Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, the funny thing here is my own career path was not exactly textbook either, and still I worry about my son. As for yourself keep an open mind, definitely not everything about 'regular' education is bad, but some people have a hard time adapting to the system and the system definitely won't adapt to them, if you are one of these then go ahead and carve your own path, I'm sure we'll be hearing great things about…
I'd love to hear your story when you've got time. WW isn't a site we hear a lot about on HN, and I've always been a little curious.
Tom Williams: Hired by Apple at 14. His full story.
31–40 of 43 posts
Re: Tom Williams: Hired by Apple at 14. His full story.
#32Re: Tom Williams: Hired by Apple at 14. His full story.
#33I'll chime in. I won't say how I'm involved with Tom, but we've been associated in the past. Let's just say that the impression I had upon meeting him was that he's basically a tax-dodging former child star with an ongoing microfinance scandal (covered by apparent nemesis David Baines):
http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id... http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html... http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html... http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id...
I wouldn't go as far as Baines (he gets petty and tedious after a while) but I do think he's got some validity to his arguments about accountability and trust. Specifically the lack thereof as regards Tom.
Let's recap the story: a 14 year old kid's paid summer internship was deemed to be good PR for Apple. That paid off in mediocre terms (as you can see via his QuickTime/Kid story, Apple divested itself of its drudgeons after PepsiCo's frontman took the hit for Apple almost dying) but, in the process, it created the modern Tom Williams who, after imagining that 50 year old men were being anything other than patronizing toward a teen, had no incentive to grow up.
Youthfully ignorant entrepreneurial drive win, personal growth and development fail. His wife's hot, though.
Re: Tom Williams: Hired by Apple at 14. His full story.
#34I'll chime in. I won't say how I'm involved with Tom, but we've been associated in the past. Let's just say that the impression I had upon meeting him was that he's basically a tax-dodging former child star with an ongoing microfinance scandal (covered by apparent nemesis David Baines): http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id... http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html... http…
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Re: Tom Williams: Hired by Apple at 14. His full story.
#35I'll chime in. I won't say how I'm involved with Tom, but we've been associated in the past. Let's just say that the impression I had upon meeting him was that he's basically a tax-dodging former child star with an ongoing microfinance scandal (covered by apparent nemesis David Baines): http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id... http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html... http…
looks like tom decided to respond on his own blog:
http://givemeaning.blogspot.com/search/label/david%20baines
man, this is ugly.
Re: Tom Williams: Hired by Apple at 14. His full story.
#36so...what did he create? I didn't see anything about him actually creating anything.
Re: Tom Williams: Hired by Apple at 14. His full story.
#37I met this guy in 2004. He talked about himself for 20 or 30 minutes before I got a word in. He had a couple of ideas at the time, some about charitable giving, and others were about fighting spam with the technique of charging strangers to receive their email. (This is such an oft-repeated idea it's listed in the "You Might Be An Anti-Spam Kook" page). I told him that there were a few things wrong with his approach,…
I do feel obligated to remind myself that your impression is limited in the fact that the scope is narrow, just one experience with him seemed to form the impression. That being said, this makes me even more curious about his story as it is a representation of many similar stories, countless young people (my role models) persisting and working their ass off, being rewarded as a result, but then after they seem to jus…
In my experience, the thing that sets true genius apart from the contentious kind, is the willingness to listen. If you don't have that, then you're not really as smart as you - or others - think you are.
The capability a person has for listening to other people is a skill that very rarely gets acknowledged as a particularly genius trait. However, there is really nothing that can be done in this world if you aren't willing to listen at least as well as you talk.
Re: Tom Williams: Hired by Apple at 14. His full story.
#38Good story and read, but he blows his role out of proportion at times in comparison to what it really was. I mean he described himself as: "They just thought I would be a great guy to have around. We kind of had to figure out what my role was." And then goes on to talk like he was mini-Steve Jobs.
Personality: its infectious. There is such a thing as contagious psychology. Hang around at Apple long enough and you, too, will start to appear Guru'ified.
Hell, Apple have made a fortune on this fact alone.
Re: Tom Williams: Hired by Apple at 14. His full story.
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do feel obligated to remind myself that your impression is limited in the fact that the scope is narrow, just one experience with him seemed to form the impression. That being said, this makes me even more curious about his story as it is a representation of many similar stories, countless young people (my role models) persisting and working their ass off, being rewarded as a result, but then after they seem to jus…
In my experience, the thing that sets true genius apart from the contentious kind, is the willingness to listen. If you don't have that, then you're not really as smart as you - or others - think you are. The capability a person has for listening to other people is a skill that very rarely gets acknowledged as a particularly genius trait. However, there is really nothing that can be done in this world if you aren't w…
Wholly agree with that.
The guy who blusters about and talks a lot might well be pretty smart. His charisma opens doors.
But I for one would be keeping an eye on the guy by the door who hasnt spoken yet. Because usually, just as it is "all decided" he can chime in with the most insight of the day :)
Re: Tom Williams: Hired by Apple at 14. His full story.
#40I'll chime in. I won't say how I'm involved with Tom, but we've been associated in the past. Let's just say that the impression I had upon meeting him was that he's basically a tax-dodging former child star with an ongoing microfinance scandal (covered by apparent nemesis David Baines): http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id... http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html... http…
Having hot wife paves over a lot. How bad can the guy be if she puts up with him?