Kevin_S

I don't code, I do financial reporting, but I figured I'd answer anyway.

When I am doing tedious tasks that don't require much brainpower, I listen to hiphop/R&B (my favorite genre).

For actual hard analytical work, I listen almost exclusively to lo-fi hiphop. I need the drums for pacing and energy, but the instrumentals are very soothing and non-distracting. I'd seriously recommend trying lo-fi out if you like hiphop.

I totally disagree.

College fraternities exist as a framework for social contracts between strangers alone in a college environment. Each member is incentivized to support/protect/uplift the other members (just like a family) as they will be able to expect it in return. You can somewhat make the argument for each chapter's national org, but I really don't think the incentives are really that out of line between them, Nationals just tend to be poorly run.

Companies, as the article discusses, don't.

Huh.

This is super interesting to me. I don't live out in the valley though.

Would you consider essentially hiring someone to come and run the place? I actually think this is something I would be good at.

How did you get into this space? I may start to seriously look into this. I actually have a business idea I'm working on that is somewhat related.

I wish I could, but I am practically brand new to it. The interest in watchmaking is coming second to an interest in watch collecting.

The advice I got was to get Watchmaking by George Daniels and read that to get a strong overview.

It's unfortunately currently sitting on my bookshelf, I am forcing myself to complete the GMAT before I dive into it.

Watches and watchmaking

Hiphop/R&B music

Baseball/Basketball statistics

Beer

Reading about Philosophy and Religion

Weightlifting

Well, not done, but I am working on basically an information hub for myself. Unfortunately I am not a software engineer, so I am slowly learning python to get it set up.

Basically it will pull a variety of information and display it on a simple website. Things like notifications for social media, my to do list, sports scores/times, weather, etc.

It's a larger task than I realized. I'll probably never finish it tbh haha.

You're joking right? Here and in other software circles MBAs and other business people are constantly looked down upon as being a waste of time and money.

I really doubt he was trying to make a point about engineers....

As I've seen, all real discussion of UBI is essentially a negative income tax. UBI is just the term that stuck.

I read it as a late teen and it definitely resonated with me. I think I still have it laying around at my parents. I'll go find it soon and give it another read.

The idea of a "true purpose" and such is obviously something that will resonate with startup founders. The boy's journey I'm sure also resonates strongly.

Hmm, I haven't built the site yet (not my expertise so somewhat putting it off) and am working on a base set of posts that cover each small topic. After that I'll throw together a site on wordpress and get them all posted.

Send me an email (in my profile) and I'll send you an update when I finish the posts (few weeks). I'd love to have someone to bounce ideas off of - and judging by your profile and comments you may be able to offer good feedback!

I have a long term vision of which I am carrying out the necessary first steps now.

I want to create an organization that is essentially a 6 week retreat for students before they begin college. Selecting the best applicants possible, they will go through rigorous training to become their most successful selves, covering Academics, Social life, Health, and Lifestyle topics. Elements of secrecy will help it's applicant pool, I was heavily inspired by the Bohemian Club.

Long term, the alumni network itself will more than make up for the cost, in turn making the applicant pool stronger and stronger.

It's an aggressive plan, and requires years of building up from the ground. But it's my dream to make it happen.

And if it doesn't work, I'll fall back on becoming an accounting professor. Pretty similar jobs anyhow.

Not worth it in my opinion. Giving off the impression that you want to leave your job (even if you don't) is a bad look. Find literally anyone else to talk about it with.

I very recently bought a watch online from a private seller and paid through Paypal without an account. So this appears to still work?

YC at this moment is able to recruit the absolute top talent for any position they can envision. Damn that is a lot of power they wield, especially in starting these projects like Open AI and the Basic Income. I'd love to be able to invest in YC, as I think a good return at this point is one of the best bets an investor could make.

Uh.... can we go over what you mean here?

These are issues that have to be overcome, but the current system in the US is utterly broken and even a somewhat flawed universal healthcare like in other developed countries would be a major step forward.

I'm an accountant working on financial reporting, and I am very excited about ways to implement automation into financial reporting processes. Only just now are people using excel proficiently, I can't wait to see what the next big step is.

Long story short, so many processes I work with are done completely manually, which is a colossal waste of time. When I started, the person who previously did my job had about 7 main processes they completed monthly, which took about 60 hours to complete. Those 7 processes take my about 10 hours to do after I built automated workbooks

The sad thing is that these excel capabilities have been around forever, but no one understands them.

I don't want to get too into this, but are you saying that calling the immigration order "Muslim Ban" is a false truth? I am really curious on why you think this?

Just wanted to add an opinion you don't see as much here, as a non-developer. It's not just developers who are pretty upset about the new Macbook, myself and my fiance were both in the market, and my fiance used a MBP through college. She pretty much fought me on the new MBP until she tried it in store, and promptly was against it. She's going with a Surfacebook and I'll probably go with the new Dell XPS 15 with the 4k screen.

It's not just developers that are a bit... confused by the new direction.

So much talk right now is what happens when AI because too smart/efficient/sci-fi kill all humans, when this research group will be working on the real problem, which I believe is that AI will start leading to programs that will allow companies/individuals to absolutely abuse markets/systems/people/data in a way that is both unethical and dangerous while not being explicitly illegal. I am glad to see some companies coming together to discuss what to do when these issues inevitably come up.

36 karma, joined 1061 days ago. Lurked casually probably 2 years before making an account.

I'm only just now graduated from college and working as a consultant, so never had a ton to add. Also I'm not technical, don't code, so a lot of the topics I read about here I am not close to qualifying to comment on.

Though it would be nice to get enough karma to downvote, probably gonna take 10 years to get there haha!

I don't have as many friends on FB/Twitter that would be interested in this stuff, but I do share threads with my brother/close friends that would be of interest to them.

I think while the bulk of HN is technical, many here are just simply interested in tech like myself. I'm a financial consultant, so not too terribly far off the mark, and while I don't comment often at all, I imagine there is a solid group of non-technical readers that are participating in discussions.

Overall I just find myself keeping HN off my other social media because 99% of my FB/Twitter friends have essentially no interest in the topics discussed here.

True, but I think that the people's perception is what we are discussing here, not what is actually scientifically correct.

Students are taught Maslow's hierarchy as fact, so I think it can be assumed that the perception argument is fair here.

So I see both sides of this privacy/AI debate going on and am wondering, what is the solution? Is it technically feasible to create a useful future AI without compromising privacy? Because if not, I fear for our future. While I agree with what everyone on the privacy side is saying, I believe in the long run the consumer value AI will win, leading us down this path.

Hi, I am so incredibly interested in this. I always liked the idea of being an executive coach, it seems so fascinating. And the idea of doing that for YC founders sounds awesome!

My first thought after reading this was that it may be kind of like being a resident advisor. I was an RA for Freshman in undergrad, and found it very rewarding helping students make the transition to a college lifestyle. Although this has a bit higher stakes, working with young founders likely isn't very fundamentally different.

How do I get your job?

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll definitely save this link and pick up the book when it comes out!

Seems interesting. Quick question:

Some background on myself first. I am a financial consultant (only 1 year since graduating) and am planning to do a PhD in Accounting in the next 3 years. Currently working through the GMAT, but once that is complete, I will find myself with 2 or so years to do things that will help prepare me for research. One thing I have considered is taking a course/reading books on data science and such to prepare me for the advanced stats/data analysis that will go on during research. As someone with no coding experience, and with solid quant background (I was an economics undergrad), would this book be a good starting point for getting experience with this stuff? And is R the appropriate language to learn? I don't mind learning to code, but it is intimidating.

Thanks!

Can I also get on the beta list? This is fascinating.

The increase in administrative overhead and such is more a case of the modern customer. Comparing private non profit universities and these BS places is stretching too far.

On the customers - the ability to attract modern students rests more on amenities like dining halls and dorms, not on the academics. Sad, but ultimately true.

I like this post. As someone who has little aspiration anymore for starting a company, but has (kinda) in the past, I could've used this.

An interesting idea is to NEVER read the dumb internet comments. Just like professional baseball players are smart to not read reports/rumors, those with these kind of goals are smart not to get wrapped up in the bullshit of internet comments.