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Things Many People Find Too Obvious to Have Told You Already

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Re: Things Many People Find Too Obvious to Have Told You Already

#161

Post by edanm »

dsp1234 wrote: post #142
tikhonj wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, they do a pretty bad job teaching CS too. Your average undergrad program is almost entirely learning about CS, not learning CS. A non-trivial of students get through a CS degree never doing anything novel in CS —a real shame because, unlike math, research-level CS problems are eminently accessible to undergrads. It doesn't even have to be "real" research: I just expect more than classes which have you reg…

Your average undergrad program... CS degree never doing anything novel in CS Is this different than any other field? I was under the impression that most BS programs do not require novel research. That doesn't come until post graduate courses.

I think it doesn't come until a second degree, or sometimes a graduate degree. Not post graduate.

Re: Things Many People Find Too Obvious to Have Told You Already

#162

Post by sah2ed »

rytill wrote: post #99

> Meta thought: you radically underestimate both a) how much you know that other people do not and b) the instrumental benefits to you of publishing it. Can someone explain b) to me? Is he saying that, assuming you fit into category a, by explicitly revealing your knowledge, your potential opportunities will expand more than you estimate?

Yes.

For instance, if you consistently put out good pieces on your past experiences in the software industry as a PM, then your current experiences as a software business owner, you will gradually become widely known as the guy who gives advice about what you shouldn't be doing in your software career or software business.

This was essentially how Joel Spolsky grew his audience through his blog -- turning his knowledge into published pieces. His blog audience combined with Jeffrey Atwood's blog audience were instrumental to getting StackOverflow off the ground.

You never know, but having an existing audience can be an incredible enabler for getting your future ventures off the ground.

Re: Things Many People Find Too Obvious to Have Told You Already

#163

Post by khedoros1 »

wmeredith wrote: post #114
saryant wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he's arguing that the average wage in our industry is low simply because the workforce leans so young, so a disproportionate number of software engineers are still junior—and making junior wages—compared to other industries where the age curve is more spread out.

> the average wage in our industry is low Is this a joke?

They aren't low compared to wages in other industries, but I've heard it repeated over and over that they're low compared to the value that software devs create.

Re: Things Many People Find Too Obvious to Have Told You Already

#164

Post by chubot »

The hardest problem in B2C is distribution. The hardest problem in B2B is sales. AppAmaGooBookSoft are AppAmaGooBookSoft primarily because they have mortal locks on distribution.

I agree with this, but I think it's interesting. Wasn't the Internet supposed to democratize distribution? All someone has to do is go to your website. And anybody can set up a website.

So it seems like the Internet just shifted the goal posts for everyone? The winners are still as dominant as ever.

But I guess it is true that you can have a break-out hit like Instagram or WhatsApp, and that wasn't possible pre-Internet. The time scales are compressed.

But perversely, maybe because distribution is easier and software flows more freely, you have to be even better? You can't rely on "local inefficiencies"? You have to be globally the best.

Re: Things Many People Find Too Obvious to Have Told You Already

#165

Post by scribu »

md224 wrote: post #104

> Charge more. Charge more still. Go on. This might sound stupid, and maybe it's my inner hippie talking, but did this make anyone else slightly uncomfortable? I get that it's "good business", but something feels kinda gross about saying "extract as much money from other people as you possibly can." Like... shouldn't you just charge whatever you think something (a product, your time) is worth? I realize that "what so…

> shouldn't you just charge whatever you think something (a product, your time) is worth?

How exactly do you, as a programmer without knowledge of the employer’s or client’s business, determine what a piece of software is worth to them?

You have no idea. So you use various heuristics which are more easily available but misleading, like “what are other people being paid?”

Re: Things Many People Find Too Obvious to Have Told You Already

#166

Post by [deleted] »

csours wrote: post #111
rhaps0dy wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you framed your anecdotal evidence as supporting the OP's statement, but also that you misunderstood such statement; and you actually present evidence against it. If companies find it hard to reliably staff generalist positions, _and_ you're a generalist as you claim, then you would find it _easy_ to get a job.

There is a massive gulf between hiring and work. There's another massive gulf between what a manager asks for and what HR or recruiters ask for. > "If companies find it hard to reliably staff generalist positions" The process of hiring for this is hard. Finding people like this is also hard.

[deleted]

Re: Things Many People Find Too Obvious to Have Told You Already

#168

Post by majani »

md224 wrote: post #104

> Charge more. Charge more still. Go on. This might sound stupid, and maybe it's my inner hippie talking, but did this make anyone else slightly uncomfortable? I get that it's "good business", but something feels kinda gross about saying "extract as much money from other people as you possibly can." Like... shouldn't you just charge whatever you think something (a product, your time) is worth? I realize that "what so…

Charging whatever YOU think it's worth is where your reasoning is flawed. The point of charging more is so that you find out what the CUSTOMER thinks your product is worth. However, I understand that the brevity of the sentence makes it seem like the author was asking that you hike the price day after day until your clients start refinancing their houses to pay you, but there are more tasteful ways to increase pricing which is what he was referring to.

Re: Things Many People Find Too Obvious to Have Told You Already

#170

Post by eponeponepon »

claudiulodro wrote: post #75

> The chief products of the tech industry are (in B2C) developing new habits among consumers This was a profound revelation I didn't realize until I read it just now. Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc. have all done so well by starting a habit for their users. ("Check Facebook daily to see what your friends are up to." "Google it whenever you need info." "Buy your stuff conveniently on Amazon when you don't want to go to…

    > I think lots of industries are ripe 
    > for "habit-ifying", and I'm going 
    > to pursue that further. Brilliant 
    > insight.
This is, of course, the same insight that the gambling and tobacco industries and cults thrive on.

Not talking you down - just reminding you never to forget the moral angle.

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