BobertK

I am considering a move to SV and this quote left me w the same question. How about it guys?

My perception so far is - It is quite possibly true, and I have noticed a strong anti-MS bias. I like and use Ruby\Rails but I have developed in .NET, and Visual Studio, C# are quality tools. VB.net is totally maligned but quite good: very English syntax w/o managing all the damn brackets.

I switched to open source because I hope to have a lot of users, thus a lot of servers. My feeling is the MS space is excellent for B to B, or internal intranet stuff, where the tight integration w Windows et al is useful and the licensing costs are moderate because of the low volume of users.

This is before the housing crisis -it is much worse now

What you see above and below is where the US stood in 2007. Again because this data is as close to 100% accurate as you can get.

Avg Net Worth Bottom 25%: $4,600 Avg Net Worth Next 25 – 50%: $21,700 Avg Net Worth Next 50 – 75%: $78,900 Avg Net Worth Next 75 – 90%: $242,800 Avg Net Worth Top 10%: $1,606,600

The idea is huge. The vision and ability to execute it is huger. Point is I won't even work with people who think think "I just need a programmer" - they will not value your contributions and try to chisel you out of as much a s they can. After all, you're just a programmer, THEY had the idea.

This w/o getting into the fact that: product == original idea == never happens ....

I love this: boy it's true...

It’s a well documented phenomenon how idea-havin’ first timers just need a programmer to bring their vision to life, as though the idea is somehow half the battle (or 90%, as folks like me often get offered sweat equity deals–10% seems to be a popular number).

Not to mention: Most older Americans are broke. An apt in the city (think re-populated smaller, older cities, and large towns) is cheaper to heat and cool, convenient; so then a car and it's attendant expense is unnecessary.

If I am old and divorced i'd rather have neighbors across the hall than a house to maintain, even if I can afford it.

I think this applies not just to motivation, but results/productivity. In 'The Fire From Within' (1984) Castaneda says that REAL learning (his emphasis) takes place only in a state of heightened awareness. The essential path to heightened awareness is attention; thus attention control is ESSENTIAL (my emphasis) to any kind of productivity gain or behavior change.

And sumukhi is correct - the pervasive marketing of instant gratification, whether from Madison Ave or Twitter et al is really creating a sort of de-evolutionary effect, whereby human behavior is often marked by self-destructive impulses, with the attendant lack of self-control.

Creativity may seem to arise during a period of inattention but has been well documented to actually occur (seemingly spontaneously) as a result of an immersion in attention (the "the harder I work the smarter\luckier I get" effect.

three engineers and a cloud? sure beats three yards and a cloud of dust...

Orwell is laughing somewhere.

Fortran in College in the 70's. First programming job in NYC 1983, writing EDX\EDL on the IBM Series/1 and c on the PC.

Yep. Two weeks ago. Had a great time making the video.

I've had to grow a thick skin and focus on being the person I want to be, without getting caught up in outcomes. And learn empathy.

I'm only about a month in with Ruby\Rails, but I like it a lot and really like the community I am finding. Nice.

More so, even.

"typically have a talent that others are jealous of": This is truly a problem not just for the gifted but often for anyone who actually gives a shit.

Another consideration is that often when you are helping someone get what they want, they can feel inferior and/or powerless (i.e they are not programmers, tech is a black hole to them etc). On top of that often internally they feel unworthy and so strike out at the very person helping their success. Weird but it's happened to me.

joedoe,

I do:

After a really crappy end (for me) at a start-up in 2005, I took a look: Divorced, burnt, stressed, unresolved personal problems. I quit, dropped out, threw in the trowel. Studied yoga, learnt green home building, bought ground in Arizona and Baja, Mexico to create eco-villages. Deliberately did NOTHING in IT.

Well, the Housing collapse killed my eco-villages, at least for now. And I found that my brain, which was used to full-stack one-man-army development, was succumbing to the "devil will find work for idle minds to do" paradigm. Which was mostly dwell on what I missed working 70 hr weeks. All bad.

Now I'm getting back in the game, albeit slowly (my brains, they is a mush; and the tools are way diff than 2005). It's hard but exhilarating. My advice, which I am implementing, is:

May I suggest a long walk? Like a month? The Appalachian trail, or that walk in Spain featured in "The Way" movie.

Then go back to work on something YOU CARE ABOUT, and do your work using the eight hour burn. Forget about being a hero - no one remembers and no one pays for it. Do more than your fair share, and do it with integrity.

You'll need to schedule activities that will make you put down the mouse and get out of the house.

Life is a marathon - you will die trying to sprint the whole way. Maybe not if you're a skinny Kenyan.