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PennyWhistle

12 karma · joined April 15, 2015

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PennyWhistle··on College Dropouts Thrive in Tech
Every time this debate comes up (online or offline) it really troubles me because I can not help but wonder how can so many smart people be so blissfully ignorant of how the world actually works. I guess this is the engineers "entrepreneur-tunnel-vision-syndrome".

Few notes about Gates and Zuck: I don't know why people (media in particular) made such a big deal out of dropping out or rather taking a leave of absence/gap year).

They could've always go back if things didn't work out. Dropping out of college is not akin to jumping out of a plane with no parachute. It is just NOT

Also: The both came from money. It is easy to say I want to whatever-I-wanna-do when you have a trust fund ready for you. Having very successful parents/families -just in case you were wondering helps...

Jobs is a more peculiar case because he didn't have anything. But he got lucky and came upon the other Steve who was/is a genius-mastermind.

Third: why the measure of success in tech so extreme? Why do you have to make billions of dollars to be considered successful? In the world today, if you have just a couple thousand dollars in the bank you are living the dream of some six billion other people. I personally would consider anyone who has made more than 1mil out of a business (in profit) to be successful. The rest of it is just the lust for having more for sake of having more.

Last: College is supposed to get people ready for life. its not supposed to be a vocational school or diploma mill. It is sad that colleges today have became both. Denying the personal gain that university provides for pupils and the spirit of college amd liberal arts education itself is no worse than denying global warming or evolution.

You can become a programmer and make a buck without going to college but chances are you will not be an enlightened individual without attending a decent higher-ed institution.

(and of course we have people like Ted Cruz to the contrary but I'm speaking for the majority of population)

PennyWhistle··on Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace
Here is a "revolutionary" idea:

Ask your employees what kind of setup they like and accommodate! Some people like private offices and some people don't - I don't understand why companies look at this in absolute terms.

PennyWhistle··on Ask HN: Hiring managers, Do you take online certifications seriously?
that is interesting. How can I find an open source project to contribute to that is actually open to beginners?
PennyWhistle··on Ask HN: What do you want from an online travel guide?
I think tripwolf has a lot of great info and features but the presentation is not really great.
PennyWhistle··on Ask HN: What do you want from an online travel guide?
do you mean sort of like google map but professionally done?

How long do you think the video should be? and from what vantage point? maybe filmed by a drone? or on a bike?

Also do you want videos from the insides as well?

PennyWhistle··on Ask HN: What do you want from an online travel guide?
so points of interest plus nearby attractions and places to eat all in one page?
PennyWhistle··on Ask HN: What do you want from an online travel guide?
great idea. Do you want to be able to get public transit times and locations (bus stops etc) on a map?

How about adding all points of interest and having the system suggest the best way to plan for the day?