erichmond

I came here to say exactly this. I can't tell if it's because I'm not a traditional "tech" person, but 90% of the best minds I've seen are nowhere near tech in general.

Having a brilliant mind, going to an "elite" school (because someone told you it's elite), joining a FAANG company, building software that you deep down know is killing society, but doing it because the "problems are fun and money is great" is antithetical to what a "best mind of a generation" would truly be.

It's wasted talent with few redeeming qualities for society and a lack of innovation/creativity around using your talents to improve the world.

A "best mind of the generation" would find a way to be successful without riding such a lazy conveyor belt of life.

What is the correlation between "writing code" and product management getting better?

If you want to learn for the joy of learning: yes

If you want to get a job at a competitive company / make a career change: no

Most tech companies are terrible at hiring "managers". I agree with Paul's premise, but the solution to micromanage is missing the point. If companies hired actual manager/leaders, they would see better outcomes.

missed all the independent pizzerias in my hometown.

This is why OpenAI being the "leader" in the space worries me. We need to be building trust in AI systems, not leaning into what the public perception is. On the other hand, maybe it's good they are showing who they really are.

The interesting part here is that it's actually a two-sided marketplace. Most investors aren't "impressive" either, and thus they'll often not be able to get into the best deals because they have no value add.

Interestingly, I think that's for us to choose. I'm leaning into AI specifically for this reason. I want to build tools to that reduce the drudgery.

But I agree, there's going to be a "war" around this and if could go wrong, if we are not careful.

You want a real DIY MBA?

Start a company.

That's it. :D

To be fair, you set yourself up for the downvote.

There is no science to backup the vegan diet is "far healthier". Also, if the entire world stopped eating meat, we'd have a series of other problems to deal with.

Just make intellectually honest arguments and try and win that way. It's a much better way to "convert" people to your cause.

Wow, this looks like Chat-GPT speak:

This highlights the incredibly high-risk nature of the NFT market and underscores the need for careful due diligence before making any purchases, especially ones of high-value.

This daunting reality should serve as a sobering check on the euphoria that has often surrounded the NFT space. Amid stories of digital art pieces selling for millions and overnight success stories, it is easy to overlook the fact that the market is fraught with pitfalls and potential losses.

I have a similar but slightly different take on that

Instead of "As I get older, I just don't care about new technology" it's more "As I get older, I'm more skeptical of new technology"

When I was a young programmer I thought every new framework, language, innovation was amazing. These days I just look at things with a much more critical eye and a higher bar when asking the question "why does this exist?"

My general stance is that most things we are using are not ideal but are sufficient. However, most new things are not sufficiently better enough to replace what is technically sufficient enough.

You and me reading books about fuzzy logic in the 80s didn't constitute the initial round of AI.

I do think AI is here to stay, but that initial round of AI is going to destroy the world burned fast and hot.

I can't even get ChatGPT (+ web plugin), when given a list of restaurants in NYC, to tell me which ones are still open vs have closed, and what their hours of operation / locations are.

This is a pretty low bar request IMO. Showed me we still have a ways to go before AI is where we thought it was 3-4 months ago.

Everything about how Meta / Zuck is approaching this is showing how nervous and anxious he is about all of this. From the panic announcement of the Quest 3 before the Vision Pro unveiling to this statement, which, seems weirdly honest.

Calling out "it was a person sitting on a couch by themselves" when that's the ONLY way you can use your Quest 2, given how bad passthrough works. Given their vision of the future is a bunch of people in different parts of the world all using headsets "to be together" vs a future where you are present in the real world at all times, except you have productivity enhancements available.

Look, I'm in awe of both the Quest and Vision Pro for how technologically advanced all of this tech is, and I know Zuck needs to show "strength", but he knows he's in trouble and needs to rethink most of his product strategy going forward.

I know I'm reiterating what others have said, but a STRONG +1 to the folks who are advocating for a Yamaha P-515. I bought one a year or two ago, and it sounds amazing, has great feel, is sturdy, but light enough to move.

Get the hardware as others are saying.

We caught it for the first time a week ago (my entire family). Theoretically I was patient zero, but the preceding week I had only left the house once, which was go to to a doctor appointment where I wore a n95 mask (and the rest of the office was masked as well.)

Very frustrating.

I'm conflicted but interested in how all this plays out.

Traditionally stories, music, art, dance were mediums for humans to express ideas/culture/transmit stories/history to other humans.

When we get to a point where AI is able to generate an infinite stream of TikTok dances, jazz, film scripts, etc. It will be interesting to see how that affects society.

When you remove the soul, what is/was the point of entertainment?

Interesting times we live in!

First, I want to acknowledge your situation so I don't want to belittle what you went through in any way, but I had a catastrophic series of events happen in my life almost 9 years ago, and Xanax was literally a life saver for me.

Taking the Xanax allowed to me relax enough to do the work to figure out how to relax naturally. Before the Xanax I was having crippling panic attacks 24/7.

My only point is, you're a data point of one, I'm a data point of one we both had very different experiences. I don't tell people to take, or not to take benzos when they ask me, I just give my objective experience and let them make their own decision.

As an owner of a Rev2 and a P6 really cool to see you here Pym!

Possibly best HN comment ever

SWE is... arguably easier than both Mech E and Elec E in my mind

I won't touch on any of the other points, but I'd repeat something I've said to many junior engineers over the years.

I'd agree that the barrier to entry to SWE is probably lower. There's a ton of work where you just need anyone with two hands and a brain to smash their fingers into the keys until someone's idea is realized, but to get to the upper echelon of the field, it's at a minimum on par with any of the other engineering fields out there.

Another thing worth calling out, there's nothing wrong with over-engineering solutions in pursuit of knowledge.

Especially when it's just a personal project.

I have this on CD. Their version of La Fiesta is one of the most joyous things every recorded.

I'm curious how Zig would fare as a high speed trading system language..

Nice Finegold call-out btw.

Clojure doesn't move much at all. Python and Ruby seem to move a little, JS does seem like it moves extremely fast.

There's so many comments, I'm sure this will get lost. But just so you understand what the grass looks like on the other side.

At Google you got paid a great salary, had great 401k and perks to work on projects that most likely go nowhere.

Working for yourself you're sacrifcing all those perks, to work on projects that will most likely go nowhere.

That said, definitely do it. It will teach you a ton in the process, everyone should go out on their own, mostly to realize how hard it can be.

New perspectives are invaluable, so I applaud your decision and wish you all the luck in the world!

Underarmour and patagonia are VASTLY different in quality standards... I think you’re missing the point of this thread.

Electronic samples are the new guitars.