Shouldn’t the correct office annotation be @Obsoleted ?
So long, and thanks for all the bytes
71–80 of 160 posts
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
I joined Android in April 2012. Looking back, at that time Android was incredibly lean for what it was accomplishing. The entire Frameworks team reported to one manager, and we would fit in a medium size conference room. That included all of UI toolkit and the bulk of the Java APIs an app would call into, including Binder. (Networking, phone, graphics, Bluetooth, etc were other teams, but we worked closely together.…
That must have been an amazing ride. Note: in my opinion, a small, lean, focused team is the right way to build an OS. I haven't seen the "throw an army at it" approach succeed for building the core of an OS or platform, as it becomes almost impossible to keep coherence in the system. And, yeah, that GMSCore joke is too real.
Maybe?
How many people worked on the core of Windows NT? On a number of the big Unixes? Various minicomputer OSs?
What you probably do need is a chief architect--like Cutler in the NT case--to keep everyone lined up.
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#73I always wanted to program, to create great things, got really good at it, but most of the time I was overtaken by folks playing politics that only used tech as a stepping stone to something they always wanted to do but only tech gave them financial resources to do that.
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Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#74The idea that another multi-millionaire tech worker would think that leaving their job is something people would be interested in is… strange. He’s letting the world know that in the second worst tech downturn in history, he’s going to retire and pursue comedy writing. Feels more appropriate for a Facebook post to this friends rather than a medium post.
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Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#75Because of the downturn, I wonder how many people have given up on their careers at Tech? How many more will respond to the call of a different professional life that pays less, but that will be more fulfilling? Even as recent as yesterday I heard a past-colleague tell me "maybe Tech isn't for me, after all. I'll try my hand at this other thing."
Tangential to the article since that was a voluntary departure, but this is absolutely happening, yes. My partner decided to get "into tech" in ~2018. Her reason more or less amounted to looking at me and determining "it's a cushy job that pays very well." For a while, I tried pointing her to various sources to start learning a bit about software development and programming; there's no barrier to installing PyCharm C…
I think we have another problem looming, beyond the realization that many engineers are unnecessary:
Most of the business models in tech are unsustainable. The ad-revenue driven explosion of the Internet over the past ~15 years has long since reached saturation. The data mines are all tapped out, and what have we learned? Mostly, nothing. Following a person's habits can help you target ads and drive them towards (mostly) unnecessary consumption. Then what?
Without ZIRP we're going to run out of the easy credit fueling such consumption. The economic hamster wheel is going to have to slow down. Then the realization that the SnR on the data being collected is practically 0 will set in. An immense amount of investment dollars was thrown at companies that charge nothing to the end user but collect and sell data to third parties. Yet that data is almost completely worthless.
I personally think fee-for-service is eventually going to make a (bigger) comeback, though another round or two of ZIRP might stave it off for awhile. As it does return, it is going to put even more pressure on companies to run lean teams.
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tech for tech's sake helps nobody. Politics is a fact of nearly every facet of life—you can accept this and play the game or accept that you're in the backseat. The worst people in the world already know this and run our industry. There's no reason we have to accept them.
> Tech for tech's sake helps nobody If it wasn’t for science, art and tech for their own sake we would still be on the trees gathering bananas
Please explain in detail. I'm not seeing the connection.
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#77The idea that another multi-millionaire tech worker would think that leaving their job is something people would be interested in is… strange. He’s letting the world know that in the second worst tech downturn in history, he’s going to retire and pursue comedy writing. Feels more appropriate for a Facebook post to this friends rather than a medium post.
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Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#78I though Google paid decent salaries, but it turns out even after 15 years there you’re still concerned about making ends meet it seems
I've been working at Google about 10 years as "only" an L5 and have about $3M in stock just from stuff I haven't sold
Yeah, every ex-Googler “riding off into the sunset” blog post like this is pretty annoying.
What’s even worse is when they do things like this post where there are little jokes about how it’s a financial burden to change careers or take a break rather than acknowledging how they have no risk of running out of money. Going to art school is the worst financial decision ever, tee hee! Yeah man, imagine what it must be like with student loans.
Great for OP for working at the right place at the right time and winning the proverbial lottery. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to take away from it other than “must be nice.”
Going to a pricey private school as a hobby/retirement activity must be real fun.
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Tech for tech's sake helps nobody If it wasn’t for science, art and tech for their own sake we would still be on the trees gathering bananas
Art? Yes, of course! I have no clue what you're referring to with tech, though. Throughout history development of tech has almost always driven by seeking economic leverage. I'm sure there are exceptions but I can't think of any. Not sure what you're referring to with science at all.
> Throughout history development of tech has almost always driven by seeking economic leverage. I'm sure there are exceptions but I can't think of any.
What about:
- curiosity (much of science, mathematics, etc.)
- artistic expression (musical instruments, demoscene)
- fortunate accidents (penicillin)
- just tinkering around (all sorts of inventions)
- play and fun (many non-commercial computer games)
- communication (telegraph, telephone, email, ...)
- self-expression (blogs)
- being dissatisfied with something and trying to change it (many more inventions)
- basic needs (advances in food, shelter, medicine...)
- trying to gain a military advantage (all sorts of weaponry and defenses)
- exploration (e.g. traveling to the bottom of the ocean, or landing on the moon)
- ideology/philosophy/religion (GNU and free software; cathedrals; pyramids)
etc.
At the end of the day much of technology is motivated by human needs, interests, desires, fears, etc.
OP's move from tech to comedy writing shows that interest or passion can be powerful motivators.
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#80Chet is going to be missed a lot in our community. His talks with Romain Guy were inspirational to me: whenever I saw them it was clear that they could each hold the stage on their own, but that having the both of them got more out of both of them, both technically and in entertainment value.
I hope he does well in comedy, but I will miss his example: that you can bring even unusual talents and interests into work life and make something worthwhile of it