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cljacoby commented on Getting things “done” in large tech companies   seangoedecke.com/getting-... · Posted by u/swah
cljacoby · 4 months ago
I have mixed feeling on this.

Some parts of this are probably good advise, at least with respect to clocking titular promotions. No disagreement around visibility of delivered "big wins" being key.

However, I feel like this article is subliminally pro-management, with the thesis statement essentially being just make your manager (and their manager) happy. But what happens when there's no clear direction from management on what the team's goals are? Or when priorities shift on a weekly, or even daily basis? It seems pretty hard to deliver anything meaningful, if by the time you're finished they've already moved on to the next shiny thing.

Additionally, in my experience this "make your manager happy" approach goes hand-in-hand with a "yes boss" manager-subordinate relationship. Managers are empowered to flurry out executive dispatches on what, when, and how things ought to be done, and engineers are encouraged to follow orders. Results are normally not great.

cljacoby commented on California's most neglected group of students: the gifted ones   latimes.com/opinion/story... · Posted by u/tafda
cljacoby · 9 months ago
Seems there's a lot of comments in here expressing discontent with the dismantling of GT programs. I won't speak as to where/how GT programs should be implemented, I have no idea.

However, I did attend a GT program during elementary school. This school was a "regular" public elementary school in the sense it had a local geographic boundary, and kids in the area attended this as their default public school. However, then kids who qualified for GT would be bussed in from around the county to go to this school.

Within the school, past the 3rd grade classes were segmented into GT and "base" classes (i.e. non-GT). The "base" classes were local kids who did not qualify for the GT program. GT qualification was based off a single test score, taken in the second grade. Kids in the GT and base classes were often respectively referred to as GT or base kids.

In retrospect, it's always appeared super detrimental to me that those kids were called "base" as if they were a somehow more basic version of the GT kids. The name "base" in itself was probably intended as a kind euphemism, to not otherwise default to calling them non-GT kids, i.e. non Gifted nor Talented.

Anyway, all of this to say GT programs probably have a place, but in my own anecdotal experience they were not always executed flawlessly.

cljacoby commented on Some fundraisers pay >90% of the funds to themselves   propublica.org/article/po... · Posted by u/hilux
rqtwteye · a year ago
Go to Northern VA. There are a lot of mansions owned by non profit higher ups.
cljacoby · a year ago
Yup. There's definitely some neighborhoods like Great Falls where it seems like everyone is either a corporate exec, a federal politician, or a pro athlete.
cljacoby commented on Sleep deprivation disrupts memory   nature.com/articles/d4158... · Posted by u/sabrina_ramonov
cljacoby · a year ago
I'm 29 years old, and I have definitely noticed my memory getting worse over the last ~5 years. I've always wondered if this is something to do with sleep deprivation, increased stress from work/school, or just the natural effects of getting older.
cljacoby commented on AI will create more successful founders   ycombinator.com/blog/oppo... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti
cljacoby · a year ago
> When a major new technology comes out, huge new opportunities open up for founders that get in on the ground floor.

> Moments like these don’t happen often. When they do, it’s the people that put themselves right at the bleeding edge that find the opportunities

I hate this framing, and the associated mindset. This "creating a sense of urgency" is a tactic employed by car salesman and phishing emails.

Nothing but respect for the people doing cutting edge on LLMs/GenAI, but this post and video exude a sleazy, get-rich-quick vibe. It feels similar to the crypto hype-rush, which is unfortunate because in contrast to crypto, it seems there's real utility in LLMs/GenAI.

I think the part that rubs me the wrong way is they don't even pretend to care about the technology itself, how people might use it, or build businesses around it. They even directly acknowledge this at 3:00 with "we're not even saying we know the ideas".

It's all just "I smell money" and a rush to try and cut yourself a slice of the pie. I've never founded a startup so maybe I know nothing, but if a founder was asked why are you starting this business and their answer was "to get rich before anyone else", I don't know if I'd bet on that business.

cljacoby commented on Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights   viewfromthewing.com/game-... · Posted by u/kk6mrp
CSSer · a year ago
This is going to sound like an ad, but I exclusively fly SW domestically. As noted, they used to look like a worse value but only because of the way competition handled fees. Couple this with the standard rewards program and I think SW is a steal. Did you know that SW is also the only domestic airline to have never filed bankruptcy? I’m glad to see the rest of the world being forced to compete more honestly. I’m sad to see that my convenient flights might get a little more crowded, but oh well!
cljacoby · a year ago
Southwest is my favorite airline for domestic US travel. Two free checked bags by default is amazing. I also personally like the no assigned seats, and no first class.

I also had an experience with a delayed bag once, which took about an hour to come out on the carousel. It was long enough that I went to the help desk to get help and potentially report the bag as lost. I got a 300 dollar travel credit, and my bag turned up shortly after.

cljacoby commented on From Pomona to Oakland, a skater mapped California block by block from his board   latimes.com/opinion/story... · Posted by u/PaulHoule
cljacoby · a year ago
For something kind of in the same vein, a youtuber Chad Caruso rode a skateboard all the way across America from Venice Beach, CA to Virginia Beach, VA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsAOh89b7mE&list=PLVAaokG6re...

Some of my favorite clips were from early in the vlogs in the Southwestern USA like California, Airzona, and New Mexico:

https://youtu.be/UJ12FHCUMTg?list=PLVAaokG6re_rwP-h3gtJMG54C...

cljacoby commented on Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest   theverge.com/2024/4/24/24... · Posted by u/vyrotek
cljacoby · a year ago
As I understand the bill is solely focused with the national security implications of ByteDance being China-based, and not the social impacts of short form video platforms on mental health, attention span, etc. Good news for Instagram Reels.

I also wonder if this goes through, does this set a precedent for enforcing similar divestment expectations for any companies operating in China. Is this isolated to social media platform, or could this also eventually extend in to other industries like manufacturing?

cljacoby commented on We are moving to General Availability   supabase.com/ga... · Posted by u/jimmcslim
cljacoby · a year ago
They seem to heavily invest in their social media presence with things like the YouTube channel, but then also use social media indicators (likes/follows/subs/etc) as a measure of success. Seems a little circular.

The plot of Github Stars over Time: Supabase vs. MongoDB seems particularly silly (imo).

Not a hater by the way, I think their YouTube channel is actually pretty good, and I think it will become increasingly common for startups/businesses to have something like this for product/brand awareness, getting users up and running, etc.

I think if the goal of the post was focusing on platform maturation and growth, it might have been better to focus exclusively on the plots of database/users over time, and simply link out to the various social channels.

Overall though still cool to see, and congratulations to the Supabase team!

cljacoby commented on Elon Musk sues Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and OpenAI [pdf]   courthousenews.com/wp-con... · Posted by u/modeless
cljacoby · 2 years ago
Similar to the firing-unfiring of Sam Altman, so much of this seems to be boil down to OpenAI's puzzle-box organizational structure.

It seems like the whole "capped for-profit within a non-profit" is not going to to work long term.

u/cljacoby

KarmaCake day228August 26, 2020View Original