Glad to hear that your story is getting a little more press, Owen. You deserve it.
The First Digg Developer Dispels the Myths Surrounding Digg & Startups in General
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Re: The First Digg Developer Dispels the Myths Surrounding Digg & Startups in General
#22Owen, a quick question. Who is Eli? I recall several times Kevin saying that he hired a guy named Eli from elance to do some personal web stuff for him, and then hired him to do Digg.
Eli White was the 3rd developer we hired. Kevin must have been confused because I'm pretty sure Eli never participated in elance.
Re: The First Digg Developer Dispels the Myths Surrounding Digg & Startups in General
#23Somebody please create Wikipedia entry for Owen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Owen+Byrn...
Re: The First Digg Developer Dispels the Myths Surrounding Digg & Startups in General
#24Owen said: It’s a bit of a myth that it’s all young coders. There actually lots of people in their late 30s and their 40s. I’ve been a programmer for 25 years and I’ve actually worked hard to keep up with new technology. That's quite encouraging. Sometimes I think one could be forgiven for getting the impression that if you're over 25 and you haven't made it in start-up land, then you may as well quit.
The only thing for youth is the tolerance for risk can be higher than 40 yrs old for most engineers. But as long as engineers keep up skills. Their experience are very valuable. It was the same when I worked in PubSub then. CTO Bob Wyman hired a bunch of 40 something engineers and they really can do cool engineering than 20 something. -- edit -- Engineers in PubSub then are at least 30 yrs old in 2005. The youngest e…
... as long as engineers keep up skills ...
This is a good point that probably seems so obvious to most people here, but none the less is overlooked by many elsewhere. Where I work my day job now, I can see a clear delineation between those that left their "official" studying years with the conscious or unconscious idea that they really no longer had to learn anything new, and those who know that especially in our industry, you must actively and continuously put time into developing your skills and knowledge.
The sad thing is that in many if not all big organisations (particularly government), you can be the first kind of person and go through the motions each day just fine. They don't even get called on it most of the time.
I know which kind of person I get along with better and which shits me to tears when I have to deal with them.
Re: The First Digg Developer Dispels the Myths Surrounding Digg & Startups in General
#25I had assumed that Owen was in his 20's. Whoops. Very cool.
I made the same mistake when he interviewed me...I heard "helped start Digg" and I made an assumption. Funny how the "young startup founder" stereotype is so strong.
Re: The First Digg Developer Dispels the Myths Surrounding Digg & Startups in General
#26Re: The First Digg Developer Dispels the Myths Surrounding Digg & Startups in General
#27Re: The First Digg Developer Dispels the Myths Surrounding Digg & Startups in General
#28Re: The First Digg Developer Dispels the Myths Surrounding Digg & Startups in General
#29This description http://www.crunchbase.com/person/owen-byrne doesn't sound like the real story =)