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Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

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Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#61

Post by giantg2 »

_fvh3 wrote: post #52
giantg2 wrote: post #31

I'm a failure. I didn't live up to my potential. I'm lazy. Nothing I do works anymore. My career is in jeopardy because I'm "slow". My main cause would be naivete. I believed all the stuff you're taught about the world in schools, by parents, etc. I believed the company when they told me stuff like they don't outsource or layoff. I'm wasn't aggressive enough to go after promotions or switch jobs. This resulted in me…

Thank you for sharing your situation If you don't mind me asking, are you the only person in your household with a significant income & do you live in a country with social services for childcare?

Yes, and not really. Although childcare is not a barrier in our situation.

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#62

Post by _fvh3 »

swami108 wrote: post #60
_fvh3 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im glad I made you comment for the 1st time making you comment since you made your account in 2013 :)

Tells you how many years I’ve been failing

Haha, I only looked at your profile to check out your "failed" projects. If it's okay with you, could you please provide a brief description or links to those projects that didn't quite work out?

Edit: If this sounds like an AI response I used ChatGPT to correct my grammar, I can barely write a coherent sentence on my own, even though I am a native speaker.

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#63

Post by _fvh3 »

giantg2 wrote: post #61
_fvh3 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for sharing your situation If you don't mind me asking, are you the only person in your household with a significant income & do you live in a country with social services for childcare?

Yes, and not really. Although childcare is not a barrier in our situation.

Sorry, to clarify I meant: Is state-funded childcare an option in the country you reside in?

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#64

Post by swami108 »

_fvh3 wrote: post #62
swami108 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tells you how many years I’ve been failing

Haha, I only looked at your profile to check out your "failed" projects. If it's okay with you, could you please provide a brief description or links to those projects that didn't quite work out? Edit: If this sounds like an AI response I used ChatGPT to correct my grammar, I can barely write a coherent sentence on my own, even though I am a native speaker.

Haha, no worries :)

My latest failure was Wize, a mobile app that let anyone share their skills. It was a great idea, a bit early for its times (live streaming app before Instagram Live and Tik Tok), and it had a great start--we were in the top 20 at the Launch Hackathon, won an award from Google, and we had grammy award music teachers teaching on the platform. It failed because we pivoted too early. Building the two sided market was challenging, but instead of narrowing our focus to one topic, we decided to pivot to a "professional 1-1 coffee chat platform", and then again to a networking app–"Tinder for professionals." After going to a lot of conferences and meetups and talking to professionals, the resounding message we heard was that this domain was tough to dominate and it was going to be an uphill battle for us.

The biggest lesson I learnt in this is take advice with a pinch of salt. There are many successful apps today that resemble v1 (Maven), v2 (Intro), and v3 of Wize, and I think we would have been fine if we had persisted.

A more detailed write up of Wize, if you're interested: https://swamiphoto.com/wize

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#65

Post by thiago_fm »

xupybd wrote: post #43
thiago_fm wrote: post #17

I'm in my 30s, and despite being a gifted kid, moving to a first world country, speaking 3 languages and making great pay as a senior eng, I still feel like a failure for: - Not having my own business - Not managing people at the moment or doing many leadership activities - Not having 7 figures networth - Being a homeowner, but still paying mortgage for the next 10 years - Not being yet an excellent communicator, and…

Just to let you know, your written English reads like a native speaker.

I've been working on it, that's always a delight to hear.

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#66

Post by _fvh3 »

throwaway0842 wrote: post #21

If I do not find another job soon, it’s safe to say my career was a failure. Sad because it was the one thing that I was area of life I actually managed to get anything out of so far. As for why, there’s too much to try and condense into a single HN comment, but my career started off on the wrong foot, and I was not really that “into” tech by the time I decided to make the jump from hobbyist to professional. I would…

you are not a failure in my eyes

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#67

Post by ggwp99 »

I have failed so much in my life career-wise: fired from multiple jobs, lost huge investments, failed in 3 businesses embarrassingly, burnt out and let everyone down etc... What I thought initially is that I was never going to be able to get out of it, I am doomed. Reality is people forget instantly, but you get lessons that you use your entire life. If someone did not fail and directly succeeded, I am wary of them as something must be wrong. You will learn to love failure and appreciate the lessons.

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#68

Post by 226_ebro_treaty »

S_Bear wrote: post #41
226_ebro_treaty wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened to you in the 2009 recession?

Got let go a week after closing on a house. Learned the true value of hard work and loyalty, as my network shunned me and I stumbled around for a few years in a new career. Thankfully my wife's income let us run only a little in the red for a couple years until I could find my footing again. Doing great now, but I'm never giving a job any more effort than I'm comfortable giving. I killed myself with crazy hours for 3…

Thanks for sharing! Best of luck!

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#69

Post by _fvh3 »

ggwp99 wrote: post #67

I have failed so much in my life career-wise: fired from multiple jobs, lost huge investments, failed in 3 businesses embarrassingly, burnt out and let everyone down etc... What I thought initially is that I was never going to be able to get out of it, I am doomed. Reality is people forget instantly, but you get lessons that you use your entire life. If someone did not fail and directly succeeded, I am wary of them a…

Thanks for sharing!
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