acconrad

Indigo Agriculture | Software engineers (all levels) | Boston, MA | Full-time | On-site OR REMOTE | https://www.indigoag.com/join-us

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We're the fastest growing unicorn you've never heard of [0] and was just recently named CNBCs Most Disruptive Business beating out Airbnb, Stripe, Flexport, and more [3].

Indigo is revolutionizing agtech by offering better crops to farmers through technology. Agtech is one of the most underhyped technology trends [1] and we're serving a multi-trillion dollar marketplace services industry [2].

Our group is working on the Uber for Agriculture. We're developing a Transportation network to connect farmers with preferred carriers (trucks) to help them ship millions of bushels of grain across the United States. It's like a real world Traveling Salesman Problem with even more requirements.

We're growing so fast that I have to hire another 10 engineers just for my group in 2019. Back-end, front-end, mobile... you name it, we need the help (see all of them here: https://www.indigoag.com/join-us ).

Our tech stack includes AWS, Docker, Kubernetes (DevOps), Postgres (DB), Node & GraphQL (back-end), React & Apollo (front-end), and Python (data science / comp bio).

We also offer incredible perks. Free lunch (a rarity in Boston), massive commuter benefits (both MBTA and bicycling), fitness reimbursement, ample vacation; we really focus on and believe in both health and sustainability.

I'd be happy to tell you more, so feel free to PM me and I'll personally refer you to the company.

[0] https://www.builtinboston.com/2017/09/26/agtech-startup-indi...

[1] http://stateofstartups.firstround.com/2018/#trends-and-takes

[2] https://andrewchen.co/how-marketplaces-will-reinvent-the-ser...

[3] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/15/meet-the-2019-cnbc-disruptor...

I work in agtech so I can speak to some of your concerns.

> people can still think that technology is somehow going to save us from bad agri practices

So one thing we're doing at my company is we're trying to de-commoditize agriculture. You're right in that the current agriculture practices are all about creating a baseline crop for the commodities trading market. The truth is that these practices vary from farm to farm, and there are quantifiable metrics you can track in crops. These crop qualities vary wildly and certain buyers of the major crops want different qualities. If we can turn our major crops from being treated as commodities, we can incentivize more sustainable agricultural practices that both create better crops for the economy and the environment.

> Cooperating with nature instead of fighting it is continually being proven to be the best practice for growing food from a environmental and deliciousness perspective.

Agreed. This is exactly what we're working on because we recognize that fighting the environment with harmful pesticides and herbicides has long-lasting residual effects on the soil and the economy.

> Every time I see an article about farmers having some kind of trouble, their crops are one massive monoculture

Are you referring to the fact that there are 4 major seed producers for 60% of the seed sales on the planet? [1]

The economics of a farm are such that, because of commoditization, the margins are so razor thin that the only way to turn a profit (which they aren't, because prices on major crops have plummeted in the last 4 years) is to have a highly refined process from the purchase of the seeds, to fertilization, to hydration, to transport. The whole process is streamlined in a way that doesn't benefit the end consumer. Again, there are people hard at work to break this bad habit. Even still, there is plenty of variability in the end result of those crops, which is why crop quality can vary wildly depending on things such as rain, nitrogen in the soil, etc.

A great primer on the lifecycle of a year in farming in the US is This Blessed Earth.[2] If you're interested in understanding the agriculture economy from a farmer's perspective, this is a must read.

[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-consolidation-in-the-seed...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/This-Blessed-Earth-American-Family/dp...

Not everyone responds the same. I hated when people would use fluffy language: "would it be okay if you could do X?" Dammit...just tell me to do X. I know you're not really asking me you're just trying to be nice for something that has to be done.

Well... turns out just because I like to hear feedback or orders directly, doesn't mean everyone else does. Part of why your manager treads carefully is because they have to try and create a shared language across your whole team (and really good managers know how to talk to each of their directs because they know exactly what kind of tone is effective for each of them).

Not everyone is the same. Understand that everyone likes to be treated well, but the way you do that is different. Empathy is an extremely underrated skill to have.

What kept me from quitting my computer science program was advice I got from a friend of mine:

> A computer science program is like training for the Olympics only to coach your little cousin's softball team

In other words - it's going to be hard, it's likely going to over prepare you for the real world, but if you make it, you'll be fine.

Both podcasts and blogs are difficult to monetize. But does that have to be the point of a podcast/blog? I'd say no.

Plenty of people write blogs for themselves and for learning/teaching. Why not do the same thing for podcasts? Those who are truly invested in the medium and want to provide value to others (and themselves) will do it long enough to make it successful. I mean if you try a podcast for 6 episodes and quit...sorry, you probably were never going to be successful as a podcast owner.

> Personally, I had a lovely childhood, and nothing traumatic ever happened to me.

I think that's the point. Lovely != perfect. Not that I'm trying to be pedantic here...but "perfect" says a lot. If you think you had the "perfect" childhood you're essentially claiming that there is no possible way your childhood could have gone better. It's just sort of myopic thinking that there aren't other ways to enjoy life and that might reveal other things, such as a lack of empathy or perhaps masking something else.

The total muscle mass of involvement with deadlifts is higher than squats because of the lever used by your arms (whereas you support the bar with your back in the squat, the same muscles that keep the bar close to you when deadlifting).

Rather than someone interpret this as "do deadlifts over squats" I'd say "do both because they're both great for your body if executed with proper form and weight."

> test chairs on your on as much as you can

This is the correct answer. I spent 8 hours researching, trying out (i.e. testing) 25-30 chairs since for over a year I worked completely remote from my home office. You really need to sit in them for a good 15-20 min before you can get a real sense of what is comfortable and what will cause your body issues (and every body is different).

In the end I chose a used Herman Miller Embody off of Craigslist. It was about 75% off, in like-new condition, and fit my body perfectly. The only way I came to that conclusion was from trying out so many chairs and feeling what was nice and what wasn't.

In addition, I'd also stress ergonomics and good posture in addition to comfort. Comfort can't be the only signal or else you could get a chair that rewards bad posture and make you feel good now, but way worse after years of poor posture.

Deadlifts work 70% of the muscles in your body, including your forearms and gripping muscles. Your best bang-for-the-buck to help your strength and get in some exercise is to pick heavy stuff off of the ground a few times.

I was just talking about this with a friend. I think every few months I have one of these crises. And I don't even know where to begin with talking to a therapist about this. I feel like I would just steamroll the conversation with "look I already know X Y Z about your approach and I understand there's nothing I can do about death, mortality, or the meaninglessness of it all" and start ranting about Kierkegaard and Sartre. So I just spin my wheels enough to exhaust myself and pull myself out of it.

I've found meditation to be helpful - but it can be both uplifting and pull me back in. Being in the present can get you to appreciate the fact that you are even living (positive), but that recognition of life's ephemeral nature and it's complete insignificance in the cosmic landscape of the universe can drag you right back down (negative).

So long story short: acceptance is helpful. I haven't totally gotten there but it can alleviate the crisis symptoms. In fact I'm currently reading "Radical Acceptance" right now as a means of dealing with this and other issues.

Yes, we do have teams in Croatia right now. Let's chat more if you want to send me an email or message happy to go over it more

Indigo Agriculture | Software engineers (all levels) | Boston, MA | Full-time | On-site OR REMOTE | https://www.indigoag.com/join-us

================

We're the fastest growing unicorn you've never heard of [0] and was just recently named CNBCs Most Disruptive Business beating out Airbnb, Stripe, Flexport, and more [3].

Indigo is revolutionizing agtech by offering better crops to farmers through technology. Agtech is one of the most underhyped technology trends [1] and we're serving a multi-trillion dollar marketplace services industry [2].

Our group is working on the Uber for Agriculture. We're developing a Transportation network to connect farmers with preferred carriers (trucks) to help them ship millions of bushels of grain across the United States. It's like a real world Traveling Salesman Problem with even more requirements.

We're growing so fast that I have to hire another 10 engineers just for my group in 2019. Back-end, front-end, mobile... you name it, we need the help (see all of them here: https://www.indigoag.com/join-us ).

Our tech stack includes AWS, Docker, Kubernetes (DevOps), Postgres (DB), Node & GraphQL (back-end), React & Apollo (front-end), and Python (data science / comp bio).

We also offer incredible perks. Free lunch (a rarity in Boston), massive commuter benefits (both MBTA and bicycling), fitness reimbursement, ample vacation; we really focus on and believe in both health and sustainability.

I'd be happy to tell you more, so feel free to PM me and I'll personally refer you to the company.

[0] https://www.builtinboston.com/2017/09/26/agtech-startup-indi...

[1] http://stateofstartups.firstround.com/2018/#trends-and-takes

[2] https://andrewchen.co/how-marketplaces-will-reinvent-the-ser...

[3] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/15/meet-the-2019-cnbc-disruptor...

Look: I'm all for working sustainably and creatively. "Hard work = effort" as a sole proxy without targeted, deep practice is suboptimal.

But is DHH trying to get us to believe that he made Rails without working hard? He just fell into auto racing and a lavish lifestyle without hard work in the earlier days of 37Signals/Basecamp and instead relied on his "creativity, insights, breakthroughs, rebellions" without ANY head-bashing and getting stuck trying to make Rails 1.0 a great system for web development in Ruby?

This may be the greatest example of Survivorship Bias I've seen in recent history.

Collectibles are a tough market because you can't predict what will continue to be valuable in the future (i.e. art, sculpture, watches) vs what is ephemeral (i.e. Pogs, Yu-Gi-Oh cards).

I genuinely don't know: were people trading sneakers in the 80s? Or is this a recent (read: temporary) phenomenon?

This seems like a bad PR move. Having been in consulting everything is about perception of value. Why not just plan to spend some of your money (say 5%) on supporting open source projects and just raise your rates by 5%?

Ticketmaster is the perfect example of this. You buy a concert ticket for $35, but after all of their exorbitant bullshit fees, it's more like $50-55. But if they just told you "$50 is what you pay" then you'd probably not care at all.

So go ahead and charge whatever you want for a fee. Just don't penalize your customers for the things you want to personally support.

What if I want to take notes but not contribute to deforestation and issues with the environmental impact of using paper in 2019?

Let's unpack a few statements here:

> financially responsible enough to save and pay off their loans early

What if you are financially responsible and you don't have enough to save and pay off early?

> like me worked their asses off through college to be able to graduate without debt

I did too. How much debt did you have? As a college student, I could pay off $30k in debt with a few CS internships. No number of Google summer internships could pay off $200k in debt, though. Especially if you tack on more debt for medical school. Do you think it's feasible that there are people who bust their ass and still can't graduate without debt?

> irresponsible enough to dig themselves into a massive debt hole.

This is the real part I question. Who dug themselves into the hole? The parents? The kids? What did you know at 18? If you can barely drive, vote, or drink, how could you possibly predict the future that your financial choices might cause ruin to you and millions of others of your generation?

Can you, at the age of 18, as the world is telling you to go to the best college you possibly can, truly grasp the gravity of the decision you're about to make?

> I have little empathy for people with student or credit card debt.

Then you have little empathy. At 18, you didn't know the terms "full well." Most kids were duped. Most parents were fooled. The news said "if you get a college education, you're going to make more money." It still says that. So they make a connection and they don't question it. Even if you have to go into debt, you still make more money. The problem is, does making more money actually net you more money. Not a lot of people really thought that through.

So that said: is that worth punishing them? Is punishment the right thing? Why can't we look at this from compassion and caring, rather than punishment and justice?

A generation was tricked into a bad ride. My generation. I graduated (with debt paid off in a year) when the economy tanked, in 2009. It couldn't have gotten worse for me. And even though I'm part of the cohort that should most want to have everyone suffer the way I did and pay off debt, I don't.

Cause I don't want suffering. For anyone. Even if they get a better deal than me.

That's how progress goes: we give the younger ones a better chance than we did.

Education shouldn't be slavery. You shouldn't want this for others. This is a way out, and it likely won't come to fruition this way, but it is a way towards compassion.

So would a non-conformist in a land of tech non-conformists stand out by ironically wearing a suit? Is this like that saying that everything in fashion is cyclical?

Walk through privacytools.io with them for at least their browser and their browser extensions, and possibly the email portion. That 30 min lesson may do them years worth of good.

I'd say work for my company (https://www.indigoag.com/join-us) but you work in Europe.

Look for agtech or renewable energy companies who need software engineers. You're helping tackle climate change by being a part of the solution.

sorry when i say "died" i mean the battery life was under 2 hours without needing to be charged again

My Nexus 6P died in the fall of 2018 and I had to upgrade so I got the Pixel 3. If i knew they were going to make a $400 Pixel 3a I would have waited. Really pissed about this release cycle and I feel like I wasted money I didn't want to spend.

This felt like a dispassionate ramble on San Francisco's roots in 60s counterculture while also ironically offering no help to the problem of big money flowing into the Valley (and in a way, being part of the problem she identifies from the technocrats). I found it difficult to get through.

Pea protein is incredibly chalky and earthy. It's a tough one to stomach. The other thing that people don't realize is that peas are incredibly high in iron. So much so that you actually need to watch your intake or you'll get way too much iron. As an example, 1 scoop of pea protein powder, roughly 20-25g of protein, will also provide 40% of your RDA of iron. An 8oz ribeye steak (something people generally think is very high in iron) only has 20% of your RDA of iron with 40g of protein.

Interviewing is a skill in of itself. Practice. Grind Leetcode, HackerRank, and interviewing.io.

It's not the best answer because institutionally we are incentivizing the wrong behavior. But unfortunately until we make that change your best bet is to continue to practice, practice, practice until your skills at interviewing are refined.

> the research showed that too little or too much sleep was associated with increased risk of dying – approximately 65 minutes more than, or under, the average nightly sleep duration (7 hours in this sample) was associated with a 10 per cent increased risk of dying over the course of the study

This seems inaccurate on the high end. Under 6 hours has repeatedly shown to be bad. But over 8 hrs and 5 min? If the average REM sleep cycle is 1.5 hrs, then your only "perfect" window is 7.5 hrs of sleep - 9 would be detrimental?

Other data suggests otherwise:

https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/sleep/conditioninfo/...

would this mean that outside of runway models, you wouldn't need models to showcase your clothing anymore since you can just "wrap" your clothes over these AI humans?

Indigo Agriculture | Back-end, front-end, DevOps, PM, Data Science, Computational Biologist | Boston, MA | Full-time | On-site | https://www.indigoag.com/join-us

================

We're the fastest growing unicorn you've never heard of [0].

Indigo is revolutionizing agtech by offering better crops to farmers through technology. Agtech is one of the most underhyped technology trends [1] and we're serving a multi-trillion dollar marketplace services industry [2].

We're growing so fast that we have to add 35-50 engineers in 2019. Back-end, front-end, devops, data science; you name it, we need the help (including PM and UX roles - see all of them here: https://www.indigoag.com/join-us ).

Our tech stack includes AWS, Docker, Kubernetes (DevOps), Postgres (DB), Node & GraphQL (back-end), React & Apollo (front-end), and Python (data science / comp bio).

We also offer incredible perks. Free lunch (a rarity in Boston), massive commuter benefits (both MBTA and bicycling), fitness reimbursement, ample vacation; we really focus on and believe in both health and sustainability.

I'd be happy to tell you more, so feel free to PM me and I'll personally refer you to the company.

[0] https://www.builtinboston.com/2017/09/26/agtech-startup-indi...

[1] http://stateofstartups.firstround.com/2018/#trends-and-takes

[2] https://andrewchen.co/how-marketplaces-will-reinvent-the-ser...

The term "millionaire" is very dated.

It was first coined in the 1700s and first popularized in American culture as early as the 30s, so really when people envision that "millionaire" from their childhood or from their parents' minds they're really thinking of a decamillionaire in today's dollars.

When you frame it like that, I'm not sure if any millennial thinks that will happen.

> If you snore or have mild sleep apnea

BIG WARNING HERE: equating snoring to sleep apnea is NOT the same thing. Sleep apnea can happen when snoring, but it is only 1 kind of type of snoring.

If you have nightmares and wake up in fits suddenly, it may be sleep apnea and you need to see a doctor and get a sleep study.

If someone knows you snore but you don't, you might be a mouth or nose snorer and a sleep study won't help. Each of those has a different set of solutions that don't overlap and something like Xylitol may not work for you.