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I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

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Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#51

Post by bluetwo »

reikonomusha wrote: post #34

It’s always a little bit risky to write something personal that will inevitably come across as something other than humble. Especially when it’s also mixed with something that comes across very first-world-problemy. Mind you that showing that one can do a little bit of calculus isn’t a testament to being a genius or anything like that. The examples the story describes might as well be equivalent to something more obv…

Thanks for sharing.

I stared in horror at the following:

"Here in Silicon Valley, it’s even worse. I have an aesthetically nicer place, but I now don’t even have a desk or desktop machine. I type from a small laptop on my couch, being held up by a pillow. I have no room for a chalkboard or whiteboard, unless I wanted to cover up half of my mirrored closet."

I am an east-coast developer and am totally spoiled with my home office. I never had an urge to move to silicon valley and this makes me even happier I'm not there.

Five computers spread out over three desks, two large bookshelves, a couch, and a fireplace.

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#53

Post by topkai22 »

tempsolution wrote: post #45

I am curious to why you think working at Google is reserved only for the very best of the field? I don't have good visibility into normal companies, but honestly all FAANG companies essentially employ armies of average developers, although they might have a higher density of exceptional developers than other companies. Mostly they are distinguished by two things: * They work with economies of scale. What may be viabl…

Having spent a good deal with my of my career in the wilds of technical consulting, I can say with confidence that the product group and engineers at places like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon really are better than average. That's not to say they have a lock on all good engineers, because but they have very few bad ones.

You are right though, getting into one of the bigs isn't impossible with a reasonable amount of work studying for the interviews and aggressively seeking connections It's just that the people willing and able to do that work are already showing they have the right mindset to be a good dev a anywhere

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#54

Post by closeparen »

calderarrow wrote: post #40
desc wrote: post #18

My advice would be: rigorously eliminate everything from your life which doesn't fit inside your top X critical priorities. Where X is as small as possible, and seek to cull it further by combining equivalents and trying to identify why some 'important' things might actually be utter wastes of time in the first place. The world generally uses a ratchet approach to conquer your attention. Use a ratchet to take it back…

This is excellent advice which has even been echoed by Warren Buffet [0]. Time is a finite resource and therefore everything we do is a trade-off between depth and breadth. In a given day, you could spend 1 hour learning 24 subjects, or 24 hours learning 1 subject. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but it's a constraint we all operate around. Learning 24 subjects may be interesting and fulfilling to some,…

I find I have a pretty stable need for a certain amount of unfocused, low-energy time. Social media and other "junk food" activities are just ways to fill it.

They can and should be replaced by more effective forms of rest (meditation, sleep, walking, etc) but intellectual work just isn't happening in that state. Or if it does, it leads to a harder crash later.

I have to roll my eyes a little at the "produce X% more by working through your breaks" thing. If you can do that sustainably, why were you taking breaks to begin with?

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#55

Post by reikonomusha »

IIAOPSW wrote: post #48
reikonomusha wrote: post #34

It’s always a little bit risky to write something personal that will inevitably come across as something other than humble. Especially when it’s also mixed with something that comes across very first-world-problemy. Mind you that showing that one can do a little bit of calculus isn’t a testament to being a genius or anything like that. The examples the story describes might as well be equivalent to something more obv…

For me the waybackmachine rendered all the equations as boxes and I couldn't read any. In a certain way having the detail missing and just having a taste from the descriptions somehow made it better. You can fill in whatever blank you want. I feel the same as this guy in many ways. I dread to say it, but maybe it isn't the lifestyle (I didn't follow his path). Maybe this is what getting older does to us.

(Equations work for me on Firefox with JS enabled, as well as Safari mobile.)

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#56

Post by reikonomusha »

ssivark wrote: post #42
reikonomusha wrote: post #34

It’s always a little bit risky to write something personal that will inevitably come across as something other than humble. Especially when it’s also mixed with something that comes across very first-world-problemy. Mind you that showing that one can do a little bit of calculus isn’t a testament to being a genius or anything like that. The examples the story describes might as well be equivalent to something more obv…

It takes courage to articulate something so intimate and authentic. Thanks for sharing. > Or those taking away that I’m not doing something that I like or following my passions, I am. I still do the things I like to do, but I don’t sacrifice everything else in life to focus on them exclusively. It remains to this day that that has its costs and benefits. Do you still have such creative intellectual pursuits? Do you t…

I do, but they’re much more limited in meandering and scope. Projects tend to be more well defined. I haven’t been blogging as of late, but maybe one is due.

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#57

Post by cryptonector »

Dude, never accept a four hour a day commute. Go somewhere else. Take less pay. Go to "flyover" country. Anything but a 4 hour commute.

When you regain 3+ of those hours, your mental atrophy will subside.

Also, if you are (or were) as brilliant as you say, then just go to grad school. You don't really need an undergrad degree!

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#58

Post by newshorts »

closeparen wrote: post #54
calderarrow wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is excellent advice which has even been echoed by Warren Buffet [0]. Time is a finite resource and therefore everything we do is a trade-off between depth and breadth. In a given day, you could spend 1 hour learning 24 subjects, or 24 hours learning 1 subject. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but it's a constraint we all operate around. Learning 24 subjects may be interesting and fulfilling to some,…

I find I have a pretty stable need for a certain amount of unfocused, low-energy time. Social media and other "junk food" activities are just ways to fill it. They can and should be replaced by more effective forms of rest (meditation, sleep, walking, etc) but intellectual work just isn't happening in that state. Or if it does, it leads to a harder crash later. I have to roll my eyes a little at the "produce X% more…

The most effective form of “rest” I’ve found is 10 minutes of boredom before bed.

I don’t meditate, I let my mind wander and don’t judge anything. The only rule is I’m not allowed to physically move, I find a comfortable position and must remain in that position for 10 minutes.

It’s excruciating at first, but about 5 minutes in my mind has processes whatever it had stored up and I’m tired. About 8 minutes in I’m shutting my eyes. Sometimes I have to give and just go to bed.

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#59

Post by ldd »

calderarrow wrote: post #40
desc wrote: post #18

My advice would be: rigorously eliminate everything from your life which doesn't fit inside your top X critical priorities. Where X is as small as possible, and seek to cull it further by combining equivalents and trying to identify why some 'important' things might actually be utter wastes of time in the first place. The world generally uses a ratchet approach to conquer your attention. Use a ratchet to take it back…

This is excellent advice which has even been echoed by Warren Buffet [0]. Time is a finite resource and therefore everything we do is a trade-off between depth and breadth. In a given day, you could spend 1 hour learning 24 subjects, or 24 hours learning 1 subject. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but it's a constraint we all operate around. Learning 24 subjects may be interesting and fulfilling to some,…

> For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)

#60

Post by turk73 »

topkai22 wrote: post #53
tempsolution wrote: post #45

I am curious to why you think working at Google is reserved only for the very best of the field? I don't have good visibility into normal companies, but honestly all FAANG companies essentially employ armies of average developers, although they might have a higher density of exceptional developers than other companies. Mostly they are distinguished by two things: * They work with economies of scale. What may be viabl…

Having spent a good deal with my of my career in the wilds of technical consulting, I can say with confidence that the product group and engineers at places like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon really are better than average. That's not to say they have a lock on all good engineers, because but they have very few bad ones. You are right though, getting into one of the bigs isn't impossible with a reasonable amount of w…

But with these "better than average" types, what is the culture like other than constant, non-stop work?

People died to get us a 40 hour work week and here we have all these brilliant folks putting us right back in chains. They think they're getting rich, but it is all a lie. A few are getting rich, the rest are being tricked.

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