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Steve Wozniak: When I die these are the moments I want to remember

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Re: Steve Wozniak: When I die these are the moments I want to remember

#41

Post by taspeotis »

normie3000 wrote: post #25
madrox wrote: post #18

I resonate with this a lot. There is a time horizon beyond which the work we do doesn't really matter. No code I wrote five years ago is in production today. A vanishingly small number of products I built are still around. The act of building is a pleasure, but once it's built, its success and impact are pretty much out of my hands. Once I accepted that, I enjoyed the process a lot more, and ironically my output got…

> No code I wrote five years ago is in production today. This is wild! How can you be so sure?

He's a JavaScript dev

Re: Steve Wozniak: When I die these are the moments I want to remember

#42

Post by sunpazed »

surfingdino wrote: post #28

He had a driven business partner who helped turn his passion for computers into a multi-billion corporation. He always struck me as immature. Not a great businessman, not a great engineer, more of a hobbyist who got lucky and quickly reached the limits of his knowledge and ability with the original Apple. His myth has greatly outgrown his accomplishments and I have a feeling even he is not comfortable with it, he'd r…

This is an unfair and snide take on Woz. We are literally standing on the shoulders of giants — Woz happens to be one of them.

Re: Steve Wozniak: When I die these are the moments I want to remember

#43

Post by pjerem »

surfingdino wrote: post #28

He had a driven business partner who helped turn his passion for computers into a multi-billion corporation. He always struck me as immature. Not a great businessman, not a great engineer, more of a hobbyist who got lucky and quickly reached the limits of his knowledge and ability with the original Apple. His myth has greatly outgrown his accomplishments and I have a feeling even he is not comfortable with it, he'd r…

Yeah he had luck. And so what ? Good for him. He is not claiming anything else.

I don’t know if there is a real myth around him but it doesn’t looks like he is trying to maintain it.

The guy really looks like he just wants to be happy in life and would prefer not be a celebrity.

It looks like he is a worse entrepreneur than Jobs, sure, but a better father and a better human overall, that’s pretty sure. I feel like that’s a pretty mature behavior if you ask me.

Re: Steve Wozniak: When I die these are the moments I want to remember

#44

Post by self_awareness »

madrox wrote: post #18

I resonate with this a lot. There is a time horizon beyond which the work we do doesn't really matter. No code I wrote five years ago is in production today. A vanishingly small number of products I built are still around. The act of building is a pleasure, but once it's built, its success and impact are pretty much out of my hands. Once I accepted that, I enjoyed the process a lot more, and ironically my output got…

You think like this today. Would your life be better if you had this stance for your last 30 years? Would that be your advice for young adults who are just entering life?

I guess you were lucky that you didn't have any cases of cancer in the family (if you had, then I apologize and I'm sorry). No important problems that are only easily solved by lots of money. But if it's just luck, then it's really inappropriate to build a world view based on what you were lucky enough to avoid.

Re: Steve Wozniak: When I die these are the moments I want to remember

#45

Post by raverbashing »

normie3000 wrote: post #25
madrox wrote: post #18

I resonate with this a lot. There is a time horizon beyond which the work we do doesn't really matter. No code I wrote five years ago is in production today. A vanishingly small number of products I built are still around. The act of building is a pleasure, but once it's built, its success and impact are pretty much out of my hands. Once I accepted that, I enjoyed the process a lot more, and ironically my output got…

> No code I wrote five years ago is in production today. This is wild! How can you be so sure?

That's a funny statement

I'm sure-ish some of my code from 10 yrs ago is still in production. Though I'm far removed from where it actually runs. Maybe even some of the older code I wrote (which at this point is ~ 15yrs old) might be still around (at a different place)

5 yrs ago? No problem. I even have to still maintain the darn thing.

Of course, different companies, different cases, etc.

Re: Steve Wozniak: When I die these are the moments I want to remember

#46

Post by rblatz »

raverbashing wrote: post #45
normie3000 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No code I wrote five years ago is in production today. This is wild! How can you be so sure?

That's a funny statement I'm sure-ish some of my code from 10 yrs ago is still in production. Though I'm far removed from where it actually runs. Maybe even some of the older code I wrote (which at this point is ~ 15yrs old) might be still around (at a different place) 5 yrs ago? No problem. I even have to still maintain the darn thing. Of course, different companies, different cases, etc.

Agreed, I believe code I wrote over 20 years ago is still running. It wasn’t good, but apparently that’s not as important as we tell ourselves.

Re: Steve Wozniak: When I die these are the moments I want to remember

#47

Post by m463 »

madrox wrote: post #18

I resonate with this a lot. There is a time horizon beyond which the work we do doesn't really matter. No code I wrote five years ago is in production today. A vanishingly small number of products I built are still around. The act of building is a pleasure, but once it's built, its success and impact are pretty much out of my hands. Once I accepted that, I enjoyed the process a lot more, and ironically my output got…

Most of the companies I've worked for no longer exist, let alone the code.

Even stranger, I've never had anything to show as the code never "existed" in the physical sense.

Re: Steve Wozniak: When I die these are the moments I want to remember

#48

Post by djtango »

self_awareness wrote: post #44
madrox wrote: post #18

I resonate with this a lot. There is a time horizon beyond which the work we do doesn't really matter. No code I wrote five years ago is in production today. A vanishingly small number of products I built are still around. The act of building is a pleasure, but once it's built, its success and impact are pretty much out of my hands. Once I accepted that, I enjoyed the process a lot more, and ironically my output got…

You think like this today . Would your life be better if you had this stance for your last 30 years? Would that be your advice for young adults who are just entering life? I guess you were lucky that you didn't have any cases of cancer in the family (if you had, then I apologize and I'm sorry). No important problems that are only easily solved by lots of money. But if it's just luck, then it's really inappropriate to…

Could you help me explore your view a bit more?

Parent's advice is about favouring team and striving to be an enabler/multiplier rather than sweating over individual perfection of craft. It's a fairly common conclusion that some people arrive at.

What are you contrasting that to? How does that relate to money problems and health problems?

Is becoming a multiplier mutually exclusive from chasing financial success in your opinion?

EDIT to elaborate on the concept of a multiplier. Say you can become a mythical 10x engineer or you can become a mentor. If you can mentor 5 normal engineers from 1x to 2x then you've now got 10x engineering and the org also has reduced bus factor.

What about if those 5 2x engineers can bring another 25 0.5x engineers up to 1x engineers. Suddenly your org can become much more than a single 10x engineer can accomplish.

This is quite spurious and 9 mothers can't have a baby in 1 month but it's a useful mental model for the value of individual contribution vs coaching/managing.

In reality while people like to balk at the idea of the 10x engineer, the truth is there are probably 100x and 1000x engineers out there. Von Neumann is probably a 1000x or more. Linus and Page&Brin are probably at least a 100x etc - those multiples are made up, power laws make numbers go big

Re: Steve Wozniak: When I die these are the moments I want to remember

#49

Post by MrDresden »

self_awareness wrote: post #44
madrox wrote: post #18

I resonate with this a lot. There is a time horizon beyond which the work we do doesn't really matter. No code I wrote five years ago is in production today. A vanishingly small number of products I built are still around. The act of building is a pleasure, but once it's built, its success and impact are pretty much out of my hands. Once I accepted that, I enjoyed the process a lot more, and ironically my output got…

You think like this today . Would your life be better if you had this stance for your last 30 years? Would that be your advice for young adults who are just entering life? I guess you were lucky that you didn't have any cases of cancer in the family (if you had, then I apologize and I'm sorry). No important problems that are only easily solved by lots of money. But if it's just luck, then it's really inappropriate to…

I can speak to the situation you mentioned, as it happened twice.

However almost no money had to be thrown at the problem, and the outcome was the best that could have been wished for.

I live in Europe where we generally have universal healthcare.

Perhaps the author you responded to is also living in a similar situation?

I for one would take the same view as them. Work to live, and try only to do meaningful work. Life really is too short and fragile not to.

Re: Steve Wozniak: When I die these are the moments I want to remember

#50

Post by harry8 »

xprn wrote: post #15
muppetman wrote: post #10

LOL that's all well and good but there's no VC money in happiness.

I would think that there’s definitely VC money in making your customers happy. What makes them happy might be different, but I believe the sentiment still remains

Happy customers might work, maybe, possibly.

Dependent customers does work, even when they're miserable and they hate you. Consider some examples, from worse is better through addiction.

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