you to present to Product Managers at our org. Would you get in touch? @charlesw on twitter.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#254

Post by gardenhedge »

SassyGrapefruit wrote: post #239
gardenhedge wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, what are you going to spend that $385,000/yr on? /s I don't see the point of your recommendation.

Corporate finance doesn't work that way. If someone sets something up that costs $500K a year and it can be done for $150K a year. $150K is the baseline thats how much it should have cost in the first place. Otherwise why wouldn't I set it up to cost $10million a year then retract to $150K then say "Oh gee I saved you millions of dollars you owe me!" We as employees have a responsibility to our organizations to ensur…

Your passive aggressive remark at the end made me laugh. Enjoy your life working as hard as you can for billionaires and being rewarded peanuts. That's the only depressing existence in this discussion.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#255

Post by feanaro »

inanutshellus wrote: post #244
feanaro wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you don't consume content, that's meaningless. When you consume something, it is used up and disappears entirely.

Your context is backwards. The context is me not the thing. You're thinking "Book + Me = Book + Me" but in the context of me it's... Me + Food = Me with more nutrients. Me + Book = Me with more knowledge. In that context, post-consumption, the state of the book becomes irrelevant (destroyed or not, it doesn't matter, I still got what I wanted from it). I absorbed the knowledge (or nutrients). Brought it into my body…

Not that it matters much, but under your interpretation, the better wording would be "ingesting". And interestingly, that word doesn't have the same problem as "consuming", which is that content peddlers devalue the reader by implying they are consuming their merchandise.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#257

Post by SassyGrapefruit »

gardenhedge wrote: post #254
SassyGrapefruit wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Corporate finance doesn't work that way. If someone sets something up that costs $500K a year and it can be done for $150K a year. $150K is the baseline thats how much it should have cost in the first place. Otherwise why wouldn't I set it up to cost $10million a year then retract to $150K then say "Oh gee I saved you millions of dollars you owe me!" We as employees have a responsibility to our organizations to ensur…

Your passive aggressive remark at the end made me laugh. Enjoy your life working as hard as you can for billionaires and being rewarded peanuts. That's the only depressing existence in this discussion.

I don't know man. The attitude comes off as defeatist to me. I think most people with this outlook are engaging in self-sabotage. It's easier than putting themselves out there and risking failure.

They don't try then claim "even I did try what would it get me? making some richy richer, no thanks". Ok so what the alternative? I'm just not willing to sit around complaining. Right now I don't feel like I'm being grifted and if I did I would quit.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#258

Post by inanutshellus »

feanaro wrote: post #255
inanutshellus wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your context is backwards. The context is me not the thing. You're thinking "Book + Me = Book + Me" but in the context of me it's... Me + Food = Me with more nutrients. Me + Book = Me with more knowledge. In that context, post-consumption, the state of the book becomes irrelevant (destroyed or not, it doesn't matter, I still got what I wanted from it). I absorbed the knowledge (or nutrients). Brought it into my body…

Not that it matters much, but under your interpretation, the better wording would be "ingesting". And interestingly, that word doesn't have the same problem as "consuming", which is that content peddlers devalue the reader by implying they are consuming their merchandise.

I like ingest!

That said, I believe OP is offended at being referred to in an impersonal way. As such, I don't believe there's much to be done for him beyond "don't refer to people by their actions", which is impractical.

"I ingested [The Sandlot]" or "We had 50,000 ingesters of [The Sandlot] this week!"

are, to my mind, faaaaaairly equivalent to

"I consumed [The Sandlot]" or "We had 50,000 consumers of [The Sandlot] this week!"

Not terribly compelling but... "ingest" has a gut association whilst "consume" has a head connotation... so... there's that.

However, there is a fun distinction between the two. "Consuming" a book, to me, just implies you read it. "Digesting" and "ingesting" have implications of /rumination/.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#259

Post by groby_b »

frutiger wrote: post #18
groby_b wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a manager who told folks that maybe they should consider what their main lane is: There's nothing wrong with learning a different lane. There's a lot wrong with showing up in a different lane as if you had all the answers. Our industry is prone to the latter. By all means, explore other lanes, but don't be that guy. By all means, learn, but please do this from a place of curiosity and humility. Ask people who live…

> (I'm sure PP is aware of that, I'm using the generic 'you', not the personal) The English language has a specific word for that: “one” instead of “you”, but sadly this word has become more and more antiquated.

I'm aware we have "one", but I'm also aware I sound like my great-grandmother when I use it.

One has to make tradeoffs ;)

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