jimbobob's comments

jimbobob | 8 years ago | on: Truckers Working Alongside Coders Trying to Make Driverless Trucks

This is an interesting approach in the short term and could help bootstrap Starsky's business before the conversion to fully autonomous driving.

I still think driving a truck as a profession will be a thing of the past within 20 years or so. There's just too much money riding on this problem, and logistics companies are fairly ruthless about efficiency.

jimbobob | 8 years ago | on: Ask HN: What privacy respecting (non-targeted) ad exchanges are there?

How much traffic do you drive per month? There are exchanges / SSPs that would do an integration with you but that is going to require scale.

Pretty much any SSP is going to ask you for a minimum of pageurl or app-level data in order to prevent fraud on their end.

I'm sure you already know, but you are going to take a big hit on eCPMs as a lot of advertiser money is connected to behavioral segments (and thus cookie / device id data).

Is your site general focused or do you have a specific niche? Some specific niches (eg targeting programmers) will be able to pull in significantly more through direct sponsorships and/or ad networks specializing in your vertical.

jimbobob | 10 years ago | on: A Miserable Debt-Free Life

I think you are looking at the arithmetic average, which isn't very useful for the following reason:

Year 1: 100% gain Year 2: 50% loss

The arithmetic average here is 50%, which the geometric average is 0%. The CAGR listed is going the correct metric to use but that is not 9% after inflation using the date range you provided. I get 7.42% for 1/1/95 - 12/31/14 after inflation and dividends are factored in. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination, though!

jimbobob | 11 years ago | on: Ask HN: Worthwhile ad networks?

Hi foxpc- that is a hard question to answer without knowing more specifics. Here are some of the questions that I can use to point you in the right direction.

- What kind of site(s) do you have traffic for?

- Are they in a specific niche, or is the traffic more general?

- Which ad units do you support?

- What is your estimated volume (impressions/month)?

- What is your geo breakdown?

Feel free to reach out to me directly if you don't want to share this info publicly. I would love to help!

jimbobob | 12 years ago | on: Realistic iOS, non-game app earnings through ads?

It depends on the size of your audience. Typically if an audience is very niche (eg user demographics are similar), then selling ads to direct advertisers is more of a possibility.

What do your DAU/MAU numbers look like? How much engagement is there with your app, and how much time do users spend per session?

Feel free to reach out to me if you need more specific advice.

jimbobob | 12 years ago | on: Ask HN: How to get a startup job in SF as a non-technical guy

Your post would have fit me pretty closely ~ 7 years ago. Personally, I got into tech by getting exposure to online advertising with a side project. This led to an internship and then a full-time job in advertising operations.

My advice: apply for entry-level roles in tech companies on a business/operations focused team. Hustle and learn something new every day. For me, that has meant launching side projects, learning Python, advanced Excel skills, reporting automation (VBA and Python), becoming an expert at the industry-standard ad servers, and learning how all the pieces of the online advertising ecosystem fit together.

Depending on your interests and current skillset, you may want to adjust your own path accordingly.

Feel free to reach out to me directly as I would love to help.

jimbobob | 12 years ago | on: What side projects did you start in 2014?

I started FitSpot (https://Fitspot.io) and released this week. Our first feature allows personal trainers to create a web presence easily and for free. We have some big ideas for the future but wanted to start small and build from there.

The site is built using Django and Angular.

jimbobob | 13 years ago | on: Ask HN: Non-Technical (Internship) Opportunities

Where are you located?

Your background sounds very similar to mine and I now work in Advertising Operations, which was a job I did not know existed when I was in school. Working in Marketing or Data Science in a startup might also be an option for you. Have you looked into those fields?

Feel free to email me if you would like to discuss further. eric (dot) rygh (at) gmail.

jimbobob | 13 years ago | on: Ask HN: Anyone living/working in Thailand?

I recently went on a backpacking trip with the thought of working from the beach in Thailand in mind. I spent a couple months there, both in the South near Krabi and later in the North (Chiang Mai, Pai).

The good: You can live a pretty good life for quite cheaply. Depending on where you are, I found the Internet connections to be decent, the food to be tasty and the people kind. If you stay there long-term it is important to pick up some of the language as it will bring you closer to the locals. You may also find that you are able to get better prices as a result.

You can do border runs quite easily (Cambodia, Myanmar, or Malaysia). There is an entire industry that has developed around this purpose. When I was there, the visa terms were different depending on if you flew into the country or if you went over a land crossing. I would check out the latest situation on WikiTravel or the Lonely Planet forums.

I personally met another American who over-stayed his visa by over a month. Believe me, you do NOT want to be that guy. He had a horror story about the situation, and ended up having to pay a hefty fine.

Feel free to reach out to me if you want more details.

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