The days are long but the decades are short • Hacker News Board

Re: The days are long but the decades are short

#191

Post by basicallygenius » Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 10:57 PM UTC

stephengillie wrote: post #155

aeontech wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked at a small startup like this once. The boss/founder came from a non-software background, so he was used to expecting everyone in the office by 8 am. The way I explained it to him was "You pay me to think about the software, and solve the problems. I do this not only in the office, I do this in the shower, I do this on the way home, I do this on the way to work. Now, is it more important for me to be thinking…

I work at what the owners call a "15-year old startup" and they're very strict about being on time for the office hours. And the reasons you cite (in the shower, while commuting) are among the reasons they pay us salary. We're expected to work a small amount in the evenings and weekends as well as our 40 hours during the week. Our management uses the excuse "Well, it's the tech industry, we all work extra."

This is major bullshit. "We all work extra" can be translated to "we're all shitty at managing our time, and so you must be too"

Re: The days are long but the decades are short

#192

Post by kpennell » Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 10:59 PM UTC

rimantas wrote: post #181

putzdown wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your twenties are the age of proving yourself. But this is a self-defeating goal: a person worthy of the respect and success you yearn for doesn't need them as badly as you do. Your thirties expand and narrow your world: expansion into parenting (for many) and to richer relationships, if you can survive them, with spouses. But now you know your limits, and the sky is no longer it. There's a contraction of options, bu…

You should replace "Your" by "My".

The original article doesn't. Neither do most of the comments.

Re: The days are long but the decades are short

#193

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 10:59 PM UTC

rimantas wrote: post #181

putzdown wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your twenties are the age of proving yourself. But this is a self-defeating goal: a person worthy of the respect and success you yearn for doesn't need them as badly as you do. Your thirties expand and narrow your world: expansion into parenting (for many) and to richer relationships, if you can survive them, with spouses. But now you know your limits, and the sky is no longer it. There's a contraction of options, bu…

You should replace "Your" by "My".

[deleted]

Re: The days are long but the decades are short

#194

Post by poikniok » Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 11:01 PM UTC

stephengillie wrote: post #155

aeontech wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked at a small startup like this once. The boss/founder came from a non-software background, so he was used to expecting everyone in the office by 8 am. The way I explained it to him was "You pay me to think about the software, and solve the problems. I do this not only in the office, I do this in the shower, I do this on the way home, I do this on the way to work. Now, is it more important for me to be thinking…

I work at what the owners call a "15-year old startup" and they're very strict about being on time for the office hours. And the reasons you cite (in the shower, while commuting) are among the reasons they pay us salary. We're expected to work a small amount in the evenings and weekends as well as our 40 hours during the week. Our management uses the excuse "Well, it's the tech industry, we all work extra."

Wow that is somewhat surprising. I work at hedge fund, what one might consider a fairly stogy industry, and nobody cares when I come in to work, which is 9 or 10 usually.

Re: The days are long but the decades are short

#195

Post by cortesoft » Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 11:04 PM UTC

lojack wrote: post #121

lukasm wrote: post #52

"Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. " "Become the best at one specific thing. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things. The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone even try." ref http://pmarchive.com/guide_to_career_planning_part2.html

> Become the best at one specific thing. I don't necessarily think that's even close to impossible. You can always increase the specificity of a skill to the point where it's possible to become the best at it. If you want an example, it's near impossible for most people to become the best programmer (there can only be one), but go to github and pick a random library and pick the most active contributor to that librar…

Sure, it isn't logically impossible. In fact, everyone is certainly the best in the world at SOMETHING, if you get specific enough (like, I am best in the world at physically occupying the space I exist in).... but that doesn't really mean much. Being the best at something only means something if what you are the best at matters.

Re: The days are long but the decades are short

#196

Post by cortesoft » Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 11:06 PM UTC

navait wrote: post #177

> How to succeed: pick the right thing to do (this is critical and usually ignored) How does one even find the right thing to do?

Well, start by not doing the wrong thing to do.

Re: The days are long but the decades are short

#197

Post by pyrrhotech » Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 11:11 PM UTC

johnward wrote: post #97

" On work: it’s difficult to do a great job on work you don’t care about. And it’s hard to be totally happy/fulfilled in life if you don’t like what you do for your work." How do you fix this? For the last 10 years of my life I've basically woken up each morning and wished I hadn't. I don't like what I do. I can't afford to not do it anymore. I don't even know what, if anything, I would actually enjoy waking up for.

This just reality for many of us. Find something besides work to focus on, save as much as you can, and look forward to the day that you have the FU money to wake up every day thereafter to do whatever you please. Check out mrmoneymustache.com

Re: The days are long but the decades are short

#198

Post by lifeisstillgood » Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 11:16 PM UTC

fu9ar wrote: post #154

VLM wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a contrarian view, I kinda like the strict schedule. Lets face it, you're going to have to suffer thru primate dominance rituals. This particular dominance ritual is well understood and easily worked around and isn't all that painful and usually isn't very punishing. What I'm getting at is the alternatives for the boss to throw some weight around and show who's boss are generally worse than a mere schedule. "Oh, s…

Calling an Industrial Age invention a primate dominance ritual is insane.

I don't think that's the parents meaning.

There always have been and will be dominance rituals. Some would have been physical fights, but in modern office culture punching subordinates is seen as unacceptable - but some people still need some dominance rituals - and picking a fight over "do as I tell you and turn up on time, thus demonstrating I am the dominant one" is pretty tame stuff compared to a silver back ripping your ear off.

Re: The days are long but the decades are short

#199

Post by j_lev » Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 11:16 PM UTC

fuzzythinker wrote: post #28

> When in doubt, kiss the boy/girl I got slapped in the face doing that in middle school.

These days you'd just be suspended and accused of sexual harassment.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/11/living/6-year-old-suspende...

Re: The days are long but the decades are short

#200

Post by pauleastlund » Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 11:18 PM UTC

MrZongle2 wrote: post #25

sz4kerto wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a child relativizes everything else and makes life so much easier because you don't need to figure out the meaning of your life anymore and you don't even need to be successful, neither personally nor professionally. This does not mean you won't be or you can't be, it just does not matter that much anymore. And this is friggin' liberating.

Father of two here. It's true that having a child forces any responsible adult into revisiting their priorities, and some things that seemed important before parenthood suddenly aren't . I don't think it eliminates a desire to be successful: I think that it changes the parameters by which you determine success. And having a child throw up/mess on your nice clothes and shower the inside of your nice car with food and…

Father of four here.

> It is worth it, and anybody without kids who says otherwise knows not of which they speak.

Marriage and parenthood have both transformed my life in really amazing ways. Having a family relying on me has made me a better, happier person, and it's brought me a stronger sense of purpose. I had kids early, and my friends thought I was crazy, and I used to try to change their minds: you've no idea what you're missing, I told them! You've got to try it!

I still think parenthood is life-changingly amazing, but as I've watched more of my contemporaries get married have kids... a lot of them are pleased as punch, but at least a few don't seem to be. I've begun to temper my advocacy of getting married and having kids to people who aren't sure if it's for them. Maybe they're not sure for a reason. People who've never been parents can't know how great it might be without trying it, but I've learned that I can't extrapolate perfectly from my experience, either.