ccmonnett · HackerTrans

3 jaar geledendiscuss

I would not let the author's tongue-in-cheek title discourage you from reading what is a very widely respected, well-received book :). Unless the rest of the books on your list are exclusively about motorcycle repair, in which case... still consider giving it a read.

ccmonnett

4 jaar geledendiscuss

Especially if you have Python experience, then yes the opportunity definitely exists.

For example when I hire MLEs (which I am doing now if anyone wants to apply - supportlogic.io) I am willing to look at people who are solid Python/backend engineers and who have been "ML adjacent" or who we believe could learn the ropes of ML enough to contribute. The stronger an engineer, the more flexibility we have in ML knowledge. Some ML engineering is task-specific but a lot of it is automation, data engineering, and improving data scientist code (for which you do need ML experience

I've found it's a lot easier to teach an engineer enough DS/ML fundamentals to do ML Engineering than it is to teach a data scientist engineering skills. A lot easier...

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

Assuming you looked at or seriously considered the i3 - in what way(s) was it 'not good enough' for you to stick to your favorite brand?

I'm not a big BMW person but I always liked the i3. I never got that close to buying one so I'm open to the idea there's some big catch or drawback I just didn't look closely enough to see.

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

> My argument was based on the premise that votes from power users are more valuable as they better at judging the quality of the content.

As someone responsible for designing and incorporating end-user activity/feedback into ML, I have to tell you this is exceedingly unlikely.

The number of power users, especially on a large consumer app like Spotify, is dwarfed by the broad userbase (I estimate ~1% of Spotify users at most qualify as "power users").

Would I rather have power user-only feedback, or 100x the feedback? Definitely definitely 100x the feedback from all users.

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

Really enjoyed this post and explanation, thank you! I work in ML and used to live on Alma St in Palo Alto so it really hit home for me :).

I also acutely enjoy the notion that a pithy critique of people who refused to simplify the problem they were solving is in itself grossly oversimplified!

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

You can hire developers/engineers anywhere but it's hard(er) to find leadership and/or VC connections elsewhere.

I moved from the Bay to Raleigh, NC. If I wanted to start a B2B AI SaaS company here, I could (probably) find dozens of good engineers locally to help me do that. If I want to hire a VPE who's "been there done that" and scaled a B2B SaaS engineering org to 200+ engineers, or 1,000+ customers, or $30M+ revenue... my options are going to be significantly more limited here than SF/SV.

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

I am actively interviewing someone with 4 years and someone with 20 years of experience for the same role. Our needs are quite specific but it is not our first or last hire in that area; as long as someone can fill them we are willing to be flexible about to what extent this particular hire fills our overall need and will adjust accordingly down the line.

Given the stage of my company, our hiring plan, and the fact we hire remote across the US, we absolutely could have a role with a salary range of $80k or more.

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

Ahhh hello fellow Illini. I didn't mind the long bus rides too much, but I was ~20 and probably hungover most if not every time. Not something I'd rely on as a functioning adult, that's for sure :).

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

On the other hand, sales people are quickly dismissed if they don't meet their goals; it's a double-edged sword.

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

About Waymo: I used to think they were a leader in this space, partly based on their published safety statistics, but I am no longer so sure.

I had the great fortune of living in "Old Palo Alto" (think "mega rich tech CEO paradise") for a year while my wife was at Stanford. This is a grid of low-traffic, low-speed, sidewalked residential streets, ~10 minutes on all sides from the nearest highway, with typical mid-Peninsula weather (in other words, essentially perfect driving conditions).

I would would frequently see Waymo vehicles going all through the neighborhood at 6-9AM on Sunday mornings when I was out on long runs. They would often be essentially the only cars I saw on the road.

If there is a better way to pad your urban safety statistics, I do not know of one.

Old Palo Alto on Google Maps, for the curious/unfamiliar: https://goo.gl/maps/cAqifusdRL647YgWA

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

Really enjoyed the article, and followed on twitter. Good luck with the launch.

Follow-up question: Do you see a correlation between your predictions and actual finishing order increasing over time? I ask because of some very weak seasons (Nique '86 and MJ '87) for 2nd-place finishers in the 80s. It made me wonder if the MVP is becoming more 'objective' now that the media is able to follow teams around the league more easily than before.

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

Your ability to eat as much food as you desire is synonymous with living in a first world country.

The ability murder as many animals as you want is not the desired state I look for when thinking about the world in which my child to grow up. A future in which that is synonymous with status is backwards - to me.

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

You need to scold your children.

That's a metaphor - of course you shouldn't treat your reports like children. But if they possess the following attitude, it's on you as the manager to let them know that it's not an acceptable practice on your team.

> they seem to take an attitude that if they hit something they don't already know, it's perfectly reasonable to stop progressing it and just declare they need help

This advice doesn't stand on its own; you'll need both more specific tactics and a broader strategy for dealing with the situation (providing tooling or scaffolding for improving their behavior). But the fact of the matter is that everything else you do for them won't matter if you condone this behavior - which you are, by allowing it to keep happening.

PS I am an engineer-turned-manager and this is easily the least favorite part of the job for me as I get used to it. But it is ultimately your responsibility to do so, and you are impeding your own ability to improve as a manager the longer you resist doing it.

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

This analogy is interesting because it kind of proves you're both 'right', depending on the environment.

In middle/high school, there is often 'that kid' who _is_ the best at all skills - they are the pitcher, they bat cleanup, they do everything.

In the pros, though, that's virtually unheard of these days, because the amount of time it takes to specialize in a skill sufficiently to make it to the majors is so extreme it precludes you from being able to do that for multiple skills, with rare exceptions.

Not disagreeing with you, or at least I don't intend to, but I definitely remember playing against 'that kid' when I played baseball in middle and high school. Same analogy for the kid who's great at several sports in HS but has to specialize to get the DI scholarship or go pro, etc.

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

Really intrigued by the idea and anxious to try it out! After connecting my Gmail I can only get a white screen. How do I report the bug to y'all?

Best of luck, many commenters on HN seem to really undervalue the "it just works" aspect of things. It looks nice, seems to do something I am really anxious for help with, and not much more. I can see myself paying for this (potentially :) - need to get it working first!).

One perhaps funny anecdote for you - I am recently an engineer-turned-manager and this type of unified task/meeting management is one of the growth areas I've had to focus on most over the last year. Thought I'd let you in on a potential niche^2 market that might be a good fit for a blog post or something similar down the road.

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

I'm a runner, and I love it. Two things from my POV.

1) Gyms are no competition for my money because I have no interest in going.

2) I am continually relieved at how cheap running is relative to most hobbies - I just pay for shoes, some clothes (don't need many), and race fees. Personally I feel like I have plenty of headroom to give on what I'd be willing to spend on what is easily my favorite hobby, and would really consider paying for something like this (I just had a kid so I'm not doing a lot of training right now).

For comparison, I have paid ~$100 for 3-month training programs and would gladly do it again. So these prices are in line with what I'd expect to pay for a dedicated running training program.

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

Why do you say that? I am a Game Pass subscriber and find myself playing _many_ more indie games with it than before. It's easier for me to pay for the service and effectively amortize the cost of paying for indie games which is, at least how I would put it, inherently risky.

Before I would pay $5, $10, or $20 for games with a chance I'll like them - some are worth way more, some worth way less. With Game Pass I have a 'sunk cost' so I download and try out games much more eagerly and find myself enjoying many more indie games than before.

I have seen an interview where an indie dev said that Microsoft covered their entire development cost for a game to get it on Game Pass, leaving their sales on other platforms to be 'pure profit' in a sense.

I am not having a great time with the 'traditional publishing' model of the industry right now. If it gets shaken up, that seems like a benefit to me, not a drawback.

ccmonnett

5 jaar geledendiscuss

You sound like someone who has read Systemantics/The Systems Bible by John Gall? If not, you are likely to enjoy it.

For anyone else reading, I enjoyed it tremendously and highly recommend it. It's a very fun book to read.

ccmonnett

6 jaar geledendiscuss

I have disdain for Facebook as a company _but_ I am hiring a data scientist now (NLP focus, if you're interested/know someone) and would gladly hire someone from FB.

I've already interviewed someone who worked at FB and it was definitely a subject I would touch on in the process - their thoughts on working there, why they joined and left/were leaving, etc.

Their product is destructive but their engineering is great. If I were hiring an ethicist, on the other hand...

ccmonnett

6 jaar geledendiscuss

If you're an endurance athlete the Apple Watch will not compare to the Garmins, Suuntos, etc., of the world.

I am a Garmin user and a friend is a PM for Apple and I've had this argument too much to rehash it here :). But it really comes down to depth for the fitness use case (Garmin) versus good-but-not-as-great fitness tracking as part of a more general use case (Apple).

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