Things Many People Find Too Obvious to Have Told You Already • Hacker News Board

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

#391

Post by delhanty » Sat, Dec 02, 2017, 12:09 PM UTC

timthelion wrote: post #389

delhanty wrote: post #385

>Your idea is not valuable, at all. All value is in the execution. You think you are an exception; you are not. You should not insist on an NDA to talk about it; nobody serious will engage in contract review over an idea, and this will mark you as clueless. John Carmack is unusually direct and asserts pretty much the same things a couple of weeks back. [1] >This will never, ever work. Nobody will build your game idea…

I agree and disagree with this one. Of course, no one is going to pay money for your game idea, but there are ideas which require an NDA. Those ideas typically take years of development and a person with such an idea would be able to present hundreds of pages of alternate designs and their pros/cons. For example, if I have a design for a 3mm x 1mm mechanism that can actuate a rod by 2mm and I know what kind of power…

>a person with such an idea would be able to present hundreds of pages of alternate designs

Arguably, that's much more than just an idea - it's the idea plus the development of the idea, with most of the value being in the development bit.

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

#392

Post by jondubois » Sat, Dec 02, 2017, 12:17 PM UTC

astura wrote: post #319

jondubois wrote: post #283

I agree with most points except this one: >> Most open source software is written by programmers who are full-time employed by companies which directly consume the software, at the explicit or implicit blessing of their employers. It is not charity work, any more than they charitably file taxes. Most open source projects don't go anywhere... They have about 3 stars on Github and nobody uses them. To say that open sou…

You're making the mistake of assuming open source means "something you that's not your job." This is false. Most open source development is paid work . Many people "get into open source" by accepting a regular day job. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/for-50-percent-of-devel...

I've done open source work for 10 years. I'm pretty sure I know what open source means.

You can have a look at GitHub; there are 25 million active repos on there; at least 99% of them are not sponsored by any company and nobody gets paid to work on them.

People like the OP and yourself are spreading distorted ideas which harm open source and the software ecosystem as a whole.

Putting open source projects on the same level as commercial software is not right. They are often completely different kinds of people behind them.

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

#393

Post by timthelion » Sat, Dec 02, 2017, 12:38 PM UTC

delhanty wrote: post #391

timthelion wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree and disagree with this one. Of course, no one is going to pay money for your game idea, but there are ideas which require an NDA. Those ideas typically take years of development and a person with such an idea would be able to present hundreds of pages of alternate designs and their pros/cons. For example, if I have a design for a 3mm x 1mm mechanism that can actuate a rod by 2mm and I know what kind of power…

>a person with such an idea would be able to present hundreds of pages of alternate designs Arguably, that's much more than just an idea - it's the idea plus the development of the idea, with most of the value being in the development bit.

True, but if I know that you have been working on the idea for 5 years, and that you have those hundreds of pages of alternate designs, then even just the end result may be valuable enough to me that you would want an NDA.

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

#394

Post by hyperpallium » Sat, Dec 02, 2017, 12:50 PM UTC

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…

Such "habits" are customary behaviours for getting a task done. The Innovator's Dilemma sees this as key feature of sustaining innovations, that might be technically revolutionary, but don't require any change in customer behaviour. It is an economic moat or enduring competitive advantage for them.

But when an innovation requires a change in customer behaviour, no such advantage applies, and the gates are open to new entrant. The book calls this disruptive innovation (and is the source of that term).

The companies listed all become successful due to such innovations.

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

#395

Post by csomar » Sat, Dec 02, 2017, 12:55 PM UTC

Kluny wrote: post #363

> Charge more. Charge more still. Go on. I find this advice unhelpful. In the past, when I was making $23/hour as a web developer, people would occasionally ask to hire me for freelance work. I've given various answers, from $30 to $100, and haven't had any takers yet. The only freelance work I've actually done so far was when I said, "what do you think it's worth?" and my friend said, "I dunno, 60?" It was for about…

Then you are not competitive enough or not marketing to the right people.

You might think that there is a market for $15/h skilled developers, but there probably isn't. There is a huge market, however, for NewStartup CEOs looking for dev at $15/h.

They'll keep running in circles until they find something on their budget, or they don't. But they'll not raise prices. Beware of those.

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

#396

Post by aalleavitch » Sat, Dec 02, 2017, 1:01 PM UTC

r00fus wrote: post #206

eponeponepon wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Is it a moral issue if the habit a starts a virtuous cycle? Like my Apple Watch making me exercise more?

It's pretty important to be constantly evaluating the ethical implications of what you're producing. I can't speak for larger companies, but I get the impression that ethics in software development is not nearly as emphasized as it should be. Even the tech guys/gals should be highly concerned with how their product affects their users' overall well-being (or the well-being of those around their users). In fact, they're a critical layer in protecting against unethical business practices given they're the ones actually implementing things and mediating the user's experience on a ground level. Small features in your product can have significant repercussions on the lives of many users given how these things scale. What could be a few lines of code to you could be something that millions of people end up being influenced by hundreds of times a day.

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

#397

Post by reboog711 » Sat, Dec 02, 2017, 1:03 PM UTC

eropple wrote: post #368

dcosson wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sheesh, get over yourself. I'm not trying to be a jerk but this is such an obnoxiously braggy complaint. Yes, companies have complex problems to solve, that require more than a few days or weeks of work at a time. If you want to just wake up every day and decide that you need to work on a totally new project, you're not going to be very useful. Lots of people have a wide range of interests, but you pick one of the ma…

You've heard of "be a multiplier, not an adder", right? My contention is that many good developers can be multipliers across very large portions of an engineering organization when given the chance. Dysfunction does seem to be the natural state of any business, and engineering groups are no exception; technical and social resources capable of and empowered to tackle cross-cutting concerns are that chance I'm describi…

I have not heard of 'be a multiplier, not an adder' Can you elaborate?

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

#398

Post by CM30 » Sat, Dec 02, 2017, 1:05 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #98

legitster wrote: post #69

This one had me stop >The explosive growth of the tech sector keeps average age down and depresses average wages. Compared to industries which existed in materially the same form in 1970, we have a stupidly compressed experience spectrum: 5+ years rounds to "senior." This is not a joke. I agree that it compresses the experience spectrum, but has the opposite effect on wages. It's tough to find any industry that pays…

It's tough to find any industry that pays more for the amount of experience/education. And in five years you'll be making about as much as you're ever going to make. I believe that was at least part of the point.

Is this really a bad thing compared to all of those fields that have people working in them making less than software developers even after years of experience?

Someone five years into a developer role at Google is probably making much more than someone with fifteen years of experience in say, retail or nursing.

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

#399

Post by slfnflctd » Sat, Dec 02, 2017, 1:09 PM UTC

noneedtoask wrote: post #384

patientplatypus wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, not that it matters to my argument, but I did go to university, and did well (in the academic sense - much of my time would probably have been better spent drinking and networking rather than getting good grades). Personally I think it was an incredible waste of time. Even though I worked incredibly hard in many diverse subject areas, most of what I learned was taught at such an abstract level as to be complete…

First, you should know that the "barrier of connections and money" you talk about does not apply everywhere. Actually, a lot of universities are free so long as you prove you are smart enough through entry exams. So while it still is used as a class filter everywhere, realize that there is equal chance in a lot of countries to get into any university. Secondly, universities are not meant to prepare you for a better s…

> universities are not meant to prepare you for a better salary or job

Regardless of what any individual may think a university is or isn't meant for, this is how they are used.

As a high school dropout, I was directly told by managers in more than one situation that all I needed was a Bachelor's and I would be eligible for better positions. There was zero discussion of skills, as it was already understood that my skill level in many areas was much higher than that of the degreed people I worked with (who also weren't using their educations for anything other than as a "door pass" to be considered for better jobs).

The system is broken.

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

#400

Post by hypertexthero » Sat, Dec 02, 2017, 1:09 PM UTC

delhanty wrote: post #385

>Your idea is not valuable, at all. All value is in the execution. You think you are an exception; you are not. You should not insist on an NDA to talk about it; nobody serious will engage in contract review over an idea, and this will mark you as clueless. John Carmack is unusually direct and asserts pretty much the same things a couple of weeks back. [1] >This will never, ever work. Nobody will build your game idea…

Ideas are a multiplier of execution — https://sivers.org/multiply