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Unicorn Jobs

pgbovine.net

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Re: Unicorn Jobs

#61

Post by [deleted] »

pgbovine wrote: post #39
tway9999 wrote: post #33

I think this is why some people go into Finance. Spend 10 years in some miserable high stress job, but hopefully gather enough wealth to retire in your early 30s and work on whatever you want. Also why people work part time and spend their off time painting or playing music. Be poor but have time to work on what you care about. Edit: Grammar

I think this is why some people go into Finance. Spend 10 years in some miserable high stress job, but hopefully gather enough wealth to retire in your early 30s and work on whatever you want. Some of my college classmates went down this route, and while the numbers can theoretically work out (these are uber-smart math/science/engineering folks), I've never seen a single person exit successfully from this game and th…

[deleted]

Re: Unicorn Jobs

#62

Post by analog31 »

I've got a job where I get to spend a fair amount of time hacking on things that I'm personally interested in. I wonder if the 50% level, a la Guido Van Rossum, is some sort of optimum. Besides paying the bills, the non-unicorn work keeps me in touch with a lot of interesting people and ideas, and prevents me from getting tunnel vision.

Two things have helped me. First, the stuff that the company makes is close enough to my personal interests, that I don't have to fight too hard to justify my unicorn work. Second, I make damn sure that my hacks end up in products and patents once in a while.

Re: Unicorn Jobs

#63

Post by pgbovine »

joshontheweb wrote: post #55

best way to find a unicorn job is to build and release a library of some sort and then contract yourself out to customize it for specific needs.

hmmm if you love library-building, then you probably won't like wrangling clients, chasing them down for payments, finding your next clients, etc. ... not to mention what happens when clients want you to customize your library in some bizarre way that goes against your core sensibilities, but you need to do it to get paid. doesn't sound very unicorn to me, since clients are ultimately driving your business.

Re: Unicorn Jobs

#64

Post by graeme »

marquis wrote: post #47
graeme wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree here. Anything specific that helped you delegate more? I'm getting started on that, but still feel I'm not getting nearly as much done as I could, and I'm a bottleneck for my outsourcers.

Delegation means knowing exactly what results you want, and if your staff aren't skilled enough being able to lay it out down to the line with direct tasks with clear finish lines for each task. We do a lot of training, so when working with junior developers you want to break it down, break it down, and be able to think laterally in case they can't achieve exactly what you want - there are always other ways to get th…

That's a great way of putting it, and I have been working on precise templates for certain tasks, which are now bearing fruit.

Why daily reports, as opposed to any other interval?

Re: Unicorn Jobs

#65

Post by marquis »

graeme wrote: post #64
marquis wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Delegation means knowing exactly what results you want, and if your staff aren't skilled enough being able to lay it out down to the line with direct tasks with clear finish lines for each task. We do a lot of training, so when working with junior developers you want to break it down, break it down, and be able to think laterally in case they can't achieve exactly what you want - there are always other ways to get th…

That's a great way of putting it, and I have been working on precise templates for certain tasks, which are now bearing fruit. Why daily reports, as opposed to any other interval?

I think all knowledge workers should note what they did at the end of the day - it helps with accountability and gives a sense of achievement. For example a tool like idonethis.com helps you and everyone stay up-to-date and see quickly where problems are. Or ask everyone to just email you at the end of the day or a fixed period. Always read them and respond if needed.

You note that you feel you are slowing your team down - if it's because you are relied on to be building core tasks, try building mock-ups first so they can work. Another good tool is apiary.io if you work with APIs for example: it combines fleshing out your API with actually providing a functional framework so the front-end guys can get to work.

If it's documentation slowing you down, give everyone some days off or get them on another task and catch up. Use paper and pen or whiteboarding or a design tool like Flairbuilder if you need to really understand your ideas before trying to explain them to someone else.

Re: Unicorn Jobs

#66

Post by pgbovine »

arasmussen wrote: post #46

When your side project turns into a full time job via starting a company around it, your founding position at your startup is your unicorn job. I find that this is one of the biggest pulls towards entrepreneurship for me.

you mean if you end up cashing out and then unicorning afterward? i can't imagine running a startup being a unicorn job, unless you love doing all sorts of things that aren't remotely related to your side project.

Re: Unicorn Jobs

#67

Post by derekp7 »

I personally think that there are more unicorn jobs than people think. It's just that everyone has a different idea of a unicorn. The work I'm currently doing (the level of influence I have over the final product, the technical challenge, and meaningfulness of the work) all combine to make this probably the best job I've had. However others I talk to doing similar work in the past couldn't wait to find a different job.

Re: Unicorn Jobs

#68

Post by chrisbennet »

I haven't seen a job ad since I started my current job (~3yrs ago) that looks more interesting than the job I have. I do desktop applications (WPF/C#) one day, C++ computer vision/algorithms another day with an occasional scoping of signals with an oscilloscope and logic analyzer thrown in. All this and no politics or deadlines.

Most of the jobs I see advertised are one dimensional - they want a GUI person OR a computer vision person OR an embedded person, rarely more than one thing.

I've had a lot of great jobs and the thing they shared in common is they were small or tiny companies.

Re: Unicorn Jobs

#69

Post by KaoruAoiShiho »

derefr wrote: post #54
seivan wrote: post #37

I thought this post would be about jobs for 'unicorns' designer + developers positions conjoined. That's what I want. A job where I won't be dictated by designers who can't implement their bullshit photoshop mockups. I'm not an entrepreneur, but I like to create things. I am OK with a paycheck (where eating out on McDonalds is a luxury) with no equity, hell that's my current situation - sans creative freedom. Right n…

> 'unicorns' designer + developers positions conjoined I've always found the resistance to this so strange. My CV has Erlang, Haskell, IA32 assembler, and HTML5/CSS3 on it in various places. The first question any company inevitably asks me, when I send it in, is "what position are you applying for?" (Even though I answer this in the cover letter. Good evidence that they don't bother to read it.) I should probably ju…

The problem is that a less than A player in either design or backend programming will more likely shit things up instead of contributing in a minor way. It's just hard to believe that you are an A player in both.

Re: Unicorn Jobs

#70

Post by ChristianMarks »

Programming may be the wrong profession. Ed Witten says he has the greatest job in the world.

Now there are sinecures, but I certainly would not admit to having one, now or in the past...

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