daSn0wie's comments

The only point of life is whatever you make it. Life's your own video game and you set the rules of what defines winning or losing it. There are definitely lots of external pressure trying to get you to align to what their game is, but I think you've come to realize that those rules aren't the rules you want to live by.

I felt the same way in my 30s. The thing that changed it for me was when my father passed away, my mother was diagnosed with dementia, and the pandemic. I started to realize that life is really short and it made me think a lot about what it all meant. I think you've also come to realize that there really is no point, so you can either be depressed about it and not do anything or you can just do things that bring you enjoyment. Some people find enjoyment in help others and volunteering (I don't) and will say that's the meaning of life. Other's will say finding enjoyment in the process of something is the meaning of life (I don't). I think it's different for everyone and part of life is defining the game. Everyone wants validation that their rules of life are the right rules.

I'm in my late 40s now and I just focus on whatever I want to do that I enjoy - hanging out with friends, spending time with my family, not stressing too much about work, entertaining myself with my hobbies.

On hobbies - I'll pick up hobbies just to try them out now. I have no expectations any longer. If it sticks, it sticks, if it doesn't, I don't care that much. I've come to realize I just really like to try new things, and learning the depth doesn't interest me. If i'm inspired to pick it up again, I do. There's probably some self-help/hustle porn out there that dissuades this, but I enjoy it.

try to analyze what you're doing when you're postponing your work.

what are you doing instead? what are you seeking out? it might give you an indication to what're you subconciously seeking

a lot of suggestions here about what it could be... maybe you're bored, maybe you're seeking socialization.

here's one backing TM: http://www.tm.org/healthpro/downloads/circulation-aha.pdf

there are more, just google it.

i was skeptical as well, but i've found that TM has helped me be a bit more relaxed and 'aware'.

there are some. checkout https://coinlist.co/

Build something:

2,200,000 = Delivering $1 of value to 2.2mi people. Just play with that numbers until you can figure out something that you can build that fits into that model....

$1 of value to 2.4mi people (in a year) // (i fudged the number to make the math easier)

$1 of value to 200k people a month

$2 of value to 100k people a month

$3 of value to 75k people a month

$4 of value to 50k people a month

$8 of value to 25k people a month

$16 of value to 12.5k people a month

$32 of value to 6.25k people a month

...

The tricky part is figuring out what people want to pay for.

There are also abstractions to this... like advertising... An average cpm is $2.80. So you'd have to get ~$3 of value from 75k people a month (if they viewed 1000 pages/mo each).. or 75mi page views a month would get you 2.2mi a year.

Learn soft skills along with staying up to date on technical skills.

Work on understanding the business needs and not just business requirements for your feature.

Learn how to foster team growth, not just your own personal growth.

Figure out processes to help the team and not just building your feature.

Don't be intimidated by younger engineers who are trying to climb the ladder. Help them succeed.

> Damore gets to write code on an at-will basis.

Exactly, Google has every right to fire Damore. Google can do whatever it needs to do if they think this is going to hurt their reputation, finances, or stock price. If your fundamental beliefs don't line up with the organizations', then you probably shouldn't work there.

feeling the same way. just getting through a crazy release cycle. here's some of my plans for 2017:

1. i'm taking a vacation. seriously, we have them for a reason. if the company culture isn't one that supports this, i'm going to start looking for a new job.

2. create more definitive boundaries for myself. if something is sent to me mid sprint with an expectation to complete it, i'm going to push back and say 'no', or i'm going to ask for something of equivalent difficulty to be taken off my stack.

3. practice gratitude more. as engineers, we're lucky to have these well paying jobs and families we can spend the money on.

4. make time for myself. as parents it's easy to get caught up giving everything to everyone else, but not taking time for myself. i'm going to take time to focus on my health and fitness again.

5. make time for my friends. focusing on work and family isn't enough, there needs to be time with a community of friends.

Intelligence doesn't matter as much as you think:

http://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html

Comparing yourself to others is always a losing game. Compare yourself to where you were when you started this journey, and you'll see that you've come pretty far.

Get ready for the rollercoaster (emotionally) ride, and good luck!

Sounds like a bad deal. In reality the product you're building is almost entirely technology based. They wouldn't really offer any value to you unless they were technical as well.

What would they spend their time doing while you coded?

The only caveat to this is if they've already exited and are successful entrepreneurs. My guess is they're not, and just looking for someone to do the development for free.

keep failing at things in one focused area. review your failures and note what you learned from each of them. if you make incremental improvements to anything on a daily basis, in 10 years you'll be a master.

never measure yourself against where you want to be, but to where you were.

always ask for things, no one is going to do it for you.

you can't make everyone happy (especially on hacker news ;) ). find an audience that resonates with you and make them happy.

you're not a special snowflake.

i'd do a small throw-away project with the person before you attempt anything. if you can complete the project, then tackle something bigger. it's like training camp before full-season play.

it's impossible to know everything and do everything. stop comparing yourself to other people and start focusing on what YOU need to accomplish and what YOU can control, which is yourself. If you see something amazing, look at it and learn from it.

be inspired instead of intimidated.

IANAL, but I would trust your gut instinct on this - don't sign anything unless you're comfortable with the terms. It leaves the project in a weird state, but if your co-creator is being this aggressive to dismiss your claim, you may want to leave it this way.

Several years ago I had a problem similar in nature. A co-founder of my old-company parted with us on unfriendly terms. However, before we parted she didn't sign any paperwork. When we got accepted into an incubator and she found out, she threatened to sue us for 33 1/3% of the company. Our legal representation at the time told us that it would be considered an equal partnership if we didn't have paperwork stating otherwise. Ultimately she had all the leverage b/c she didn't sign anything.

I think it's a great idea. I feel like I commonly give advice to people, but not knowing what else is going on in the person's life. Also, the outcome of my advice usually doesn't have a direct effect on me. At least a bad decision (or multiple bad decisions) have a financial impact on the stock performance and/or the willingness of the company to continue to participate.

thank you