thomasgerbe

I passed by it while walking around Seattle and did a double take.

Funnily enough, many political representatives in China are engineers.

Also relevant:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pair_programming#Costs_and_bene...

"Any time you have worked long hours, it is a sign of a broken process."

I hate absolute statements like these. Some of my best works have come from working long hours voluntarily.

Too bad it doesn't work outside the U.S. (which wunderground, weather channel, and google weather) all do.

While I think the tone of your comment is unnecessary and nonconstructive, I do think it's a curious choice.

Co-founder of Foursquare.

Co-founder of Grooveshark.

Co-founder of Reddit.

And a semi-famous UX person.

I mean, I could understand if he were the lead designer on a successful startup, been a major influencer to the industry or founded something amazing as a designer.

You can close your Air, hook it up to a 24" monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and use it like a desktop. Best of both worlds.

I bought a Macbook vertical dock so that I close my laptop and connect it to two monitors, a keyboard, and a tablet and effectively use it like a desktop.

That basically solves 1, 2, 4.

3 doesn't bother me because I have my headphones on most of the time. If I'm at my workstation, I use my speakers.

5 is subjective. I've been able to get around for the last year as an on-the-go freelancer without much problem with the size or weight.

This allows me the huge advantage of mobility (for working at difference offices, cafes, houses, travelling to other cities, or even different rooms in my apartment) and space savings (I can have my vertical laptop on my desk which takes up the same amount of space as a small lamp) to be coupled with the advantages of having a full-fledge desktop setup.

FWIW, I spend most of my time using graphics programs.

This seems weird.

Why would I login and tie this to my Facebook account? Why not an e-mail since I'm making purchases through that?

If anything, I'd rather install something in my Gmail/Yahoo account that basically had a one button click mechanism that shows up when the app reads that the e-mail address/subject is a receipt (especially with common online companies like Ticketmaster, Amazon, FreshDirect, airlines...) I don't want to have to remember to forward it to a certain e-mail address. I'd rather the app say, "hey, this looks like a receipt, would you like to archive it?"

'If your attitude towards the startup is that cynical, then you shouldn't be working for a startup. Go to bigco where they will pay you lots for doing nothing.'

That's just as cynical. There are bigcos that have fantastic projects AND pay you, as well as startups that offer poor pay and little equity in exchange for lots of hot air.

Unless it's Google or Facebook (or any other mature startup), I'd better be getting more than 2% if I'm being paid less than 50% of standard market rate. Otherwise, the equity is more of a nice bonus than the main selling point.

You're right, many startups will die. All the more reason why people have to be careful about exchanging salary for equity.

Well, what percentage of equity would that likely be for an engineer?

Getting people to opt-in doesn't make much cents for them.

Not bad, thanks!

Brilliant, thanks.

Likewise for women: just show interest and don't be afraid to be aggressive/forward. I've met so many awesome women who either lament their singleness or wonder why they never attract the 'good' guys.

It's $2 per answer. That seems pretty expensive if I want a lot of answers for one question.

"I get what you're saying, but I really don't think it's fair to ask people to do work on their own time -- for free -- in order to be considered for a job."

Bravo.

I can't stand when companies do this. Whether it's design or development, it's basically spec work. It's one thing if it's a general question, but if they ask you to do work related to their service, why not just pay them for a few hours or a few days?

I don't know why you got downvoted. That's a legit concern.

I wouldn't say it's the dumbest thing I've seen but Google certainly moved on by acquiring Dealmap.

I'd say some of their examples have resulted in innovation (Heroku, Airbnb), but overall, I think most incubators seem to play it safe. I really wonder if the next Google/Facebook sized company will come through an incubator or sidestep that process altogether.

Given their track record, that's perhaps giving them more credit than I think they deserve.

"There is a difference between talking about how to solve a problem, and actually implementing the solution."

Is there?

You are giving your expertise with the intention of improving their situation and potentially saving them time. It's not uncommon to get paid to consult about problems that a team is facing without actively implementing it yourself. How is this any different?

"At Heroku, we discussed a real issue they were having and halfway through the interview we were both up at the whiteboard bouncing things back and forth, drawing things up. At the end of the Heroku interview we both knew how the other worked and how we would work together."

I find this kind of odd and correct me if you think I'm off because I'm not a programmer.

But for any company to give you a problem that they are having and for you to help them solve it... shouldn't you get compensation for that (outside of a job position)? That's basically free consultation. It's like how some companies give design tests for designers, which is basically spec work. Even if they don't choose you, they could still take some of the ideas and implement it.

It's one thing to give a general problem and analyze your problem solving skills and knowledge (as well as to verify your resume).

I wonder what life would be like if salaries were publicized in the same way as professional athletes.

I've had situations where extremely intelligent and productive fellow employees left the company because they found out someone else of the same level was making a lot more than they were. And by the time they offer a raise, the employee has already emotionally moved onto other pastures.

I'll admit that when I found out someone else was making a lot more despite putting in less hours, my motivation within the company dropped dramatically and I put in my notice a few days later. It's not that my only motivation was money but I lost a lot of respect for mgmt.

I do think the argument is funny sometimes. I'm not saying that the author believes this, but I've seen other owners come across like, "we're not trying to be greedy... we really don't have much money." Okay, so then why not tell me what everyone is earning and owns so that I know where I fit in? Oh right... you want to get away with the minimal amount you can get paying me.

Is that a big deal? I've laughed at plenty of jokes the Simpsons have thrown at Rupert Murdoch and FOX.

Why do women perform against their own interests?

I didn't downvote you because your comment is a sentiment that I think a lot of women have.

I just viewed this as two guys taking a picture with an attractive woman, no different than viewing pictures I see on Facebook of my female friends taking pictures with attractive male athletes (famous and non).

I'm not condoning the comments, but I don't see the big deal about the pic. It's not like they told her to open up her shirt and expose her bra.

You'd be right.

I didn't understand reference docs on Actionscript until well after I had consumed a couple excellent introductory tutorials and browsed tons of forum threads.

I also get updates on Facebook if I've been tagged.

And if you remove the tag, no one can tag you on that photo ever again.