Upmodded--I think this was sincere advice (wasn't it?).
121 karma · joined March 4, 2008
http://home.officesnapshots.com/2008/04/07/the-office-of-the...
It's fun to watch.
Regarding the message in your edit, thanks for your post--this is (mostly) a helpful discussion. Just search for the dollar signs (norcalgrrl had a good response, as did a few others).
And good luck with your freelance career!
Another general guideline is to estimate 1,000 hours of billable work (which makes it easy to calculate an hourly rate for some amount of desired annual earnings).
"Also, don't forget taxes."
Definitely don't forget the taxes, especially estimated payments. Consider that 40% of that money, once deposited, isn't yours and is untouchable, and you'll be better off.
Where will it flow next? Probably wherever it isn't this time.
Right now commodities (a.k.a. "stuff") is getting the attention, as some have predicted for years (someone's always predicting something for years, until it comes true).
Recently: Tech -> Housing -> Stuff -> ?
A problem for people with money to worry about. ;)
It was pretty cool of the Google v.p. to organize investment seminars. Also interesting to read their list of presenters--the Googleplex is definitely on another planet.
It's an ethical dilemma, but in my opinion the fundamental right to earn a living (basic economic freedom) trumps the letter of an overly-restrictive contract, _if_ the employee's outside activities don't impact the employer in a material way. That's not law, that's just my opinion, and I realize it could be a bit of a slippery slope. However I just don't see how a company can own an employee's time away from work (again unless the employee is competing in the employer's direct line of business). See the work of Brandeis.
I don't know about starting salaries, but DC-area hiring is plentiful, and you should be able to hit $100k in a few years (if not sooner). Of course if you want to be under the bright lights, and not spend your career backstage, then: Go west, young man.
Anyway, plastic kills the planet.
"Between the mind that plans and the hands that build there must be a Mediator, and this must be the heart."
I suspect the author is defining compassion more like "pity" than "patience and understanding" (sympathy, by definition).
Or to own a grocery store, apparently.
Fifty years from now will you remember that day spent coding, or will you remember your adventure in California?
Besides, I only watch videos from the 70s. If you want me to watch your video comment you'll have to travel back in time and appear on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert or The Old Grey Whistle Test.
OMG... You killed the server! We'll get right on it...
Very useful--nice job, guys.
The "News" link on YC points here, so I assume this is intended to be the place for YC company headlines, but I wish there was a more traditional "Press" or similar page on the YC site to track news about and announcements from the participants. An alternative would be some type of parameterized link filtering the results for relevance, but in its current form it just dumps one into the news pool here (which presently looks like _another_ company's Press section!).
I was wondering if you could license it to others (Edmunds, etc.) but I guess it depends on them. Maybe with your industry experience you know something about that.
Anyway, good luck!
Java used to be "Oak," and according to our good friend Wikipedia it was created in "June 1991." I thought it was later but guess not. It had the whole set-top box history, and would eventually run our fridges and toasters in the 21st century.
Seriously though, do you remember when Java was released? It was fun! And definitely considered the "hip" language at the time, much like Ruby is now.
I think it's interesting that so many in the Java camp have jumped ship to Ruby, because what is said about Ruby now, was said about Java then.
But they're still nearly the same age, so the ten-year spread in their respective heydays is sort of amusing. It's like Roger Moore supplanting Connery as Bond ten years later, despite the fact he's older. ;)
From your initial description I thought maybe you were comparing specific makes and models. This would be more difficult, because you'd have to obtain (and maintain) this data from somewhere, but it's probably doable.
In that case, you could help potential buyers decide between one vehicle purchase and another based on fuel costs (not that your app can't do that now--the users just have to get their data someplace else). Nice of me to expand your project's scope, eh? ;)
But you should really eliminate the source of pain so you can get back to reading HN guilt-free (if that's possible).
BTW they sound more like short projects if it's only two weeks (unless they're larger projects crammed into a two-week timeframe!).