thefastlane

they took away the Esc key and all the Fn keys. Apple's HIG is dead to me now.

take a look at python+flask and clojure+ring+compojure (and other tech too) before throwing your hat in the node ring. going with a more general-purpose language might serve you better down the road. javascript will limit you to web dev essentially -- which you want to do now, but what about 5 years from now, etc

one could argue that it's useful to have a grasp of relational databases (and SQL) in general. taking the longview, mongo is more of a niche technology.

i've noticed that if coworkers tend exhibit a high level of emotion in their voices during their conversations, that's very distracting -- e.g., some people seem to just have a pattern of vocalizing stress or confusion in their tone of speech, either to each other, or on the phone etc.

it took me a long time to identify exactly what was bugging me (besides it obviously being noisy), but then it dawned on me, and now i pay close attention to it -- being able to cateogrize it, and then compartmentalize it away, helps a lot i think.

moving to an off-site coffee shop on occasion has made all the difference, despite being an equal or greater amount of noise.

still would prefer an office, obviously.

i don't have book suggestions, but a few thoughts:

first, the usual:

- get more sleep

- cut sugar

- cut alcohol

- cut web surfing

second, some great ideas on how to manage time/tasks in these articles:

https://theweek.com/articles/444385/how-most-productive-pers...

http://calnewport.com/blog/2015/11/03/spend-more-time-managi...

http://calnewport.com/blog/2014/08/08/deep-habits-plan-your-...

https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2007/10/18/the-art-of-the-f...

http://calnewport.com/blog/2013/12/21/deep-habits-the-import...

third, read books (5 hours/wk is a good goal if bookrading not already in your schedule) -- make a book list and read actual books (if you're not already) - great fiction, science, philosophy, etc. and reread the ones that resonate with you.

curious what you mean by 'complaint ideology' ?

any response at all following an interview puts a company at above average these days.

that said, my experiences with google have been way above average. probably one of the few companies where i genuinely enjoyed interviewing (i usually hate interviews). follow-ups were very informative as well. sounds like you got a flaky recruiter.

> 'If Harvard, Stanford, etc., converted to corporations'...

let's acknowledge that this is a completely absurd notion.

but for fun, let's say it did happen: this would be the end of harvard's good reputation, i guarantee it.

- faculty protests

- widespread shut-the-campus-down student protests, no doubt

- alumni uproar like no other

- kiss donations goodbye -- nobody ever donated a million dollars to Univ of Phoenix or General Assembly...

- research funding elibility in limbo at the very least

- research coming out of the institution would no longer be taken seriously (i sure wouldn't)

- etc

i would never send my children to a for-profit institute that, by definition, did not have interests aligned with my family's or society's, and i'm sure many others wouldn't either. it is not about reputation. i would rather they go to the tiniest po-dunk state college than attend a for-profit of any kind.

you're not very specific, but a couple thoughts i'll share:

1) So important to be intentional about your time, and your energy. Start planning your day: http://calnewport.com/blog/2013/12/21/deep-habits-the-import...

2) first and foremost, take this opportunity to find/create more challenging projects for yourself in your current role. additionally, start planning/preparing for how you can move to position with more responsiblity and interesting work -- either within your own group, or elsewhere in the firm, or by seeking a job offer elsewhere.

3) if what you really mean is brain fog or lack of focus, these are the main areas to tackle: - cut all web surfing (this gets back to being intentional about your time, and also resetting your dopamine mechanism -- web surfing is our equivalent of rats pressing hte lever over and over for a treat -- totally useless) - cut sugar - get adequate sleep

4) if you are just not feeling software development (or whatever your current work is), it's possible you want to explore a change of role altogether. i have less to say about that, but worth doing some reflection in the evenings -- perhaps with some pen and paper, or by taking some walks and being alone with your thoughts -- to explore this.

and with that, I should follow my own advice and log off HN. :)

just put everyone in a big bullpen, and make sure everyone sits as close together as possible for maximum collaboration -- that's basically what deep focus is, right? bonus points if you're right next to a heavily traffricked walkway, which will foster 'drive-by testing', or something. another CTO was telling me about drive-by whatever-it-was at the CTO conference in Hawaii that I attended last week. good stuff.

thanks, this is really helpful. over the course of my career i've become highly attuned to what are obvious hiccups in the interview process and i take them into consideration. but it's times when things are genuinely up in the air that i have more difficulty in assessing the situation (such is life i suppose). i see how the idea of establishing any sort of an agreed upon response interval, however casual or imprecise, can provide some anchoring for both parties.

in a past job, i realized my boss had not wanted to hire me and had effectively been overriden by someone further up the org chart -- it cast the interviews and phone calls i'd had in an entirely new light, and is part of what has prompted me to soberly evaluate every step of the interview/onboard process during job hops now.

"My wife may or may not work."

forget hobbies and the weather. you and your significant other need to sit down and work out an understanding of each other's career goals, and especially whether you plan to have kids.

i am less familiar with seattle's cost of living, but for SF/NYC for example, 170k/year will come with significant lifestyle tradeoffs to be worked out (e.g., in terms of size of home, commute time, public/private school); obviously two-income will come with its own set of decisions to be made as well.. it's worth talking all this over now.

medical software and agile development ... what could go wrong?

i just want to be a software engineer without having to continually burn away evenings and weekends studying the latest shiny, continually for the next two decades, just to keep my career afloat. is that even an option anymore?

"never" is a bit over the top, but your comment is basically correct.

by all means, pursue a raise at your current firm, but i think the assumption of the above comment is that many organizations fall into category (2) (see CyberFonic's comment), and i tend to agree. job-hopping is the more effective way to increase one's compensation in the long run.

edit: have a BATNA, basically.

you mean how it loaded instantaneously?

the primary knock-on effect is probably that it accelerates the process of offshoring back- and middle-office teams to less expensive jurisdictions.

what is your academic background? do you know which strats group?

i want to understand your comment better, can you expand on it?

words like 'philanthropic' and mission statements like 'promote equality' are being bandied about but come on: this is zuck's VC arm investing in a potentially profitable startup, no different than any other funding deal. please stop insulting us by claiming this is for the good of humanity blah blah.

would love to know what field / business domain this is in, sounds fun!

I'm reposting as I thought this could use another chance for more discussion.

this is a frightening but not unexpected next step in a transformation that north american universities have undertaken to disregard their charters and instead run themselves like cold-blooded businesses.

will these HCL contractors have the opportunity to participate in senate meetings, university committees, etc, like actual staff members do?

were faculty consulted about this decision?

taking a large chunk of an administratrive department and converting it into something exogenous is a dangerous move and makes it clear what the university leaderhip's priorities are. outsourcing the cafeteria management is one thing. but how much of a university can you carve out and hand off to external for-profit entities -- where is the line?

and, of course, the existing staff that are being shafted -- my heart goes out to them.

"Amazon said that it would introduce an online marketplace with tens of thousands of free lesson plans, worksheets and other instructional materials for teachers"

i am extremely concerned with the notion of amazon pushing its own pedagogy and curricula into the schools. this should be the domain of educators, not sociopathic for-profit entities like amazon.

"Among the assignments was a 19-page paper, longer than anything he’d ever written."

off-topic, but wow: no college graduate should break out in a cold sweat over a 19-page paper.

it's easy to bark orders at everyone below you to create a bunch of documentation and then kick up your feet, light a cigar, thinking you've achieved "systemization" of your company, or some other operational/bureaucratic aspiration which might or might not have a firm grounding in reality.

the harder, narrower road: hire smart people, feed into your team, and do your best to stay out of their way. this is by no means easy -- it's a lot of work putting together a team and leading a team and running interference so they can shine. but it's totally worth it.

(edited for tone and clarity)

Study was from 2007.

DOI: 10.1002/cncr.23080

be wary of any feedback loop that is visible to HR and permanently stored in their systems.

and be wary of bosses who rely on these system rather than taking you out to coffee and actually investing in you as a human being.

no, i don't want to work in this setting. but i want to manage my situation effectively for the time being.

good.