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this2shallPasson Ask HN: What can I build for you?

What's the best way to get in touch?

this2shallPasson Ask HN: How to manage burnout / jadedness and job hunt?

The situation sounds impossible. I hope you are able to manage when more people lave.

That being said, what's going on right now? Literally right in this moment.

What is the next, smallest, most immediate action? Do that.

this2shallPasson Ask HN: Can you be CEO and have major role in product at a huge company?

Giving up control is hard.

The real question isn't can you have a firm grasp on the product direction/design wheel at a small company. It's can you build something anyone wants at all.

Secondly, can you make a sustainable business at all?

Just build something people want. The rest might follow.

this2shallPasson Ask HN: How to know when an idea is worth pursuing?

1) Validate that people are willing to pay something for the benefit you would provide, or 2) validate that the benefit would help the people you want to help, and it's a pain they acutely feel

this2shallPasson Bye, Amazon

Thankfully no "high pay" labor ever just takes pure advantage of the environment (e.g., stealing product, stealing time, etc) ;) And never at great cost for a period of time before it is discovered.

Pay might be a factor. I think people are people, and their behavior and beliefs vary.

this2shallPasson Ask HN: What does it mean to be a product owner?

Varies, but generally a product owner is focused on taking the strategy and translating it down into actionable tasks. They work across teams and roles to make sure the team is executing properly. It tends to be more tactical than strategic. They don't have to know how to sell or market products well, or how to get those products into the market successfully. On paper (a narrower scrum view) they are responsible from sprint planning, to daily stand ups, to review, to retrospective. Not the larger backlog prior to sprint planning, and not what happens after some software is accepted as done / to be shipped.

Some links: https://www.productplan.com/product-manager-vs-product-owner... https://blog.aha.io/the-product-manager-vs-product-owner/ https://blog.aha.io/product-manager-vs-product-owner-vs-proj... https://www.productplan.com/glossary/product-owner/ https://blog.aha.io/the-product-vs-project-vs-program-manage... https://www.mironov.com/?s=product+owner

this2shallPasson Ask HN: How to prosper under negative interest rates?

"Is this a good time to buy property if there's a crash in six months?"

As an investment, or a place to live?

What are the alternatives for investing? They might be better, they might not be.

If the time frame you're considering is long enough, presumably yes, it's a great time. And if your time frame is even longer, the answer is it doesn't really matter :)

this2shallPasson Ask HN: Career Advice on Engineering Manager vs. Product Manager

An MBA (full or part time) would take years and it won't be cheap. You would grow your network and learn some things, and it would open up some PM opportunities.

Both seem about equally likely to lead to Director / VP level positions if you excel. Maybe EM slightly more, but it's similar. You can start one now, the other takes more interviewing or possibly an MBA.

Day to day they will be kind of different. Do you want to worry about how to manage a team of engineers well, help with their professional and personal development, and get them the resources they need? Or help your company figure out what to build, for whom, figure out if that's working, etc? Both require operating well cross functionally, product especially.

If you care equally, I'd do engineering management now. Less resistance, and you can always go into product and / or get an MBA later.

this2shallPasson Managing product requests from customer-facing teams

Totally agree. But isn't finding out clear priorities from sales and other teams, with the context behind it as well, useful as a PM?

this2shallPasson Ask HN: How do you convince people to work for you as a non-exciting startup?

Besides what others people have mentioned - flexibility, growth, and learning. Do people have autonomy? Is there sane work life balance? Good engineering practices (including good code review and reasonable prioritizing of technical debt)? Good overall company dynamic and practices (sane, including clients not overly dictating internal company operations, internal teams working well together, collaborative / non-competitive people who are trying to accomplish some shared goals)? Stability (high-value customers, lots of them, and/or lots of money raised)? Little politics? Unique technical issues (huge scale, real time, etc)? Are people heard / is their feedback taken into account?

this2shallPasson Late 40s, no job offers. Could a PhD help?

Since you're getting interviews, your best ROI will come from practicing interview skills such as solving algorithm problems, practicing pair programming, white boarding, doing system design problems, telling your story, and talking about previous work. Target the right roles and the right companies. Get referrals from friends, acquaintances, and people you meet networking. The job search has a lot of randomness, and is ultimately a numbers game. Keep grinding and you'll get offers.

this2shallPasson What are your top books on business?

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the 37signals / Basecamp people. Punchy, easy to read, lots of great content.

this2shallPasson Ask HN: Tips/advice for starting a new job?

Take lots of notes on things you notice. Build relationships with people. Figure out what they do and what they care about. That way you'll know who to go to when you have questions, issues, need favors. Have short intro meetings with lots of people, ideally informal. Lots of coffee. Ask them what challenges they're facing, and what you and your team can do to help them. Consider doing some of those things, especially those things that your manager / team / team lead / etc wants you to do. Ask your manager and co-workers who you should start building relationships with.

this2shallPasson Ask HN: What still sucks about remote work?

See this recent thread for some insight: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20776655

this2shallPasson States to Move Forward with Antitrust Probe of Big Tech Firms

Sure, why not have investigations around antitrust and other issues from Big Tech firms. Include Verizon / AT&T / and telcos, and do it for companies in all other industries, too.

this2shallPasson Insured price $2,758, cash price $521

From the the people I know and know about, getting into medical school is a very high bar. Getting through is hard though doable if you could get in and devote your entire life to it. You probably won't get the specialty you want if it's one of the more generally desired ones, but you might.

What is an isn't a high bar is all relative.

this2shallPasson Ask HN: If you were starting another business, what would be in your todo-list?

This article might interest you: https://www.startupgrind.com/blog/the-startup-framework-to-v...

Summary: Clearly identify a problem, issues with existing solutions, and that it's a priority worth paying for among potential customers.

this2shallPasson Hotelling’s Game, or Why Gas Stations Have Competitors Nearby (2008)

Can you talk more about a good pricing strategy for gas and diesel prices, some factors involved, or things you learned?

this2shallPasson America is turning against facial-recognition software

Police are only one group who might use facial-recognition software. Body-worn-cameras can be used and not collect face data or use facial recognition technology, or their legal uses can be severely restricted and clearly defined (or outright banned, lots of options). Why conflate all these things. They overlap sometimes, not all the time.

this2shallPasson Ask HN: Are there any startups that want to solve for food wastage?

https://angel.co/company/gocopia/

https://angel.co/company/goodforfood/

this2shallPasson How the Kleiner Perkins Empire Fell

This is an interesting point. One question. How does one distinguish between the institution and the people that make up that institution?

this2shallPasson Show HN: Songcraft – Online Songwriting Platform and Guitar Tab Builder

Thanks for making this! This was my first questions as well. Can you ship the very simple form, and later ship the more robust version?

this2shallPasson Ask HN: Where am I going wrong?

The main thing you've gained is sharpening a lot of skills. You can run your own software business if you want to. You're learning the hard way. Life is a good teacher with reflection, albeit unpleasant sometimes.

Validate even MORE about the problem, AND the solution, before building out the solution in a substantial way, or at all. Is the problem clear to the people who have it, and one of their top priorities? Find out by communicating with them, ideally in person, but video chat works and written forms if that's all that is possible. If a competitor exists, great! What's the value proposition of your similar product/service? Why is it so good someone who uses another should switch, or what makes it compelling for someone who is evaluating your product/service?

Instead of positive interest, how many people will sign up in a form you link them to, or a landing page? How many will give their email or some contact information so that you contact them when your thing launches? How many say "I have $x and I will pay you that right now if you make this problem go away!"? How many people will read your blog post about how frustrating a certain problem is? Saying "Yeah, I hate that problem", but not being willing to do anything else. That might a dead end.

Another strategy is to build something that solves your own problem. Minimally, it will be useful to you. If it's useful to you, you won't be putting "effort into something nobody wants". If you have the problem, there's a good chance others do, too, and they may be willing to use and/or pay for your solution. Alternatively, after validating the problem and a potential solution, you can build something for someone you're close to that solves their problem. A spouse, family member, good friend, etc. Small frequent feedback loops, and empathy, are key here.

Another shortcut to running your own software business is starting a software consultancy. You can even do this while you have a day job, by hiring other people to do parts of it, or with smaller projects. If you have many of a similar type of customer (law offices, realtors, whatever), you can find the right product that applies to many of them, while being paid to build other things for your client, or this product itself. This is a traditional approach to bootstrapping a software product, and lots of other people have written or spoken about the it and its trade offs.

What succeeds on 'Show HN' and Product Hunt and similar things isn't predictable. It also doesn't lead to instant success, product usage, or paying customers. It's nice I would imagine, people have shown what it meant in terms of visitors and traction, but it's a blip in the life of a product. Having customers that use your product and pay you money would be better, and it's a bit more in your control.

Here's a good link about validating without spending money or building anything: https://www.startupgrind.com/blog/the-startup-framework-to-v...

this2shallPasson Former IBM exec says company told her to hide layoff age data from government

I wonder if any of those young people were excited, desperate or naive, and not just gullible.

this2shallPasson Ask HN: How to stop being a worrier?

Meditate, do Cognitive Behavior Therapy, exercise, sleep better, eat better, and cultivate relationships with people. Generally, be more present.

Short book on meditation: https://www.amazon.com/Sit-Like-Buddha-Pocket-Meditation/dp/...

Longer book: https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrati...

Also, try some guidelines to help you choose more intentionally when and how to analyze things. Is it no topic is worth thinking through all outcomes? Or, important topics are worth it, and they are x, y and z? Or, I can do that type of thinking only an hour a day, from 7-8pm? Once a week? A therapist and trial and error can help you figure out what works for you.

Have a counterfactual behavior that you'll do when you notice you're analyzing when you didn't intend to. E.g. if I notice I'm thinking through scenarios, I'll acknowledge that, then focus on my breath.

this2shallPasson Wayne Gretzky and the Mysteries of Athletic Greatness

The Mundanity of Excellence: An Ethnographic Report on Stratification and Olympic Swimmers came up yesterday https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18442600 . It has interesting things to say about greatness. I wonder if what separates the very best of the best (e.g. Gretzky) from the best (professional Hockey Players) is analogous to what separates the best from everyone else. Or if it's just a matter of degree, not qualitatively different.

this2shallPasson Ask HN: Our Series F Competitor Is Trying to Poach Me from My Series B Startup

Explore it like any other opportunity. It might not work out for you, or them, or both of you. You might not get an offer, you might find the place would be a worse fit. Be conscious and intentional with what you say. Figure out what legal agreements you're bound by and don't violate them.

It might also lead to a good offer you can use to help get better comp / title / growth opportunities / autonomy at your current job.

this2shallPasson Ask HN: How to learn design and UX as a software engineer?

Like learning to code, visual design, web design, user interface design, and user experience design are broad topics. No one book or resource can teach you all there is, but one resource can help you make a lot of progress.

People on HN have recommended Design for Hackers https://designforhackers.com/

Learn about the design process https://www.slideshare.net/Klonowsa/design-process-overview-...

Some resources on prototyping https://www.productmanual.co/categories/prototyping

Some resources on interaction design https://www.productmanual.co/categories/interaction-design

This book is popular for people wanting to learn a little more about design. It's on my list of things to read. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Design_of_Everyday_Things

An application of design that is useful for projects and companies is the Google Ventures sprint is useful http://www.gv.com/sprint/

this2shallPasson Ask HN: Where to find someone to review my code?

https://www.codementor.io/ https://www.airpair.com/ https://hackhands.com/ (not sure if still active) https://officehours.io/ (not sure if still active)

this2shallPasson Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

I mostly like and use Yelp, and I get the negativity.

What your saying about knowing how to use Yelp is right on, but it leads to some dissatisfaction, because a 4 star restaurant should be a 4 star restaurant. More importantly, they manipulate ratings. They pressure businesses to pay them to fix ratings Yelp broke. They let businesses improve ratings when they shouldn't, analogous to Glassdoor and Amazon users getting ratings they don't like kicked off or hidden. There are plenty of fake and misleading reviews. And they have lots of dark patterns e.g. pushing you to their mobile app from the web, requiring you to create an account, etc. Some of these are observable by everyone, others there are many anecdotes.

They're not going away. They provide value to people, me included. But some negativity directed their way makes sense to me.