up_and_up

> If results-based work actually gains employees any extra free time, companies that find a way to fit more work into that time (say, by assigning more tasks) will outcompete those that do not. Goodbye, glorious results-based-work free time.

That hasnt been my experience. My employer doesnt care how or when throughout the week I get something done. Just once a week I state what I accomplished and what I am working on now. We still have deadlines, just no constant helicoptering. Its obvious when a project seems behind and I need to allocate extra hours to accomplish it.

It does result in plenty of flexibility and free time.

Constant checkin's, helicoptering, and meetings are nothing but an impediment to productivity IMO. If your company needs that as part of their workflow they prob need to reassess their hiring process (not hiring A players) and communication processes.

This is why companies need to be "results driven" vs "face-time driven".

"What did you deliver this week? This month? This quarter?", should be the only relevant question in the workplace, managers included.

> Existence, he says, is fundamentally playful

If existence is playful it is not without meaning IMO. Its not nihilistic.

Instead its more like a game, an adventure.

The meaning of play is both for fun and also to learn new things.

Play-based learning.

To me this sounds more like the Hindu concept of "lila" or play/sport/spontaneous action rather than nihilism.

Break the problem into logical pieces. Delegate based on the devs strengths.

Being Senior mostly has nothing to do with the technologies per se. Its about being responsible enough, mindful enough, communicative enough, thoughtful enough, and patient enough to lead large features/projects/directives. Its about seeing the potential problems/opportunities with something and speaking up.

I have seen interns who can behave like senior engineers because they know how to take responsibility, talk with non-technical people, and tackle tough problems with confidence etc.

AMA: We are secular homeschoolers and primarily use self-directed learning as our teaching method. Unschooling/self-directed gives our children extreme freedom to pursue their interests, encourages deep play-based learning, and instills a deep level of self-confidence in them.

Most of our homeschooling friends also use this method of "teaching". We have really become more like facilitators for the next big project they feel like doing.

<<<<<<<>>>>>>> FEATLABS.COM <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

SEEKING WORK - Michigan / Remote

Senior Developer with 10+ years experience and excellent communication skills

Portfolio: >>>>>> http://featlabs.com/ <<<<<<

Notables:

* Midwest billing rates (hourly, weekly, monthly)

* Fullstack Ruby/Rails development: frontend/backend/devops

* Javascript heavy apps with React, Backbone or your choice

* 3rd party API integrations, Financial Services, Ecommerce, Recurrent Billing, Calendars, Twilio/SMS

* Postgres, Mysql, MongoDB Administration, AWS etc

* MVP/prototypes - Innovative product development skills

* Rescue/refactor stale/failing projects

Email: projects `at` featlabs `dot` com

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I have been trying for years but he lives far away so its hard to encourage beyond words and trying to pay for activities etc.

This literally just happened to my Dad. He went from working fulltime to being retired. He has completely lost his sense of purpose in life, mopes around, is becoming depressed. I feel bad but its also kinda pathetic. I mean c'mon dude you have decades of time to do whatever the fuck you want to.

To me this is a symptom of men who do not find any other purpose in their life besides working and providing. We need diversification of interests and activities for our long-term wellbeing.

Totally. Speaking as someone who lived in the bay area for 4 years and happily left after college, why live in CA when you can work remotely from anywhere else, live well, own a sizable property, and make decent bank? The bay area is great to visit, I was literally just there a couple months ago. But to live I would need to make 4x what I do now.

Honestly it seems like (nearly) everything they do appears narcissistic and self-serving.

We have pretty tight control over their access. They do not have their own phones nor tablets. We have a family iPad. We let them watch educational television in the evenings 2-3 nights a week (Thomas the train, Calliou, Magic Schoolbus, etc). We have a bunch of educational games on the iPad (ex: pettson's inventions) which they can play a couple times a week.

We dont play regular video games whatsoever.

We plan to make the assessment for each child, each year. I can imagine at least one might want to go to high school. But they will likely be so ahead academically we might just send them directly to college like these people: http://www.thebrainybunchbook.com/meet-the-harding-family/

We are secular homeschoolers. For us, there is no summer break and when the kids get bored during their free time they come up with the most creative things. Ex: They decided to build their own mud cafe with menu, prep kitchen, seating etc. Every food item was essentially made out of mud. Another ex: my daughter was bored and tinkering around with a snap circuit set. All the sudden I hear a faint sound of sports radio. She had built her own AM radio without any help.

Over-scheduling, scripted play, etc in my mind hampers a childs ability to develop deep imagination and creativity.

Checkout the unschooling or self-directed learning movement.

Maybe seek out a VP Engineering role at a smaller company. To me VP of Eng is usually more hands-on technical vs CTO which is more strategic like applying technology to business and big picture.

Not sure how old you are but a CTO role might make more sense later in life.

> This is what really irks me about take home exercises.

The project is simple. In 10 mins I can easily review the project. Are there tests? Is it well-composed? Does it run? Really doesnt take long for a simple project. Since every candidate gets the same project it is pretty easy to determine a good solution from a bad one.

> I would expect a video call where we go over the code together.

Thats what the next step is for.

> I never think this is fair.

The project is simple. In 10 mins I can easily review the project. Are there tests? Is it well-composed? Does it run? Really doesnt take long for a simple project. Since every candidate gets the same project it is pretty easy to determine a good solution from a bad one.

> You don't know anything about them by reading this project.

You actually know quite a bit about them after a phone screen plus this project. If they cant come up with a decent solution to a small and simple project then they are not advanced in the process.

My optimal hiring process:

1. Screen resumes...throw out anything that seems bogus, hype-y etc. Time investment: 1-3 mins per resume.

2. Phone screen...ask them simple technical and project questions directly from their resume. They wrote it so they should know it. Generally, bullshitters are exposed right away. Time investment: 20-30 mins

3. Take home project. A somewhat simple but non-trivial project like: Write an autocomplete search script using a large text document as your dictionary. This will test their understanding of algos and software engineering best practices. Time investment: 10 mins to review the code

4. They talk with 3-4 other engineers. Those engineers now have a simple project to compare candidates and to question the candidate with. "Why did you choose this algo?", "How did you break down this problem?". Each engineer can ask whatever they want. Time investment: 30 mins.

5. Final engineering huddle. Compare candidates, pros and cons. Gut feelings. Etc. Time investment: 30 mins.

The small take home project is extremely revealing and more useful IMO. You get to see their actual ability at coding a small feature. Is it well-composed? Did they include tests? Do I want to maintain his/her code?

The project also spares the rest of the team from wasting time interviewing non-serious candidates.

IMO, programming is learned through repeated banging your head against hard problems for a long period of time. 3 months cannot achieve this. My exp has shown me that bootcampers are well-versed in hype and have built applications under perfect conditions, which as a practice, has little value.

"few days of work" for "tens of thousands of dollars" seems a bit absurd. Are you assuming they are making 10K per day? Seems a bit high. I would assume 200-300/hour tops.

Karma. If something happens to you, it is your actions in the past either in this life or a previous life which are the original cause. Hence you are just receiving back the same as you have given. The problem with ignoring someone in trouble is those people are actually missing the chance to create good karma by helping those in need.

I have some friends who were 50+ years old with very little money in the bank. The rented out their old house and headed to Costa Rica and Puerto Rico for 2 years. They "Interned" on tropical farms in exchanged for food and lodging, he did some electrical work. But they had a ton of adventures. Prob saved their marriage to break out of the USA and their normal lives. They are now back living in their house again and working the same jobs.

<<<<<<<>>>>>>> FEATLABS.COM <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

SEEKING WORK - Michigan / Remote

Senior Developer with 10+ years experience and excellent communication skills

Portfolio: >>>>>> http://featlabs.com/ <<<<<<

Notables:

* Midwest billing rates (hourly, weekly, monthly)

* Fullstack Ruby/Rails development: frontend/backend/devops

* Javascript heavy apps with React, Backbone or your choice

* 3rd party API integrations, Financial Services, Ecommerce, Recurrent Billing, Calendars, Twilio/SMS

* Postgres, Mysql, MongoDB Administration, AWS etc

* MVP/prototypes - Innovative product development skills

* Rescue/refactor stale/failing projects

Email: projects `at` featlabs `dot` com

<<<<<<<>>>>>>> <<<<<<<>>>>>>> <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

See edit.

PROTIP:

1. Have a longterm vision/goal for your life that is achievable regardless of financial resources/location etc.

2. Find a partner in crime who shares that vision and is willing to join you on what will surely be a great adventure known as your life. Life will surely be no bed of roses.

3. Stress Test your relationship in some way to ensure the vision/goal is aligned.

I decided I should marry my wife following 6 months of hard travel through South America. I figured if we passed that test, we could handle pretty much anything.

EDIT: Appreciate all the comments. I have actually been married now for 10 years and have 3 kids. So while its true that the "Test" I am describing cannot mimic the tough slog of real-life, how exactly do you propose to mimic the difficulty of raising kids? If I were to speak to my 20 something self I would still recommend a difficult trip is an easy way to see how easily your relationship will come apart under stress, mainly because you are coming up against unknown/uncomfortable situations and factors.

Some things are worth restating.

Can someone name one innovative or disruptive technology that has come out of China in the last 20 years? Honest question.

I am admitting ignorance here. I have this assumption that many Chinese companies just copy/refactor existing ideas and apply them to their protected market.

Go is great if you dont mind writing 1000's of lines of boiler plate code one would expect to exist.

In the bay area there are already plenty of housing co-ops. I started one in North Oakland, 23 people living in one house, sharing meals, garden in back yard etc. I think my rent was $200 or something.

Depends on where you buy. A 200K home in the midwest, 30K is a big percentage. The assumption being made here is that investing in solar automatically raises the value of the home. I am saying not necessarily. The example above was an appraisal in Madison WI, which, though in the midwest, definitely has plenty of solar installs.