neilsharma

nord/mullvad, bitwarden, claude code (max), openai, youtube music, google drive (for the storage space).

Got a few lifetime payments too for various desktop utility apps

I pay for other ones on an as needed basis, but my tools change based on what i'm working on. Usually always have a render and supabase plan going for various hosted toy apps.

The Sound ID is amazing. Been using it for a few years now. I usually just keep it on while I'm hiking and it identifies over a dozen birds in 20-30min, nearly all of which I've eventually verified are in the area.

The photo ID feature is okay, but I assume that's because the photos I take on my phone of far away birds is too pixelated.

I actually want a similar ID feature frog species; i hear a lot of croaking

I use cline + Anthropic and Google models with a custom .clinerules for frontend react + typescript. I manually tag relevant files into context

- Gemini 2.5 pro tries to fix and refactor my entire codebase unless I aggressively constrain it, which is too much work. I've written it off as unusable for coding, but can be fine for educational purposes

- For AI IDE coding, I narrow down the scope of what I ask so Gemini 2.0 Flash or Haiku can handle it. I've haven't seen better results switching to paid models.

- For generating large swaths of code, I recently went back to copy/pasting into Claude Projects, with my github project hooked up and relevant files added to context. For a moderately complex component, it usually takes 5-15 generated versions to work, though I end up adjusting my specs a bit in the process. This is still faster than using the agent. Claude Code might get similar results, but I already pay for Anthropic so haven't tried it out.

- If I'm picking up a new library, concept, or pattern, I usually chat with Claude to level up my knowledge. The "Plan" mode in cline focuses more on task execution than skill development.

I'm open to suggestions on what to try next!

Outsource as much as you can afford, even if its just help around the house.

For my personal todo list, about 50, but a lot of them are small (send an email to X) or non-urgent (return a package, pay a bill) so I don't lose track. I don't add routine tasks like laundry/cooking/etc. In a given day i get 5-15 done. I find having more tasks really helpful because I can take a quick glance and realize i can stack chores (ie: easy to return a package if I'm grocery shopping nearby).

For my work todo-list, maybe 10, but i get 0-2 done every day. Unlike my personal tasks, I only put important (my internal definition of p0s and p1s) or aspirational tasks (learn X) and actively cut anything i realistically won't get to.

Not OP, but as an American consumer, what i would like are:

- better labeling on products i buy to know they didn't contribute to the deforestation. Ideally these products are cheaper (or at least not more expensive) than unsustainably produced ones

- more accessible/cheaper tourism opportunities so I can visit the Amazon as easily as possible. I would like to know my tourism dollars go to conservation efforts

- wrt narcotrafficking, investing in campaigns to legalize drugs in America (along with the rehab/support facilities). I suspect much of the illegal drug supply chain will disappear if the drugs were simply legal.

Thanks Shon! Got one a bit earlier while they were still there -- really excited for this :)

If I'm a citizen and want to sponsor my parents to get green card, do they have to spend 6 months/year in the US? Is there a way around this requirement? Life abroad is better for them so 6 months/year in the US is a lot, but having the flexibility to come and go would be nice without having to deal with visas.

Have there been updates on the expectations of working remotely given the current CDC guidelines?

I struggle with exactly the same problem; reading (and also playing the piano in my case) feels like a low value-generating activity. My time is more and more limited over the years, and I find myself needing to ruthlessly prioritize how I spend it. This has led to a constant re-evaluation of my values, and have roughly concluded (atm) that instead of reading, I should be sleeping, socializing with friends and family, exercising, outputting/hacking around for fun, or learning about something at work that can make my workweek easier. Or just decompressing cognitively, sometimes in the form of time-restricted TV/games.

Ultimately, after having read/listened to ~200 mostly non-fiction and fantasy books in the past several years, the ROI is non-zero but not that high relative to the other activities mentioned. I think this is partly a byproduct of the times and the culture I'm in (mid-career engineer in silicon valley), where priorities shift a lot towards career and financial successes. Personal output tied to network, skills, and work has a much larger influence on these priorities over a much shorter time frame than reading arbitrary books. If I lived somewhere else or didn't have money needs, I can see my priorities shifting more towards reading. It's not ideal, but I've come to accept this reality. Reading isn't something I have to do, nor is it always the most rewarding activity.

I try to still read every now and then, especially if there is a focused book aligned with my immediate interests, but I've also come to accept the fact that I may not finish a lot of books and that's okay.

I've also come to believe that most books have too many words for my taste given the relative paucity of ideas, and I'm under no obligation to read every word just because an author wrote it. I need to be my own editor of the content I consume; outsourcing this to the writers/publishers makes less and less sense. If I'm bored, I skip a chapter or three. Or I may read a synopsis online and if it is interesting, then I dive deeper. I have to prioritize how I read, not just how much I read. I actually find this makes the reading experience more enjoyable since I spend less time on the parts that feel "boring".

(I have the same attitude to TV/movies; some episodes are not a great use of my time so I scene skip and increase playback speeds).

I've also found myself listening to more audiobooks instead of reading. This is particularly helpful when I drive, do late-night stretches, or cook and it doesn't consume additional time.

I wish circumstances were different and I could just go outside in the shade of a tree and read all day, but at least at this point in my life letting go of the pressure to read definitely has had more stress-relieving effects than actually reading.

I agree; founders should have substantially more equity than any one early employee. But its not just about which is harder to start as (founder or early employee), but also the time/energy/emotion invested over years to bring the company to a successful scenario. Being a third employee is still pretty hard if you are working 60-80hrs/week for years and making major life sacrifices.

And you're right; $100M exit isn't always a win. That was a somewhat arbitrary milestone I used to do quick math.

I've been an early engineer (first 3) at a startup. I didn't stick around long enough to vest for reasons, but in hindsight, it wouldn't have been worth it financially even if I had. They eventually got acquired by a big brand name Silicon Valley company after 4-5 years for an undisclosed amount. My 0.4% plus salary wouldn't even break $200k/year in total unless the company sold for a fair amount above $100M.

Later in my career, I have had offers at seed stage companies. The compensations were marginally better than the one described above, but most still needed to 10-15x in value over 4 years just so the annualized comp would match the base annual comp at various series C/D companies I also had offers at.

Given the risk, often poor culture, rampant inexperience in leadership, and long hours, the upside is only worth it as an early employee if the company is a unicorn. And every founder says their company will be a unicorn...

After starting a few (failed) companies myself, I've come to adopt the mindset that the total equity allocated to the founding team (pre-seed + seed + maybe series A) should be around 20-25%. Everyone after should get 15-20%. In the event of a $100M exit, there should be no scenario in which the founders/investors walk away with a win financially, but the early employees do not. The early employees took the same risk and secured that win, and thus should be rewarded accordingly.

Edit: fixed grammar and re-ordered sections

I'm trying to help my mom's small, offline-only women's fashion boutique move onto the internet. I'm fortunate enough to have a remote job in tech, but their business is significantly disrupted by the lockdown. To help them out, I'm setting up their ebay/esty/shopify/pinterest accounts, taking pictures of the merchandise, doing logo design, etc. Teaching them how to use these platforms' complex UIs and, more broadly, learn how to effectively engage with customers on the internet, are the biggest challenges.

There are loads of businesses in this same boat; I think there's a big opportunity and sense of fulfillment in helping them keep their lights on.

As a founder, I got to do everything -- sales, design, development. This cultivated a very wide interest and general proficiency in a lot of things. My startups failed though, and I felt I needed to learn from others before trying again. Also, my savings were running dry, but that was a secondary motivator.

Over the past few years I've been an employee, either at startups or mid-sized stable organizations. When negotiating the job description, I've always requested from the founders/managers to chip in in various ways -- PM, design, engineering, etc. They always were enthusiastic to have employees with diverse interests, but reality sometimes proved otherwise:

- Some startups gave the flexibility, but it just felt worse than working on my own. I had the same long hours and work pressure, but a fraction of the ownership and was working on someone else's vision - Other startups really just needed engineering muscle. I was evaluated on pure engineering output, and any other mechanisms I had of contributing were viewed as distractions from my core responsibilities and were actively shut down. Doing one thing with my life wasn't very pleasurable after wearing all the hats, and I wasn't rewarded for being a generalist - The one mid-sized org I work for tends to value me more; they needed engineering work, but also had growing pains and needed existing employees to step up and fill in the gaps. Having a willingness to do that was eagerly accepted

Some general impressions that I currently hold loosely: - having a stable income is nice and I can afford most everything I want, but it's not enough. I miss having the startup belief that my reward is proportional to my output - company perks (food, learning reimbursement, commuter benefits, etc) are usually deterrents for me now. Colleagues feel more sedated than energized when life is too good. I miss working with hungry (figuratively) people. - I care a lot about the mission. I have the good fortune of working at an org that actively seeks empathetic, passionate people out. I don't think I can go back to normal jobs where I just need to do a thing. This includes even my own startups (which had, in hindsight, little value-add to society) - the slower pacing actually feels more conducive to personal growth, but to a point. It helps now to be on a team where we constantly try to improve and iterate, as opposed to just being a resource-strapped feature shop. I'd avoid teams that move too slowly though, or don't have the pressure to introduce something new. - both startups and large companies can have diverse employees, or can have monocultures. Turns out I like the former infinitely more; didn't get that at most startups I've worked at - leaving silicon valley for a job actually gave me a lot more perspective on the world than struggling as a founder in SF. Turns out there are a lot of big problems people are trying to solve that don't get talked about in silicon valley, and the diversity of people trying to solve it seems a lot larger.

All these impressions, however, are loosely held because I've come to think of my career as consisting of phases in no particular order: take chances, invest in personal growth, make money, hustle, have predictability and work-life balance, give back, etc.

I have a long (years worth) list of things I want to learn, and prioritized list (a months worth) for things that can indirectly help me at work. I have to further prioritize down to the 1-2hr level to have something to act on for a given day. As the list keeps growing and my time availability ebbs and flows, I never get to 90% of the things on my list. Such is life.

I specifically hunt for project-based udemy classes so I'm not just passively watching videos or reading blogs. The lectures are short, and I can make measurable progress even with 15-20min of attention/day. Usually 1-3 classes on a topic gives me the confidence to say to myself "I have enough introductory knowledge that I can now figure this out if I have to do this for work." This still takes 1-3 months of time per topic.

However, most of the items in my list don't have a curriculum or syllabus. I end up having to settle on just googling for blogs or playing with a few APIs to feel confident. I no longer prioritize mastery (except if I need the skill for my immediate work). I find taking a breadth-first approach to learning helps me connect the dots in my understanding of technology as a whole, and invest in depth only if I need it for my immediate job/projects.

The editing window had closed by the time we got clarification, so wasn't able to make the adjustment. Apologies for the confusion.

There are lower and higher grade levels for Sys Admins. This particular role is for a GS-13, which should be reflected by the required experienced.

We (the USDS) are posting on behalf of the NPS as part of a new hiring pilot. We clarified with the team there -- unfortunately fully remote positions are not currently available. You would need to be in one of those three cities, but telework is often supported by supervisors.

The apply button is now active -- sorry for the delay!

National Parks Service (under Department of Interior) | System Administrator (GS-13) | Remote and Onsite | $96,856 - $128,920 | Washington, DC; Reston, VA; Lakewood, CO (just outside of Denver)

Want to use technology to support the National Parks System? The Department of Interior is partnering with USDS to pilot a new way to hire technical talent for federal roles

The Department of the Interior is devoted to protecting and preserving the natural resources of this great nation, including National Parks, Landmarks, and the well-being of communities. Join the offices of the National Park Service (NPS) to provide technical solutions that enable the NPS to deliver world-class recreation and conservation services to the public.

Requirements:

You must be a US Citizen and be able to pass a background investigation.

Apply here: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/532244000

The apply button will be available later today; so circle back!

Google Keep.

I have four types of notes: personal, work, learning, and health. For each type of note, I have a short term and long term list of tasks.

All tasks in my short term lists should be cleared within 1-2 days. This includes everything from paying bills, doing a few online course lessons, committing a PR or two, running 5 miles, purchasing something online, etc. I also include a few habits in this that I try to build, like "daily affirmations". The key is to make these as bite-sized as possible.

My long term TODOs are essentially a backlog dump that I pull from when I need to refresh my short term TODOs. Many of these are fuzzy ideas that I haven't broken into actionable steps, like "learn docker", "plan europe trip", or "hack on X". Some of these are small tasks that I just haven't gotten around to doing, like "add expenses to tax return", but at least its written down somewhere. I groom this every now and then.

I have a third type of note -- daily accomplishments. I essentially just bullet everything I accomplished that day outside of routine chores like "cook dinner" or "call parents". I archive this daily. I get lazy and don't fill this out 80% of the time.

Not sure if this is the best system, but it sure beats my old system of having a giant list of TODOs written on a piece of paper

As someone who has started and worked as an early employee at several startups in the bay area and has spent a large amount of time interviewing and evaluating offers:

Con 1: Compensation

Equity is not worth it. Early employees bare the same risk as founders, work just as hard, and have an order of magnitude (or two) less upside. The chances are that even a series A funded startup will go bankrupt and the equity is useless. Seed funded startups are even worse in the sense that the risk is way higher for just slightly more equity.

Base compensation is too low. Salaries at usually barely livable in the bay area and leave no room for savings. This has two major problems:

- First, its hard to support mortgages or families. This creates a biased hiring process that favors those already well-off or very young (and likely inexperienced).

- Secondly if the startup fails (the likely scenario), the chances are the employee's savings are non-existent. They'd more likely opt for a cushier job instead of building on their experience at another startup.

SOLUTIONS:

1) Early employees need a higher salary. No living wages. No forcing people on a ramen diet. I'm talking $130-$180k for engineers at the seed stage (in Silicon Valley), PLUS healthcare. Other roles should be proportionately similar based on market rates. This means either seed rounds need to be larger, or bridge rounds become much more common. I think the latter makes more sense; if the startup has some traction, but not enough to go for a series A, then the founders can raise a little more. If the startup doesn't have traction and burned through its seed, it should fizzle out sooner and liberate the team to do other things.

2) WAY more equity for early employees.

* 25% - founding team (first 5-10 employees)

* 25% - all future employees

* 50% - founders

* Investors eat from everyone's shares proportionately.

A win for the founders should be a win for the early team. There should be no scenario where the early team doesn't benefit from an exit but the founders do. The founders succeeded because of the team.

3) No bullshit vesting schedules. At worst, stick with the standard 4 years, 25% a year, 1 year cliff. No 10-10-20-30-30 5-year split nonsense that only favors employers and force people to stick around longer than is healthy. And add refreshers that vest. 10-20% of their annual comp. Salary bumps can also work as a substitute. Incremental rewards are important.

4) Not 100% on this, but common stock for everyone. No class A shares -- win votes by convincing the team you're right and not being a douchebag.

1. aggregate a list of services that do free electronic and chemical waste pickup. I have to wait to get a flyer in the mail telling me someone would come by in the wee hours of the morning to do a special pickup. Would be helpful if this info were more handy.

Or better, get a community running locally to do these pickups every week across the neighborhood.

2. Buy LED bulbs, environmentally friendly household cleaners, etc in bulk from china, and sell them at cost on Amazon. Don't try to make a large profit on environmentally friendly products -- just make them more affordable.

3. Gardens these days are oddly biased toward aesthetics rather than local vegetation. Gather the advice of local botanists and educate folks about what trees/flowers they should plant in their yards. Insect life is decreasing, but with the right gardens, some of it can come back. For flowers, you can arrange a service to have households place pre-orders during the winter months, and then hire a local nursery to grow saplings specifically for them to plant in spring.

4. Make a vegetarian/vegan yelp. I can't rely on yelp reviews since most folks eat meat, and their opinions on food taste/quality aren't very useful. The only reviews I can trust are those for restaurants called "Veggie House" or some similar variant. Vegetarian food isn't a marketing strategy, its just food that can be served everywhere.

5. E-commerce site for environmentally friendly clothes. Jeans, for example, are incredibly polluting (over 1k gallons of clean water, loads of pesticides used in cotton, artificial dyes, etc). I'm not loyal to levi's, calvin klein, or whatever. Those are just the brands on the racks. Give me healthier alternatives.

6. Aggregate quality articles on environmental issues. That research paper on insect life dropping by 75% in 27 years has been making the rounds this week. There should be more of it. NASA has a ton that aren't outdated. Start off with a weekly newsletter -- I'll subscribe If people get enough exposure to it over time, they'll start to change their minds (or tune it out, but that's always the risk)

7. Work for the government. Immigration checks at US borders rely on shitty software that goes down often. Hundreds of trucks coming in from mexico are literally waiting for hours in the heat as their cargo rots. Same with at harbors -- $Bs in food waste.

I turn off all devices an hour or so before bed every day. Realized it takes about that long to calm down and focus; staring at a screen usually means having my attention pulled in various directions every few seconds. I usually sleep better as a result too, and it gives me time to properly wind down my day (read a book, stretch, meditate, etc).

I also exercise quite a bit as well, but don't really consider that to unplugging -- it feels more like plugging myself into fitness + outdoors, which feels like another form of work tbh.

I just booked a ticket to India that left in 3 days. Stayed there for two months living cheaply, bumming around with family, riding camels, and scaling the himalayas. Realized it takes a very long time to internalize all the lessons I've learned from the failed startup and realign with what I really wanted. A break prevented me from doing more startups simply out of routine habit.

I read entire non-fiction books precisely because they revolve around a few central ideas. My retention and ability to apply the concepts is significantly better if I expose myself to the same ideas day after day. A well-written book that takes weeks to go through can leave it's mark far more effectively than a quick summary I'd forget after a few months.

That said, I prefer to read a summary of the book before the book itself so I can focus on the details instead of exhausting mental energy figuring out what is going on.

Location: South Bay Area

Remote: No, or maybe 1-2 days/week

Willing to Relocate: Open to it

Technologies: Web: HTML/CSS/jQuery, Flask/Django, learning React + Node. Data: Pandas/Numpy. Product: Photoshop

Resume: linkedin.com/in/neilshar

Email: neilsharma101@gmail.com

Slight tangent, but how does one with SWE/product skills get involved in climate work? There seems to be some research every other day indicating how disastrous global warming is going to be, but a dearth of jobs outside of solar installation or academia.

Give a listen to some of Alan Watt's lectures. They are on youtube, and there are shorter (<10 min) clips on specific topics. He's not going to help you get over grief, but to learn to accept it as part of life.

Might take a dozen listens to internalize half the content, but it'd be adopting a different perspective on life. Won't come easy

I found too many of the contextual references to be about war and death. Translating that into a modern context didn't come naturally to me. I found the best part of the book to be the analysis by William Irvine, not the rest of the content.

I'll give the letters of seneca to Lucilius a glance.