Comment by gnufied | Hacker News Reader

Comment by gnufied | Hacker News Reader

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I do not understand why B has to follow A. You are also assuming he is in a unfortunate situation somehow, But knowing him (as a fellow Rubyist) I think he will have at least 10-15 offers sitting in his Inbox right now.

I don't know why you find points he has laid out as "strange" as well,But I think it is a disservice to yourself as a programmer if you are going to settle for anything else. For example:

1. Can't relocate -> fair enough, it is hard to relocate if you have families. I have one of our smartest programmer working with us remotely.

2.My next job will not be a contract -> It should be self-evident. Contract workers are second class citizens.

3.My next job will stretch me -> Can you argue with this one? Daniel Pink in his book "Drive" argue the very same points.

I can go on, but will stop. And oh good luck Ernie (Your contributions to Rails are much appreciated).

I'm not disagreeing with any of that, and I use "unfortunate" in the sympathetic sense of the word, i.e., that it's certainly unfortunate to get started -- and, from the sound of it, love -- a new job, only to have that job disappear 6 weeks later. That's unfortunate, regardless of whom it happens to, and regardless of how quickly the person (Ernie or otherwise) can recover from it.

I apologize if my post came off as harsh on Ernie. That wasn't the intent. But the reason I feel B doesn't follow from A is that there's kind of a missing intermediate step. The story I was hoping for was "A: the company went under," "B: Here's what I've learned from the situation," "C: Here's why I need these things from my next job." Instead, we sort of skip that middle section, and we're left without a lot of the wisdom and perspective I'm sure a guy as capable and introspective as Ernie could have given us.

"I don't know why you find points he has laid out as "strange" as well"

I don't find his requirements strange in the least. If anything, they feel perfectly rational. My issue is with the general structure of his post, not the particulars of it. By skipping the "middle step," he risks coming across a in way he probably didn't intend to.

Thanks for the kind words!

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