a small team, in a nice place working on an interesting problem, it best
central control is always 'Godwin' like everytime
grooming elite people at big companys can be done, but its very rare, and its even more rare to see those people have a happy life,
much of what you see here on HN-YC is young people, who are always happy, like a puppy, the real deal is to view the elite post 40, and still working post 60, you simply don't see it much in high-tech, especially in california
I think the trend now that everything is cheap ( HW/SW ) is to be anywhere, and build a small team and do what you want, as long as you want,
all big company's all suck for much the same reason, the people who don't produce are made managers, then those who do produce get tired of stupid politics and being controlled by 'idiots', it's very rare for a producer to become a manager, as in time your brain will rot, managing people is not fun, it sucks bad,
I get real bored about all the BIG MONEY talk, I mean say $200k/year, that is peanuts, I remember back in the early 1980's, we used to make $50k/day, and then you could buy a house for $50k, now $200k, doesn't buy anything, except a high tax bracket.
In summary, people are being fed bile, keep it small, and work as a close team with like minded people, and run like hell from big corporations.
Well the first rule in developing is 'lifestyle', I agree with you 100% that if you willing to work in a shit-hole be that east-coast or houston, or any shit-hole in USA, sure there will be a job,
But if you want to live in a nice place, say San Franciso, and make enough to own a house and eat out every night, then its not what you know, but who you blow.
I agree with you, but say your FORTRAN programmer, chances are he's been doing the same thing for 30+ years, and he miserable and unhappy, sure he's got a job, but does he have a life? NO
Take a few years off, then go back, and see how hard it is to find a job, most employers only hire people who stay employed,
The jobs your describing are the dreg jobs of the IT industry, I think some ugly disease would be preferable to working in a fortune 500 company post mid-life, unless of course your the CEO/COO/CFO
It's always been this way, if your willing to live in a shitty place, there's always a job, the problem is getting a job in the good places, and a good job.
Yes, there is always defense, you can always get a job with the GOVernment, now there is a hell on earth.
I agree with you about the kids, I know its hard for most kids today to get in the door, mostly cuz they have no work schools, and only the very lucky get hired at graduation, again its who you know
In summary my sale is on being your own boss, and not ending up when you 50+ years old being somebody wage slave coding cobol, In Dearborn Michigan.
Well let's see Bill Gates was a drop-out, so was Edison, .. I think the majority of famous rich men were drop-outs,
What a degree or an A student usually means is that you are a kiss ass, not usually a good indication of someone who is a hard worker, and sees the problem and sticks with the problem until resolved.
Most educated elite don't work, they're spoiled, they ended up in grad school to defer working cuz ma&pa are rich,
Yes, PHDS at google.com can make $200k, but that doesn't mean that every PHD can make $200k at google,
In summary at google/microsoft/oracle, ... its not what you know, or what your degree says, its who you blow
Now Putin got something right that the majority of USA people will not even admit, that the freely type their own dossier into the NSA/GOOGLE database daily, where all their private thoughts are kept forever in every form so that Google can sell their private data to the highest bidder, which is usually a criminal ( police ) intensity.
It's way beyond EVIL at this point, It's way beyond Goebbels or Hitler, or Stalin; google with their tracking and their big-data, its 100% Pre-Crime 'Minority Report', the bad is that its only 99% good, so that if 1 in 100 are sent to Room-101 (NSA torture chamber) google doesn't care, cuz it knows that badge-holders will never have to see the inside of rm-101, its only for little people.
Don't be evil my ass, If your NOT google, then you are little People.
Problem with coding is that there are 1st,2nd,3rd, and 4th level programmers.
1st level A star guys/gals from big-name cs school like CMU, ... having been pulling in good money since the 1960's upon grad,
2nd tier engineers are the self-trained guys who get lucky, and secure an engineer job after a few years working, they usually don't have degrees and nearly always face a glass-sealing
3rd tier are the hackers, they might get lucky maybe not,
4th tier would be those that never get beyond script, say html, but consider themselves coders.
Teir 1 can develop a system, from scratch, and understand the math,physics, ...
Tier 2 really don't understand but by hard-work, and smart enough to hire tier one's they might climb
3/4 are usually called 'techs', never even have clue what's going on, they make < $10k/year
...
In all cases if you want the big bucks you have to start your own company, where you have a chance to scrape 50% of the GROSS, or even sell out and clear millions or billions.
Graduating from a big-name school and getting a +200K job at google, is a lot like being pro-ball, it happens, but luck and family mean more.
The real money is like bill gates, zucker, any of these, which usually means you steal somebody elses software, and you market it as yours, mitch kapor used to say, you only be need to be 1st, best, or fastest to win the MILLION DOLLAR pot.
All great fortunes are made on THEFT, you study oracle, microsoft, google, ... et-all you will find the common pattern,
Small fortunes like millions can be had by delivering a good product, and enjoying it life cycle 5-7 years, keeping the cash, and retiring young.
Rock Star's in BIG companys, unless you the owner isn't that big of a deal, talk to any big GOOGLER and they'll tell you that meaningful contribution of an ordinary mortal is impossible. It's a lot like INTEL, there are a lot of MILLIONAIRES ( which is not a lot of money in silicon valley/beach/forest ), but there are also a lot of very unhappy bored middle age millionaires rotting their lives in shitty jobs.
Then there is the issue that after 40 you can't get hired unless your connected, again this pay's to have been an entrepreneur when young, and keep re-inventing yourself, I see O'Reilly is still around to name one.
IMHO the happiest people are those like Andreesen who are rich and stay to play VC, then their are those who love power like ORACLE boss, and just stay, but most of the happy people retire when they're 35+ and get the hell out of tech and do something else,
Those that stay post 50+ in any big company can't compete with the YOUNG, I have old friends still at fortune 500, and they are miserable, and of course the companys long ago broke all social contract like med insurance for life, pension, ...
In summary start your own biz, be an owner, put in your 5-15 years, and buy all the real-estate you can so when your done you have hard assets and not just stock or smoke-mirrors to show for your work.
For the most part TECH is no fun for old folks, I see it different as a scientist you can still play to you die, ...but for TECH it means nothing after a few years what software you may have been an expert at yesterday,
working for somebody else has always been a bad bet, entrepreneur is fairly certain, unless you ain't wired such, to become a successful $500k/year over-paid partner employee you got to be connected, you to to go to the right school and network the right people, .... for most mortals we are not born so lucky.
It's good to work for a big company when young and learn as much as you can about all, then break away and start your own small company and fill a niche you know that has a real need, so long as your the real owner, you can always pull +50%/year off the table, a good CPA can avoid taxes along the way by deferral,
Best book I ever saw or had was "What ever happened to the wooly mamoth", a book about starting your own company, told the real truth.
Once you have a company and it good, you will have a dozen competitors in 3 years, and you can't drop the ball for a moment, good luck, most people get out 10-15 years or burn out and die, few people are wired to do this stuff after they're say 40, ...
I think its best to have a goal to retire at 35, that was my goal at 15, and certainly by 25 I couldn't work for another person, or company. After 40 unless your an executive and highly tightly wired in to the VC community getting a job is hard,
The main thing is that if your say 20-25 you start your own biz, by the time your 30 you retire and can spend the rest of your life doing what you want, be that investing in start-ups, or sailing, or living as a hermit in the another country.
all these places with lots of people suck
a small team, in a nice place working on an interesting problem, it best
central control is always 'Godwin' like everytime
grooming elite people at big companys can be done, but its very rare, and its even more rare to see those people have a happy life,
much of what you see here on HN-YC is young people, who are always happy, like a puppy, the real deal is to view the elite post 40, and still working post 60, you simply don't see it much in high-tech, especially in california
I think the trend now that everything is cheap ( HW/SW ) is to be anywhere, and build a small team and do what you want, as long as you want,
all big company's all suck for much the same reason, the people who don't produce are made managers, then those who do produce get tired of stupid politics and being controlled by 'idiots', it's very rare for a producer to become a manager, as in time your brain will rot, managing people is not fun, it sucks bad,
I get real bored about all the BIG MONEY talk, I mean say $200k/year, that is peanuts, I remember back in the early 1980's, we used to make $50k/day, and then you could buy a house for $50k, now $200k, doesn't buy anything, except a high tax bracket.
In summary, people are being fed bile, keep it small, and work as a close team with like minded people, and run like hell from big corporations.