[deleted]
Time for programmers to grow a spine
31–40 of 47 posts
Re: Time for programmers to grow a spine
#32Who is this article really for? If you want to work for a "safe" company and bring in a good salary and benefits, then go for it. If you want to take the risk and work for a startup, you can do that too! We all value different things and we will seek what interests us the most. > A fulfilled life is inherently a risky one Is it really? Is that necessarily true for everyone?
Yeah, I read this I hope you didn’t work a safe job, at a safe company, in a safe industry for your entire life. And just thought "Thanks, fuck you too." Maybe I don't feel like screwing up after taking on ridiculous amounts of risk and then being a burden on society cause I don't have any money.
Re: Time for programmers to grow a spine
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
You aren't addressing programmers who want to know why their side projects and startup ideas are never getting off the ground. "Maybe it's because you're playing too many video games" would be a reasonable thing to say to that audience. You are instead addressing any and all programmers, and are assuming they all want what you want. I hope you realize how off-putting this is to the people who are just fine with worki…
So they're put off. So what? The strong impression I have is that they aren't the people whom the author is addressing, in any case.
He starts by chastising all developers, coders, and programmers that aren't into the idea of being entrepreneurs.
The thesis of the article is basically:
1. You're wrong to be happy with your non-entreprenuereal career
2. You're wrong if you aren't trying really hard to become an entrepreneur
This is a very dickish piece.
Re: Time for programmers to grow a spine
#34"I hope you took some risks. I hope you tried something new. I hope you learned much more than what college taught you".
I was deeply impressed by Paddy Ashdown's biography (former leader of UK's Liberal Democrats). He joined the Royal Marines at 18, served as an officer seeing combat in Malaya and the Middle East, joined the SBS, spent 2 and half years learning Chinese in Hong Kong "immersed" in the local culture, joined MI6, spent 7 years of immensely hard effort (some of it while scraping through while unemployed or dead end jobs) becoming an MP, became leader of his party, helped in the conflict in Bosnia (with a multi-million dollar price on his head)....
Even though I've co-founded a VC founded startup and worked at other startups I felt distinctly risk-adverse after reading about all of that. After all, anything you do while sitting at a desk using a PC can't be that risky....
Re: Time for programmers to grow a spine
#35I don't see what's so touchy about what the author's main (valid) point is. Getting out of your comfort zone is a great thing to do. Be brave, but also be smart about the decisions you make and inject some variety into your life.
The main point is okay. Dull, heard many times, but okay.
The delivery (and I'm not just talking about the incompetent CSS) is horrible.
Re: Time for programmers to grow a spine
#36Great read.
Re: Time for programmers to grow a spine
#37this is just a whinge from someone who couldn't hire developers for his startup, which is probably lame and/or complete bullshit, like most of them are
Re: Time for programmers to grow a spine
#38Meh, how about I manage my own life and you sod off?
Re: Time for programmers to grow a spine
#39He looks quite young - does he have a family to provide for? Does he have only 20 years left to take care of his retirement and financing of his children's education? Has he actually done the maths?
Re: Time for programmers to grow a spine
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Note that I didn't say you needed to work 100 hour weeks. I don't think that you should spend all your time at the laptop, in fact I specifically mentioned helping others and family as a really important investment of time. I just think talking yourself out of working extra hours when you waste a lot of those extra hours is just self deception.
I'm not a programmer, but I do know that there's a reason people watch TV and do other "useless" things, and that is because it's not work . People need balance. Personally I prefer going for a walk or writing, but hey, each their thing.
Yeah. Considering TV and such in isolation is wrong. You can't just say "you wasted those 15 hours on TV" because, if we assume that that TV watching was wasteful in and of itself, you can't know what repercussions it would have if he hadn't done it. Maybe he would have burned out because he didn't have any off-time.