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How to write stuff no one else can

thewritetoroam.com

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Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#91

Post by baxtr »

leetrout wrote: post #43

I have a quip I have repeated for years that aligns with this: The people talking about the stuff largely arent the people doing the stuff because theyre too busy doing the stuff. Where, in my case, in our tech circle, that is generally design and development. Of course there are outliers.

Absolutely. At the same time it’s a bloody shame they don’t.

Great people who actually do great stuff need to become people who talk about it too.

Otherwise only those that master talking will get exposure.

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#92

Post by hnthrowaway0328 »

tirthvora wrote: post #67

To double down on one of the points a bit, its well observed and accepted that the CEO or senior authorities get all the attention, even in politics; But there's always the less-known team behind it that did most of the work. They don't get the credits because they couldn't take the RISKS, that the senior folks did. Senior positions come with its associated risk and stakes, and not everyone has the guts to tackle tha…

A lot of those risks are for other people, not themselves. They are there for a variety of reasons but accepting risks is probably not the primary one.

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#93

Post by enriquto »

baxtr wrote: post #91
leetrout wrote: post #43

I have a quip I have repeated for years that aligns with this: The people talking about the stuff largely arent the people doing the stuff because theyre too busy doing the stuff. Where, in my case, in our tech circle, that is generally design and development. Of course there are outliers.

Absolutely. At the same time it’s a bloody shame they don’t. Great people who actually do great stuff need to become people who talk about it too. Otherwise only those that master talking will get exposure.

> Otherwise only those that master talking will get exposure.

Or maybe we shouldn't organize our society so that "exposure" is such an overwhelmingly positive thing.

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#95

Post by [deleted] »

austin-cheney wrote: post #87
ephemeral-life wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Competence at what? There is a class of people who believe leadership is something you can learn on its own. These are the people who join all the useless commitees for resume building purposes. Leadership only has value when paired with significant knowledge in some domain. > Avoiding strong personalities purely for the sake easing hostility sounds a lot like cowardice. Cowardice is when you avoid something, becau…

> Cowardice is when you avoid something, because of fear. GP is talking about avoiding people who will annoy you. That sounds like autism. Avoidance for what ever imaginary reason your creative mind can conjure is still cowardice. The excuses only fool yourself. Other people will see it as they choose.

[deleted]

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#96

Post by [deleted] »

austin-cheney wrote: post #87
ephemeral-life wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Competence at what? There is a class of people who believe leadership is something you can learn on its own. These are the people who join all the useless commitees for resume building purposes. Leadership only has value when paired with significant knowledge in some domain. > Avoiding strong personalities purely for the sake easing hostility sounds a lot like cowardice. Cowardice is when you avoid something, becau…

> Cowardice is when you avoid something, because of fear. GP is talking about avoiding people who will annoy you. That sounds like autism. Avoidance for what ever imaginary reason your creative mind can conjure is still cowardice. The excuses only fool yourself. Other people will see it as they choose.

[deleted]

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#97

Post by bryanrasmussen »

vik0 wrote: post #81
ildjarn wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s the shift of perception from technology being “geek stuff” to a lucrative field on par with finance, medicine and law. Before, someone who knew a bit of programming was likely to be passionate and with high potential. Now they may still be, but also they may just a way to get rich quick.

But the vast majority of people who go to programming bootcamps don't get rich quickly, or rich at all. Same with most people in the world who practice medicine or law Or did you mean to convey that people who go to boot camps think it's a way to get rich quick? Your wording is a bit confusing toward the end there

>But the vast majority of people who go to programming bootcamps don't get rich quickly, or rich at all. Same with most people in the world who practice medicine or law

but they do get a reasonable shot at a middle class lifestyle with potential to do really well at some point.

That's better than a lot of career paths give you nowadays.

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#98

Post by nottorp »

Madmallard wrote: post #54
munificent wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure all software developers have been exposed to strong personalities. Often in the form of bullies, primadonnas, class clowns, big men on campus, pointy haired bosses, etc. The problem is that—as a generalization—strong personality tends to correlate inversely with competence , and software engineers esteem the latter above all else (because a machine is not swayed by charisma, after all). Good leadership is re…

"strong personality tends to correlate inversely with competence" citation needed

"if you feel a need to be aggressive, it means you've done no deeds that will speak for you"

How about that?

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#99

Post by intelVISA »

Aurornis wrote: post #39

> For example, on LinkedIn, someone may say they were CMO of a company for just three months, and if you take that data at face value, you may think something very bad must have happened for a company to hire and lose such an important role in so short a time. > But when you look closer, you see that this person was a sophomore in college at the time, that the company was just a month old, and that actually, it wasn’…

A highly curated LinkedIn is a red flag - nobody producing value has time to tend that walled garden.

Re: How to write stuff no one else can

#100

Post by dinkleberg »

danbruc wrote: post #89

Tangent. I understand the appeal of a four hour work week but how can people take that seriously? You will either have to have a pretty unappealing standard of living or you will have to exploit other people. If you only work four hours per week, then you can only consume as much as can be produced in four hours each week. But I guess people mostly hope to make the exploitation strategy work, manage to only produce s…

It has been years since I read it, but iirc the main point was to build businesses that once they are up and running don't require much much work to keep bringing in money.

I suspect achieving what he was aiming for is much harder now than it was when he wrote the book, as the barrier to entry to starting businesses goes down and the competition continues to rise.

But I think there is still something to be said for the goal of building a "lifestyle" business rather than trying to build a hyper-growth startup. If you are strategizing through the lens of "How can I make enough money to survive and thrive with the minimal amount of time spent?" vs "How can I grow my business to $100m" you'll come up with very different plans.

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