Will you be employable in the next 5 years? | Hacker News Reader

Will you be employable in the next 5 years?

ctrlaltdeletebook.com

10 pointsandygcook32 comments

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The medium distracts from the content. Luckily the scroll wheel comes in handy.

Transcript:

TECHNOLOGY HAS SENT BUSINESS THROUGH A MASSIVE TRANSFORMATION.

IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS, THERE’S A STRONG LIKELIHOOD THAT SOMEONE IN YOUR INDUSTRY WON’T MAKE IT. WILL IT BE YOU?

WE ASKED 3,397 PEOPLE WHAT THEY THOUGHT OF THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE.

SEE HOW YOUR ANSWERS STACK UP, AND HOW READY YOU ARE FOR WHAT’S AHEAD.

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED.

GOOGLE’S ADVERTISING REVENUE IS NOW BIGGER THAN THAT OF THE ENTIRE U.S. PRINT INDUSTRY.

2/3 OF APPLE’S REVENUE COMES FROM PRODUCTS IT RELEASED AFTER 2007,

AND WHILE MOST BUSINESSES STRUGGLE TO CATCH UP, COMPANIES LIKE AMAZON ARE LEADING THE WAY. WITH ANNUAL REVENUES LARGER THAN THE GDPS OF HALF THE WORLD’S COUNTRIES,THEY HAVE ENOUGH WAREHOUSE SPACE TO FILL OVER 700 MADISON SQUARE GARDENS,AND A BIGGER STAKE IN NORTH AMERICAN E-COMMERCE THAN OFFICE DEPOT, STAPLES,DELL, AND SEARS COMBINED.

AND IT’S NOT JUST THE BIG COMPANIES LIKE GOOGLE, APPLE, AND AMAZON

START-UPS LIKE:OUYA OUYA IS AN ANDROID-BASED GAMING CONSOLE THAT ALLOWS ANY DEVELOPER TO BUILD VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY ON YOUR TV. PLEDGES REQUESTED: $950,000 PLEDGES RECEIVED: $8,596,474 VISIT THEIR KICKSTARTER PAGE OuyaFLIPBOOKIT FLIPBOOKIT IS A KIT THAT YOU CAN PURCHASE TO BUILD YOUR OWN HAND-CRANKED OR MOTORIZED 24-FRAME ANIMATIONS. PLEDGES REQUESTED: $5,000 PLEDGES RECEIVED: $137,567

AMAZONSTART-UPS LIKE:OUYA OUYA IS AN ANDROID-BASED GAMING CONSOLE THAT ALLOWS ANY DEVELOPER TO BUILD VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY ON YOUR TV. PLEDGES REQUESTED: $950,000 PLEDGES RECEIVED: $8,596,474 VISIT THEIR KICKSTARTER PAGE OuyaFLIPBOOKIT FLIPBOOKIT IS A KIT THAT YOU CAN PURCHASE TO BUILD YOUR OWN HAND-CRANKED OR MOTORIZED 24-FRAME ANIMATIONS. PLEDGES REQUESTED: $5,000 PLEDGES RECEIVED: $137,567 VISIT THEIR KICKSTARTER PAGE FlipbookitBRYDGE BRYDGE IS AN ULTRA-SECURE IPAD KEYBOARD WITH BUILT-IN SPEAKERS THAT ALLOWS FOR CLOSE TO 180 DEGREES OF POSITIONING. PLEDGES REQUESTED: $5,000 PLEDGES RECEIVED: $137,567

ARE CROWDFUNDING THEIR WAY TO SUCCESS,AND CLAIMING THEIR PIECE OF THE PIE.

CONSUMERS HAVE CHANGED TOO.IN 1999, THERE WERE 38 MILLION BROADBAND INTERNET USERS WORLDWIDE. TODAY, 1.2 BILLION PEOPLE GET BROADBAND INTERNET ON THEIR PHONES.

NEARLY HALF OF FACEBOOK’S 150 MILLION DAILY VISITS COME FROM MOBILE, AND MORE PEOPLE HAVE MOBILE DEVICES THAN ACCESS TO SAFE DRINKING WATER, OR ELECTRICITY.

THE COMPETITION HAS CHANGED TOO.STAYING COMPETITIVE IS NOT JUST ABOUT KEEPING UP WITH MOBILE COMPETITION TODAYCOMES FROM EVERYWHERE.

IN JUST FOUR YEARS, KICKSTARTER LAUNCHED OVER 98,000 NEW PROJECTS AND RAISED $521 MILLION. LAST YEAR THEY DISTRIBUTED MORE MONEY TO BUSINESSES IN THE ARTS THAN THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS. AND THEY HELPED LAUNCH EMERGING COMPANIES LIKE THIS [show Pebble watch].

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED. [stast like this] MOBILE COMMERCE WILL BE $150 BILLION THIS YEAR 50% OF CLICKS ON MOBILE ADS ARE ACCIDENTAL MOBILE DRIVES 23% OF PAID SEARCH CLICKS WE SPEND 2.5 HRS A DAY ON OUR MOBILE DEVICES 50% OF WIRELESS TRAFFIC IS VIDEO

AND WE’RE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS EVOLUTION. IF YOU WANT TO BE EMPLOYABLE IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS IT’S TIME TO REBOOT.

Link to new book http://www.amazon.ca/Ctrl-Alt-Delete-Business-Depends/dp/145...

Wow. Why would anyone want a nice HTML slideshow when we could enjoy it in your all-caps pasted format?

Do you convert every pdf and powerpoint you see into plain txt?

That would improve most power points. Have you seen the average marketing presentation? Star swipes and comic sans.

Thanks. This was really hard to read. I gave up after about line six.

When you take away the 'flash', I'm not really sure that there's anything in this other than tl;dr: no jobs so kickstarter.

100% of websites designed like this will be laughed at in 5 years...

I certainly hope so. I've seen it done well, but this one isn't.

While it was pretty that was incredibly frustrating to read. I gave up after scrolling for a while.

Yeah, it was pretty bad. It's just a trend that will go away soon.

It wouldn't be so bad if the animation speed was constant. Sometimes it even stops, which is super unnerving if your used to pages moving when you scroll.

It's kind of okay for me on my rMBP with maximum key repeat rate to just hold the down arrow.

That said this would be a lot better if there was a button you could just click to scroll through the screens one at a time.

I agree if there was a button to click to jump to the next one it'd be less frustrating.

It's just like a video, except you have to constantly scroll the mouse wheel to make frames advance.

It's like we've gone back to using hand-crank projectors.

Which means it probably works fairly well. Just having you scroll is actually a pretty slick way of engaging you.

So, yeah, it throws off some folks that are annoyed with the engagement. How many folks just let videos bounce off of them because they didn't engage at all?

The problem comes when you scroll past some detail because the speed changed. That happens to me a lot with these things. Also, I'm never sure when I'm supposed to stop scrolling. As others have said it's just distracting.

Oh, to be clear, I am one of the folks that didn't finish it. :) While at work I need a passive experience more than an active one.

I just happen to think it is probably a smarter idea than a video.

In what alternate universe does "scrolling" count as a meaningful engagement?

Engaging means making the user think, arousing their senses, letting them interact with something you've made. It doesn't mean wasting their time.

In the same world where just getting the user to "touch" something in a store dramatically increases the chances they will buy it. Obviously there are more meaningful engagements out there. But, the comparison is to a video. My assertion is just having the user scroll is more engaging than just having them watch a video. I'd be curious to know if there are any studies on this.

I've always been curious about how most sites like these are made because they've used it well.

Unfortunately, this was not one of them. It should have been a video because then it would of had more interesting transitions.

"Will you be employable in the next 5 years?"

I hope not, especially if it's for an industry that thinks this form of presentation is elegant or useful.

Too annoying; didn't read. Made it to the bottom of the first page, then gave up. If anybody has time to arrange the text into paragraphs I could probably summon the will to read them, because I'd like to know the answer to the question if there is one.

I have to admit that the source for the site isn't terrible, if you just want an idea of what it is doing.

Edit: To be clear, I should not have said "what it is doing." Rather, you can read the script of what the video would have been fairly well if you look at the source.

There isn't. The page looks very much like an ad, probably for a book; I wouldn't bother.

This is one of those where the mods need to retitle it. The content has nothing to do with employability. It mentions a few big companies and some obscure startups, but not related to employability whatsoever without a stretch.

The mouse wheel comes in very handy. I made it to the dumb question at the end. We've heard about the "Decline and Fall of the American Programmer" before? Oh wait, he wrote a followup.

http://www.amazon.com/Decline-American-Programmer-Edward-You...

http://www.amazon.com/Resurrection-American-Programmer-Yourd...

> I made it to the dumb question at the end.

There was no question at the end, just a few links to his book.

Damn mitch, nice work! I expected the site to choke on mobile, but you have a very nice fallback.

Ok, I'll bite:

   DO YOU BELIEVE YOUR COMPANY IS KEEPING UP WITH THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF BUSINESS?

     - YES, WE'RE CONSTANTLY RE-INVENTING OURSELVES
     - WE'RE TRYING, BUT WE'RE NOT THERE YET
     - NO, WE'RE NOT KEEPING UP AT ALL
     - WE HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT

   SUBMIT

You're absolutely right that its a dumb question. But the second half of the page is after you answer it.

I stopped at the question and wasn't really interested in where answering it would take me.

I read it all and got the impression that the Internet is growing extremely rapidly worldwide, and I do not see how that will affect the ability to be employed in the next five years. The growth of people using the Internet is outpacing the growth of people who produce content and manage the Internet. In fact, the page showed how Kickstarter is actually encouraging the rise of new businesses and giving lots of money to the creative industries.

No, because you'll be five years older and young people will cost less than you do. Might as well go eat worms.

Good god, I couldn't make it through more than one half-scroll of that. Gah!

This felt like a chore. Why did they waste their time with parallax scrolling?

That Guy alert: parallax refers to a 3D effect achieved by scrolling background sprites slower than those up close (think strafing in first-person shooters).

Not sure if there's a word for what this is doing - scrollbar repurposing?

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