malbiniak's comments

malbiniak | 11 years ago | on: Why Silicon Valley Works

Hello from Portland.

Anecdotally, it seems like they are moving out of there and moving in here. (Disclaimer: there's an alarming number of people here that are opposed to that. I'm not one of them.)

Thing to consider, though. There still isn't nearly the concentration of VCs (and thus networks) here as there are there. Depending on where you're at with your project/startup/company, that's got to be a sizable consideration when thinking about moving to/moving from the valley.

malbiniak | 11 years ago | on: The New Foursquare

Your location/neighborhood is being updated automatically in the background, but you are not automatically checked into venues.

malbiniak | 12 years ago | on: Swarm: Foursquare's ambitious plan to split its app in two

I'm having a hard time understanding this, but comments here and other places make it very apparent that most users use Foursquare in different ways. That makes growth and innovation quite the challenge.

What doesn't make sense to me: at the core, users that (still) use Foursquare use it to check in. From there we vary, but we check in. More importantly, that's the perception around the app. Changing perceptions with an existing brand is difficult. Why move the existing user base to a new app built around checkins (Swarm) and try to rebrand the checkin app (Foursquare) to attract new users and compete with Yelp?

Confused? Me too.

malbiniak | 12 years ago | on: Technichi: Macbook Subscription Service

The devil will be in the details. The Apple lease program to me isn't interesting because a) the minimum lease term is 24 months and b) the minimum order is $3,000.

If I have an option to subscribe on 6-12 month terms and upgrade my machine on each release cycle, that'd be really interesting.

malbiniak | 12 years ago | on: Ask HN: How does one create a fake identity?

Yeah, I am, too.

A friend of mine works for Child Protective Services and gets exposed to some very volatile and unstable people. He gets threats from cases he's assigned, but thankfully nothing too serious or pervasive. Now that he's got a kid on the way, he's a bit more concerned. The only thought I had was to create an alias, but I'm really not sure how someone would go about doing that.

That book might be a great start for him, but if anyone has recommendations, I'm ears.

malbiniak | 13 years ago | on: Sleep: Everything You Need to Know

I always feel sleepy between 2:30 and 3:00pm each day. Unfortunately my job (and my coworker's desire to flood my calendar) don't allow for midday naps.

Trust me, I've tried.

malbiniak | 13 years ago | on: Sleep: Everything You Need to Know

> I really wonder how much sleep people lose worrying about their sleep habits.

I've been having an increasing issue with sleep (not being able to fall asleep, then waking up early and not being able to fall back asleep). I've tried to combat it by being more aware of my habits and patterns, but that's resulting in sleep anxiety. Compounded with the effects of sleep deprivation and I'm easily losing sleep worrying about my sleep habits.

Sample set of 1, though.

malbiniak | 13 years ago | on: Are you an underpaid developer?

Yes, you probably are underpaid, but not by the delta you'd assume based on the original post.

Both of the sources cited are talent agencies. Talent agencies make their fee based on the signing salary of their candidates. It's in their interest to drive the market value higher, even if with speculation.

On the other end, I'm on the hiring side, so it's obviously in my interest to try and keep those numbers down. I also know I can't hire if I can't pay a competitive salary (among other things), so I need to accept the data when it's there.

Both of these surveys [1][2] fail to provide any meaningful data to support their results and I'm struggling to rationalize how these can be accurate averages. I've been hired and hired others in Portland, Minneapolis, San Antonio and Chicago. From what we've hired at, what people have been hired away from us for, what friends are making, what friends at other companies are hiring at, I just don't buy it.

I get it. I'm making an argument that they don't provide data and I'm waging my argument on anecdotal evidence. I think these reports are useful for demonstrating where demand is, but I'd caution people from walking into their manager's office (or an interview) and citing this as supporting evidence.

...namely because these two reports are featured on a blog that "is teaching freelancers and consultants how to build a sustainable and high income business." Freelancers are taxed differently, pay their own benefits, and have a completely different set of expenses.

[1] https://grouptalent.com/blog/how-much-developers-make-per-ci... [2] http://rivierapartners.com/2013/02/12/2012-engineering-salar...

malbiniak | 13 years ago | on: Users don't like social login

I'm glad to see I'm not alone.

I had high hopes of seeing data and research (no offense, TechCrunch) to support this claim. I'm in the camp of not liking social authentication, especially when it's the only option, but I'm also a sample set of 1.

malbiniak | 13 years ago | on: Why did United neglect to tell parents of a minor she was rerouted?

I agree with a lot of your sentiment, especially considering some 3rd party that doesn't hold a ton of credibility is acting as the mouth piece.

Out of curiosity, are you a parent? I'm not, but as an uncle that loves the shit out of his niece and nephew, I'd have a hard time telling their parents to chill out when their kid is not sticking to the plan, and UA's response (3 hours) seems minimize the importance (to the parents). To be fair, I'm not sure my sister or brother-in-law would allow a 10 year old to travel on their own, either.

Sorry, you asked for perspective :)

malbiniak | 13 years ago | on: I just left 200 fake parking tickets at YC Demo Day...

It seems gimmicky, which could work, but then throw in the QR code and incorrect usage of "its" and it just seems unprofessional. If you're investing in the person and not the idea, this seems like a very bad first impression to make.

However, what's there to lose?

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