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My Mathematical Regression

blog.dahl.dev

141–150 of 159 posts

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If his monetary value to the company was as said why would any other metric like complexity even remotely matter or need convincing assuming the main goal of the company was to make money. Money would matter even more than the interpersonal stuff in most cases but on top of it even the managers treasured him so there should've been even less of an issue of communicating value. Getting bored is totally understandable…

> If his monetary value to the company was as said why would any other metric like complexity even remotely matter Here is why: I turned off a feature flag in our feature flagging service which saved company 10% infra cost, do you think I can be promoted to Staff+ and lead 50 engineers? Promotions and/or recognitions in corporate environments works differently. I don't agree with it, but this is how it works: If what…

Models of extra compensation works elsewhere, like commissions and base salaries. I would think we could come up with something for engineers and ops in return for saving the company money that doesn't result in exploitative behavior.

There is just no collective bargaining power to put it into effect.

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#142
post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get it, is the point you're trying to make that Ted Kaczynski wasn't smart?!

Just the opposite: he was very smart; but most people don't consider his overall life choices to be something you would want to copy.

Ah, got it! Thanks for the clarification.

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#143
post #85
post #7

I think one of the saddest thing is that the kind of person who would recognize, "we can solve this seemingly complicated problem by just applying this formula", would often have trouble even getting recognized in many corporate environments. I managed a guy like that. He was capable of very complex thinking, but he wasn't in love with complexity, he was in love with simplicity. His solutions tended to be of the form…

>> He eventually got bored. He retired and joined a seminary. Wow, got bored and joined a seminary - Do you know how does he feel there? A genuine question - Did he expect to get excited and challenged in a seminary?

"The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass, God is waiting for you."

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#144
post #140

Something I haven't seen anyone else mention is that this is problem 15. The author probably did the previous 14 problems too. IIRC the problems aren't strictly cumulative but you do generally end up warmed up and with hints about how to approach problem N efficiently from problems [1, N-1]. Skills do decay, I can't deny that. But even when I was still in school going back and doing an end-of-year problem for a class…

The sequence numbers of problems on Project Euler only represent the order of publication. They aren't deliberately connected except for a few problems that have one or two follow-ups.

Most of the first 100 problems can be solved without any understanding of the problem, should you so desire.

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm one of the few who absolutely believe they're not one of the rare "good" - hopefully, "not yet". What resources do you recommend to improve ?

radical candor is a good book that explores a simple framework for people management.

A massively abused book that led many to justify being assholes. You don’t have to read it, here’s the Cliff’s Notes:

Care personally, challenge directly.

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#146
post #7

I think one of the saddest thing is that the kind of person who would recognize, "we can solve this seemingly complicated problem by just applying this formula", would often have trouble even getting recognized in many corporate environments. I managed a guy like that. He was capable of very complex thinking, but he wasn't in love with complexity, he was in love with simplicity. His solutions tended to be of the form…

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but nothing to take away. ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#147
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good managers are fairly rare, even though every manager probably thinks they are a good manager.

I'm one of the few who absolutely believe they're not one of the rare "good" - hopefully, "not yet". What resources do you recommend to improve ?

I think thats a good start probably haha. I am not a manager, and have not had a "good" one in a very long time, so I have no resources unfortunately. That isn't to say mine are bad, they let me be autonomous as an IC and I have a lot of flexibility. I am coming more from a human angle, and not a "these are the 5 things you need to do to be a good manager" angle. In my company, most people are too busy with day to day activities to really focus on developing people. When I parted with my last one, he thought we had only been together for 2 years...it had been 5. I think a lot of managers just don't really listen, they nod their head and give some advice and then 4 weeks later we're just having the same conversation again.

Everyone's situation is different, so without context this probably just reads as pouting or possibly me being incompetent haha.

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#149
Professional mathematicians and computer scientists use AI as well. Maybe that's not very reassuring from the standpoint of skills regression in modern adult work culture, but at least it demonstrates that skills and tool usage aren't mutually exclusive.

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#150
post #85
post #7

I think one of the saddest thing is that the kind of person who would recognize, "we can solve this seemingly complicated problem by just applying this formula", would often have trouble even getting recognized in many corporate environments. I managed a guy like that. He was capable of very complex thinking, but he wasn't in love with complexity, he was in love with simplicity. His solutions tended to be of the form…

>> He eventually got bored. He retired and joined a seminary. Wow, got bored and joined a seminary - Do you know how does he feel there? A genuine question - Did he expect to get excited and challenged in a seminary?

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