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Pieter Levels Makes $600k a Year from Nomad List and Remote OK

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Re: Pieter Levels Makes $600k a Year from Nomad List and Remote OK

#41

Post by bravura »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #37
sdoering wrote: post #13

> sqLite - This is described as being unsuitable for > production by it's makers. I would doubt that is what the creators of SQlite intend one to take away from their documentation: "SQLite works great as the database engine for most low to medium traffic websites (which is to say, most websites). The amount of web traffic that SQLite can handle depends on how heavily the website uses its database. Generally speaking…

As long as SQLite doesn't catastrophically break under load it's fine for production, but only as long as it has a single client; traditional database engines can deal with multiple applications connecting to them. I'm using sqlite for a production application as well, but its load will be in the range of - at best - thousands per day. The only complexity will be that there has to be a secondary 'fallback' server; th…

If I have a simple Flask or Django app, backed by sqlite, how do I make sure I only have one client? If I use a prerolled Apache or Nginx frontend (which may or may not be set up with multiple threads or whatever), and have very very low traffic, how do I make sure I'm not corrupting it with multiple writes?

Re: Pieter Levels Makes $600k a Year from Nomad List and Remote OK

#42

Post by itroot »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #37
sdoering wrote: post #13

> sqLite - This is described as being unsuitable for > production by it's makers. I would doubt that is what the creators of SQlite intend one to take away from their documentation: "SQLite works great as the database engine for most low to medium traffic websites (which is to say, most websites). The amount of web traffic that SQLite can handle depends on how heavily the website uses its database. Generally speaking…

As long as SQLite doesn't catastrophically break under load it's fine for production, but only as long as it has a single client; traditional database engines can deal with multiple applications connecting to them. I'm using sqlite for a production application as well, but its load will be in the range of - at best - thousands per day. The only complexity will be that there has to be a secondary 'fallback' server; th…

You can have several clients. If you do not have long-live write transactions, performance will be fine.

Re: Pieter Levels Makes $600k a Year from Nomad List and Remote OK

#43

Post by Cthulhu_ »

umaar wrote: post #31

Sometimes I think it's fascinating the rabbit holes we'll go down, when ultimately, the user just doesn't care. TypeScript vs. plain JS Logic-less templates like Mustache vs. Handlebars Vue vs. React Using async/await, and adding the relevant infrastructure to support that (transpiler) Clean code practices in general Unit tests, end to end tests CSS BEM vs. tailwind You can make indirect connections to imply the user…

Yeah that is what it boils down to often; the user doesn't care. It's more about what's best for the developer.

The problem is that a lot of developers want to work with what is 'sexy' at the moment. That's one factor that also drives e.g. job adverts; most vacancies I've seen will have "cryptocurrency" and "IoT" sprinkled in, just for the sake of looking attractive.

And old applications get rewritten in newer tech because of a combination of technical debt and developers going "I did not write this so I cannot read it and do not want to work with it".

Granted, newer programming languages (or versions thereof) often have better developer ergonomics (I spent my morning trying to get a C codebase to work while with my new Go codebase it should be a matter of installing the Go tools and doing 'go build').

Another factor is the perception of productivity; rebuilding software greenfield will feel super productive for at least the first six months to a year, after which things become more of a slog as the backlog fills with bug reports and change requests, instead of new features.

Source: I've seen this happen a number of times.

Disclaimer: I'm in a rebuild project myself now, the old codebase is nearly 200K of very poorly written PHP / JS, and the Decision was made to rewrite it from scratch. I'm going with Go and React at the moment; Go because it's unsurprising and boring code that should be fine for the next decade, and React because it's a de facto standard now and should be fine for the next 3-5 years as well. Both tools were decided on in part for future developers that will work alongside or to replace me.

But I'm sure in a few years my opinion on what is the best tech stack may change, idk.

Re: Pieter Levels Makes $600k a Year from Nomad List and Remote OK

#45

Post by peterburkimsher »

pieterhg wrote: post #11
brainless wrote: post #4

I am a solo founder and I recently saw the post of solo founder persistence, which I am yet to read in full. Pieter is one of those that can consistently deliver. He has been doing that for years now. I admire him and what he does, yet I know I can not. I am plagued by mental, emotional issues that break my routine every few months. I started focusing on perseverance and I am happy with where I am now. There is still…

Hey :) you should see my brain and discover what I'm plagued by! I struggle with moderate anxiety and depression on and off too and esp this year has been quite hard. Work is quite therapeutical for me because it keeps me creative, active and have goals. It keeps me on the rails really. Daily creative stuff to work on. My dad does the same as he's always renovating the house, doing woodworking, or studying film histo…

Well done for persisting and releasing your projects! I have plenty of ideas too, I usually only get around to writing them up when I'm applying for jobs. My Show HN front-ends are functional but plain; I'm impressed that you made Nomadlist look so pretty!

Have you found that travel helps emotionally? Getting on a Plane is my "Plan E" - most problems don't carry long-distance. Nomadlist makes it easy to compare the things that can be measured about choosing a place to go; CouchSurfing/BeWelcome/Trustroots helped me to find people in those places so I would land on my feet. The hospex community is also just generally very supportive, in my experience. Musician fan clubs too; remote work has allowed me to see many of my favourite bands live.

I guess you saw the map of the Cost of 1 GB of mobile data; any plan to integrate that data into Nomadlist? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24247561

Re: Pieter Levels Makes $600k a Year from Nomad List and Remote OK

#46

Post by brainless »

pieterhg wrote: post #11
brainless wrote: post #4

I am a solo founder and I recently saw the post of solo founder persistence, which I am yet to read in full. Pieter is one of those that can consistently deliver. He has been doing that for years now. I admire him and what he does, yet I know I can not. I am plagued by mental, emotional issues that break my routine every few months. I started focusing on perseverance and I am happy with where I am now. There is still…

Hey :) you should see my brain and discover what I'm plagued by! I struggle with moderate anxiety and depression on and off too and esp this year has been quite hard. Work is quite therapeutical for me because it keeps me creative, active and have goals. It keeps me on the rails really. Daily creative stuff to work on. My dad does the same as he's always renovating the house, doing woodworking, or studying film histo…

Pieter, I do not know how to thank you enough for this. Last few weeks have been a disaster, cluelessness creeping in and I hit the bottom again. Thankfully I have YC Build Sprint so I forced myself somehow to ignore everything that is not working in my life and focus on what is working.

Yes depression and anxiety are common in these circles. My work motivates me, I am 37 years old and this is my life, has always given me comfort. I have wet eyes while I write this, thanks, a million times.

- Sumit

Re: Pieter Levels Makes $600k a Year from Nomad List and Remote OK

#47

Post by cytzol »

umaar wrote: post #31

Sometimes I think it's fascinating the rabbit holes we'll go down, when ultimately, the user just doesn't care. TypeScript vs. plain JS Logic-less templates like Mustache vs. Handlebars Vue vs. React Using async/await, and adding the relevant infrastructure to support that (transpiler) Clean code practices in general Unit tests, end to end tests CSS BEM vs. tailwind You can make indirect connections to imply the user…

> Sometimes I think it's fascinating the rabbit holes we'll go down, when ultimately, the user just doesn't care.

All those things you mention don't affect the user's first experience on your site, you're right: you can use plain JS, ignore clean code practices, have no unit tests, and use the frameworks you're most familiar with even though they don't quite fit, and still start a successful service.

However, they all come into play when you start to evolve your website or service. TypeScript makes it easier to refactor your code when it gets complicated. async/await lets you serve more users. Clean code practices lets you onboard more developers easier. Unit tests and end-to-end tests mean you can iterate more quickly without worrying about breaking existing functionality — something users definitely do care about — which makes it something you should care about too, if you want to keep them around.

Re: Pieter Levels Makes $600k a Year from Nomad List and Remote OK

#48

Post by Cthulhu_ »

sushshshsh wrote: post #24

I would say that for every Pieter on this planet, there are thousands of failed Pieters. The success of his business niche doesn't have much to do with tech stack or even programming, but rather Instagram style lifestyle businesses.

I'm making massive assumptions and generalizations here, but, a lot of developers are pretty introverted and really dislike being in the spotlights, whereas instagram people are the opposite. Without trying to make the term sound negative (it's a personality trait IMO, not a value judgment), it's a narcissistic trait that not everyone has.

I mean I'm working remotely at the moment because of the 'rona and it's not glamorous at all. My desk doesn't look like a generic marketing photo (you know the type, top-down view on a wood grain desk, clean Macbook, steaming cup of coffee, phone, Moleskin notebook, random plant), I don't spend my time lounging and networking (a beer in the back yard at night maybe), I just go upstairs, do my thing for eight hours, etc.

Extroverts and narcissists make software development look a lot sexier, because they have no qualms with putting themselves forward and advertising themselves and their lifestyle.

Me, I hide behind an online moniker and shitpost on HN, often not even looking whether anyone replied to my comments because What If I'm confronted with something.

I'm sure I'd have a much cushier job if I was more extroverted (alongside my current skill level, I'm no genius but I get the job done). Maybe one day I'll go self-employed or work remote for wealthy US companies, idk.

Re: Pieter Levels Makes $600k a Year from Nomad List and Remote OK

#49

Post by alfonsodev »

mytherin wrote: post #39
Pete-Codes wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hey, I posted the article. Good to know! I'm sure I had read it somewhere on their site. Maybe it was just from other developers that I got the impression it wasn't meant from production. Thanks

SQLite runs in airplanes [1]. I would say that is all that needs to be said on whether or not SQLite is production-ready :) In fact, I would argue SQLite is the most well-tested and production ready database system out there. [1] https://www.sqlite.org/famous.html

I've found that Apple uses sqlite too, for Safari history and if I recall correctly macOS Notes app too.

Re: Pieter Levels Makes $600k a Year from Nomad List and Remote OK

#50

Post by pieterhg »

peterburkimsher wrote: post #45
pieterhg wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey :) you should see my brain and discover what I'm plagued by! I struggle with moderate anxiety and depression on and off too and esp this year has been quite hard. Work is quite therapeutical for me because it keeps me creative, active and have goals. It keeps me on the rails really. Daily creative stuff to work on. My dad does the same as he's always renovating the house, doing woodworking, or studying film histo…

Well done for persisting and releasing your projects! I have plenty of ideas too, I usually only get around to writing them up when I'm applying for jobs. My Show HN front-ends are functional but plain; I'm impressed that you made Nomadlist look so pretty! Have you found that travel helps emotionally? Getting on a Plane is my "Plan E" - most problems don't carry long-distance. Nomadlist makes it easy to compare the t…

Oh for sure, yes. Simply "doing stuff" helps, and the novelty of traveling and experiencing new places is very exciting. The challenge is that it's like a drug, and it stops working if you keep traveling because your dopamine receptors get usd to it and then you feel the same, so it's not really a long term fix. You see that with nomads especially: 1) go nomad 2) omg life's amazing 3) yeah 4) oh shit why am i depressed?!!!

Then again, travel can give you permanent solutions, like you might meet a new partner(s), or people that you will build something new with, etc. Those interactions can change the course of your life and many of us need to move out of our own home bubble to a new place to realize the possibilities that life has to offer, outside of your usual routine.

I do think a creative pursuit (because it's endless) and being around people you love (difficult these days) and working out (lifting weights esp and cardio) and eating healthy (organic, and lots of vegetables) are the most probable ways to feel somewhat satisfied. But it's not like I or anyone else really has it solved I think. And with corona now I'm failing on about half of those things.

P.S. Nomad List was also very very basic and barely functional and it took ~6 years to be somewhat pretty and properly functional and it still has bugs, so it's just a daily iterative process of fixing small things like a button.

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