Engineers: Stop trying to win other people's game • Hacker News Board

Re: Engineers: Stop trying to win other people's game

#11

Post by devsda » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 3:36 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #3

If you've actually mastered that quadrant - why would you be an engineer? Learn fundraising too (which in this environment is super-easy if you're AI-related, I've heard multiple reports of people in their 20s being offered $5M+ in seed funding if they start a company that has "AI" in the name) and make them acquire you. If you've got management and sales skills your startup might even succeed before they acquire you…

Can someone explain the VC economics behind this during a bubble. Is it

1. Funding for other projects gets diverted to AI

2. Traditional VCs see potential for greater risks, rewards and increases portfolio

3. Funds available to traditional VCs expands ?

4. New VCs jumping on to the hype train.

Is it any of the above or did I miss the mark completely.

Re: Engineers: Stop trying to win other people's game

#12

Post by LambdaComplex » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 3:40 PM UTC

"Your employability is higher if you get good at doing things that few other people are good at doing."

There, I just condensed the entire article into one sentence.

Re: Engineers: Stop trying to win other people's game

#13

Post by jayd16 » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 3:41 PM UTC

It seems contradictory to move to new and rare technologies with clear customer outcomes.

Would it be wrong to say the advice is to hype chase, lean into new stuff and bail quickly when it's not working out? They hand wave away hype chasing by saying it's for the customer but I'm not sure that really changes things.

At least the advice about how the goal is to serve the customer not the tech is good.

Re: Engineers: Stop trying to win other people's game

#14

Post by davidw » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 3:43 PM UTC

adammarples wrote: post #10

The Western Front has a different context in Europe, the trenches of WW1. I'm not sure what it means in the American context but maybe it's referring to the westward expansion and colonisation?

As someone born and raised in the western US, I think of "western front" as WWI, not the westward expansion of the US. There are different terms for that.

The famous book refers to WWI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front

Re: Engineers: Stop trying to win other people's game

#15

Post by rvz » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 3:46 PM UTC

devsda wrote: post #11

nostrademons wrote: post #3

If you've actually mastered that quadrant - why would you be an engineer? Learn fundraising too (which in this environment is super-easy if you're AI-related, I've heard multiple reports of people in their 20s being offered $5M+ in seed funding if they start a company that has "AI" in the name) and make them acquire you. If you've got management and sales skills your startup might even succeed before they acquire you…

Can someone explain the VC economics behind this during a bubble. Is it 1. Funding for other projects gets diverted to AI 2. Traditional VCs see potential for greater risks, rewards and increases portfolio 3. Funds available to traditional VCs expands ? 4. New VCs jumping on to the hype train. Is it any of the above or did I miss the mark completely.

All of the above including the regular rotation of realized gains into early stage AI startups.

Rinse and repeat.

Re: Engineers: Stop trying to win other people's game

#16

Post by mrwrong » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 3:47 PM UTC

adammarples wrote: post #10

The Western Front has a different context in Europe, the trenches of WW1. I'm not sure what it means in the American context but maybe it's referring to the westward expansion and colonisation?

it means the WW1 front in the US as well. I've never heard it used to refer to the western frontier/American frontier/wild west

Re: Engineers: Stop trying to win other people's game

#17

Post by davidw » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 3:56 PM UTC

mrwrong wrote: post #16

adammarples wrote: post #10

The Western Front has a different context in Europe, the trenches of WW1. I'm not sure what it means in the American context but maybe it's referring to the westward expansion and colonisation?

it means the WW1 front in the US as well. I've never heard it used to refer to the western frontier/American frontier/wild west

And in any event, to be extra nitpicky, the mountain climber guy depicted is representative of neither the western frontier, nor the western front.

Re: Engineers: Stop trying to win other people's game

#18

Post by lo_zamoyski » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 4:18 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #3

If you've actually mastered that quadrant - why would you be an engineer? Learn fundraising too (which in this environment is super-easy if you're AI-related, I've heard multiple reports of people in their 20s being offered $5M+ in seed funding if they start a company that has "AI" in the name) and make them acquire you. If you've got management and sales skills your startup might even succeed before they acquire you…

Being an engineer and being contextually intelligent are not mutually exclusive. Understanding context is necessary for being an effective lead engineer, for instance. Without sufficient context, you cannot make effective technical decisions.

The purpose of a technology is not inherent to the technology itself, but externally determined, and without knowing context, you cannot know the purpose, and if you don't know the purpose, you won't know which way to go, and without knowing the terrain you have to navigate, you won't know how to get to your destination or how to prioritize your work. Strategy and tactics become impossible.

Re: Engineers: Stop trying to win other people's game

#19

Post by lo_zamoyski » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 4:20 PM UTC

zzzeek wrote: post #9

the main thing "rare" engineers would have in common is that they think for themselves and dont need preachy blog posts with ambiguously sexist AI graphics to tell them how.

I don't see anything "sexist", not by any stretch. You may want to consider that you're projecting.

Re: Engineers: Stop trying to win other people's game

#20

Post by OnionBlender » Tue, Dec 09, 2025, 5:56 PM UTC

lo_zamoyski wrote: post #19

zzzeek wrote: post #9

the main thing "rare" engineers would have in common is that they think for themselves and dont need preachy blog posts with ambiguously sexist AI graphics to tell them how.

I don't see anything "sexist", not by any stretch. You may want to consider that you're projecting.

I assume they thought the person on top of the mountain is a man instead of the same woman with her hair tied back.