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Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup

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Re: Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup

#91

Post by johnjlocke »

integraton wrote: post #46
sliverstorm wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about when you work at a no-name software shop to make ends meet while you pitch to VCs to get your own startup off the ground? The analogy may be more apt than it first seems! ;)

Except that working at a no-name software shop will pay significantly better, and then you can take your SF developer experience to middle America and get decent paying corporate job and a McMansion.

Except that all the money you earn goes to paying the rent on your $2000 studio apartment.

Re: Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup

#92

Post by johnjlocke »

ritchiea wrote: post #76
sliverstorm wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about when you work at a no-name software shop to make ends meet while you pitch to VCs to get your own startup off the ground? The analogy may be more apt than it first seems! ;)

This kind of comment makes me wonder what percentage of HN has zero idea of what's it's like to be legitimately broke/poor. Even if you're joking, since you include the winky face, what about actual poor uneducated people who will never have a chance to work in a no-name software shop?

99.8%

Re: Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup

#94

Post by johnjlocke »

luckydude wrote: post #29

I don't have a lot to add here other than liking the two sides of the coin thing the author mentioned. With any choice there are pros and cons. Lots of people, not just the young people, tend to look at the pros and pretend the cons don't exist.

I really liked this article, it doesn't just apply to startups. Engineers are like the rockstars of today. Instead of the Sunset Strip, everyone is headed to the Bay Area for their own shot at glory.What's to be remembered is that nothing should be done except for the inherent love of what you're doing, and nothing should be done purely for the sake of "success". Be a decent person, have respect and courtesy for others, and you can enjoy life, whatever the vehicle of your creativity is.

Re: Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup

#95

Post by johnjlocke »

samfisher83 wrote: post #40

In some professions this guy would be considered young. Its kind of amusing to read. He has made it so even though there is some bitterness in his writing, he has obviously benefited from the system, and unlike being a struggling actor you are making some bank at a startup with a potential to make it big. Compare that to making ends meet as a waiter.

I don't think this article sounded bitter at all. It just sounded like someone who's been there, done that, and has perspective on career and life.

Re: Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup

#96

Post by virtualwhys »

dustingetz wrote: post #41
jcampbell1 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I run a bootstrapped company and we hire the cheapest engineers we can find. I interview for competence in the one thing they understand, and then just how fast they learn. I cannot overstate the number of people out there that are incredibly smart, but can't describe basic information like how the HTTP protocol works. It is completely baffling. These people can be explained how the protocol works in 10 minutes, and…

i totally understand and respect your position and that's definitely a strategy that can work. The other end of the spectrum is, you could contract someone like Tony Morris[1] at $250 an hour for 20 hours a week, and he will build your product faster than a team of untrained engineers, or more likely, build a product that untrained engineers aren't capable of building, with a defect rate close to zero. Not every stra…

You mean the guy that one could argue is solely responsible for the Code of Conduct header on every TypeSafe affiliated Google Group?

Yah, that guy. Sure, for $250/hour he's probably fairly amicable.

He's categorically brilliant (in FP implemented Scala, certainly), but good luck grokking his mile long type signatures when he's gone from the project.

Saying that, if part of his consultancy is to train the team in FP and explain his code, then there is "real" value in the hiring; otherwise, where would you know to begin when updating the system down the road?

Re: Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup

#97

Post by digaozao »

michaelochurch wrote: post #18
galactus wrote: post #9

I liked this part: "Startups have been systematized, mythologized, culturally and socially de-risked; reduced down to formulas and recipes. Yet, there is no enduring formula for creativity and rebellion."

Most of these startups would be just regular corporate projects except for the fact that corporate stinginess and lack of vision is at an all time high. Startup "CEOs" are just project managers on a shoestring race to the bottom, as observed in the long hours and extreme personal sacrifice involved. The reason the strategy works so well is that corporate politics are even more stifling to experimentation than VC-ista…

Some companies seem to be like a VC in disguise: I would think of Supercell(http://blog.idonethis.com/post/48277151394/least-powerful-ce...) and Google when it had 20% free time. I liked the 20% free time model, people have some freedom to pursue their goals without worrying so much about money. It probably leads to more innovation being done as it takes money out of people's concerns. I don't know how it's done now on Google.

Re: Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup

#98

Post by thebear »

Many people seem to believe that if you want to do a startup, you have to do it when you're young. Young people can afford to take a lot of risk, because they have few responsibilities to hold them back. And if they fail, there'll be plenty of opportunity to make up for lost time. What few people seem to realize is that there is a second phase in your life where almost exactly the same is true, namely, when you're old. The only thing that is no longer true is that you won't be able to make up for lost time in case of failure. But if you lived a good life, you don't have to, because you've already made up for lost time in the past. And there are some extra perks, like you've probably got money to fund yourself. And you should know a thing or two that you didn't when you were young. And BTW, I'm not just blabbering here. I'm 60 and I'm doing it. Granted, I haven't been successful so far, but having the time of my life anyway. No fears, no regrets, and high like a kite on adrenalin 24/7.

Re: Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup

#99

Post by beatpanda »

danso wrote: post #74
beatpanda wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have 16 years at current burn rates to end fossil fuels, and there is 0 political will to do anything on the scale it will take to do that. The emissions standards were great, I agree, but in the face of the challenge they're meant to address, ultimately meaningless. The emissions standards Obama proposed in the campaign were far more ambitious, and it went along with a plan to put a price on carbon that is 100% d…

...and what's your argument here? Even if that 16 year figure were true and even if 100 Elon Musks came about to take on the climate challenge...that's still not enough to fix the climate problem. And again, you're conveniently forgetting that policies of the Obama administration allowed Elon Musk to be in the position he is in the first place . > Every little bit counts, but when you think about what's possible with…

>even if 100 Elon Musks came about to take on the climate challenge...that's still not enough to fix the climate problem.

Those are just words. I say that 100 people with the same talent as Elon Musk working at the same scale on climate change would already have the problem solved.

>But to disregard the many messy, complicated things that put us in the current status quo...

The U.S. government starts wars over access to fossil fuels. It murders people by the thousands for it. It provides billions of dollars in subsidies to the most profitable corporations on Earth to ensure that its citizens don't pay too high of a price for it. It puts people in jail for disrupting the illegal sale of public land to corporations who want to exploit it to find more fossil fuels.

It is now even fighting with other countries for the right to exploit land for oil extraction that is only navigable because of climate change.

And you want me to believe that a measly couple hundred million to a few billion dollars for renewable energy is evidence that politics works?

For every example you can present where the U.S. government has had a marginal impact on the viability of alternative energy companies, there are many, many more where it is artificially extending the era of cheap fossil fuel, often through violence. So on this particular issue, it's not just that government is ineffective, it's that it is actively doing harm. As we speak. At the same time that all the worst predictions of climate scientists are coming to pass.

Re: Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup

#100

Post by dchichkov »

datalus wrote: post #83
samfisher83 wrote: post #40

In some professions this guy would be considered young. Its kind of amusing to read. He has made it so even though there is some bitterness in his writing, he has obviously benefited from the system, and unlike being a struggling actor you are making some bank at a startup with a potential to make it big. Compare that to making ends meet as a waiter.

Any idea how old Alex is? My guess is late 20s to early 30s, which makes me wince at the title.

Why? Age is of little importance and can be misleading. It is not uncommon between people here to have started developing software professionally as teenagers or even as kids. By the time someone is in early 30s that someone may as well have been coding for a quarter of a century. And on the opposite, you can have somebody just starting at that age, with minimal or zero engineering experience.
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