Hacker News: mindtricks

New comment by mindtricks in "TikTok users can't upload anti-ICE videos. The company blames tech issues"

mindtricks — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 16:00:35 +0000

I lived in China as an American a while back and had a similar take. Their ability to grow successfully and manage their populace definitely presented a new model to a lot of countries.

New comment by mindtricks in "Ask HN: Is ageism in tech still a problem?"

mindtricks — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 16:00:11 +0000

This is basically ageism. It's not accurate and should be coached out. Flip the question for a 25 year old:

* Will they be on on-call or out partying with their friends? * Are they committed to the work or will they hop to another company once trained? * Are they able to work within our codebase or just jump to the next hot thing?

These types of questions are ridiculous for both sides.

New comment by mindtricks in "One hundred and one rules of effective living"

mindtricks — Tue, 13 May 2025 14:58:11 +0000

I think it's fair to have principles and still have an interesting an active life. The best example of this would have to be, well, Ben Franklin.

New comment by mindtricks in "Mississippi Can't Possibly Have Good Schools"

mindtricks — Wed, 07 May 2025 14:37:48 +0000

I attended in the late 80s, early 90s and originally thought my education was subpar relative to other states. As I got older, I realized my fundamentals were solid and I'd constantly be surprised by what people people didn't know that I learned in middle school.

That said, I could see the gap when it came to others who participated in Honors or more advanced topics in high school. This is a smaller subset of most school's students, but I walked away with a sense that education in these topics at other schools were more rigorous.

New comment by mindtricks in "No as a Service"

mindtricks — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 14:43:18 +0000

If it helps you, think of the rate limiter as the "no" final boss.

New comment by mindtricks in "Mark Zuckerberg Says Social Media Is Over"

mindtricks — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 14:54:03 +0000

I used to count how many non-friend items there were between friend posts. If I recall correctly, my max count was 20. And similarly to you, when I do see something it's from 3 days ago and feels no relevant to comment or interact with. I know so many people hate Facebook, but I used to really enjoy those small moments with friends where we could interact over small life updates and photos. Now they feed me garbage to groups I've never subscribed to based on some "guess" around my interests.

New comment by mindtricks in "America underestimates the difficulty of bringing manufacturing back"

mindtricks — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 15:18:15 +0000

If you feel there are misrepresentations, then just pick one point and discuss that. I've worked in manufacturing-dependent companies and industries, and lived in China for years. His observations don't feel entirely off-base to me and fit much of what I've observed. So if there is something wrong here, help us clarify one part of it.

New comment by mindtricks in "Almost one in 10 people use the same four-digit PIN"

mindtricks — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 16:56:14 +0000

The fact that my technology-inhibited parents somehow chose one of the lesser used combinations has left me dumbfounded.

New comment by mindtricks in "Show HN: I made a mini golf in my lunch time"

mindtricks — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 20:07:18 +0000

Had the same issue, but finally gave up.

New comment by mindtricks in "Nokia's internal presentation after iPhone was launched (2007) [pdf]"

mindtricks — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 16:45:30 +0000

I was also at Nokia during this time and recall OPK (Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo), during a visit to the Beijing office, giving a talk where he talked about the difficulties of pushing new things through the organization.

More specifically, he said that even he would push for investment and innovation in one area, but that as the decision made its way through the org, it became something else. It was an odd moment to see a CEO say something like this, and was a clear indicator to me that we didn't have what was necessary to really pivot the way we needed.

New comment by mindtricks in "Nokia's internal presentation after iPhone was launched (2007) [pdf]"

mindtricks — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 16:40:27 +0000

As someone who was there, I recall numerous projects instituted to reduce the number of steps it took to even install an app on the device. It was mind-numbing to see what they were trying to extract themselves from.

New comment by mindtricks in "NASA+: Our New Streaming Service"

mindtricks — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 15:26:15 +0000

Earlier this year, I met some of the team behind the launch, and they love their job. They showed up with NASA pins for everyone, the geeked out over the launches, and just expressed a level of enthusiasm on bringing up this service that I rarely see elsewhere. If that team is reading this, I just want wish you good luck, you certainly pre-built a fan in me.

New comment by mindtricks in "Blue Ocean Strategy"

mindtricks — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 15:59:50 +0000

Don't take for granted the number of people who will enter a crowded market just because they think they can do it better.

New comment by mindtricks in "Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff"

mindtricks — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 15:18:56 +0000

I could see how it might be used as a "memory" to some of these AI-generated workflows. As content is generated, having it stored, indexed, and easily discoverable would be important. If the users of these AI tools are individuals and small groups more than big corporations, there may be a market here for Dropbox to tune its product line towards.

New comment by mindtricks in "Meta is building a decentralized, text-based social network"

mindtricks — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 16:56:54 +0000

There is a whole generation that isn't even familiar with this concept, so you could honestly re-introduce it.

It's "TikTok for Text!"

New comment by mindtricks in "Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?"

mindtricks — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 17:21:05 +0000

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but coming in with the mindset is not always natural. We don't know where the poster grew up, their education, their background, etc. It's not the worst assumption to believe that a company is going to be invested in developing you because some will and do. Sadly, the poster was not part of one of those companies.

So instead of beating them down, we should point them to a better way of thinking in a more constructive manner.

New comment by mindtricks in "Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?"

mindtricks — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 14:35:22 +0000

It's an interesting point about motivation and work load. My experience with burnout occurred at a time where I was regularly doing 60 hours / week, and enjoying it! The motivation hit came when a new manager moved into the team, and he suddenly wanted to shift my role in a career direction I did not agree to. Prior to him joining, I felt my path was progressing in the direction I wanted, with the blessing of my previous management.

It's amazing how fast a single person can flip that motivation versus work load into the wrong direction.

New comment by mindtricks in "12,000 Facebook employees, 15% of its workforce, may lose jobs amid quiet layoff"

mindtricks — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 14:37:19 +0000

Facebook is an ad company, and if that market is declining, those cuts may come from non-technical groups meant to serve those accounts and markets. There are likely other programs necessary with high marketing needs that I could imagine need culling and thus fewer people.

New comment by mindtricks in "Managers with a business degree reduce employees' wages, do not increase profit"

mindtricks — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 14:55:01 +0000

When I was in business school for my MBA, the human component was absolutely covered, and I suspect that is the case with many of them. Part of the problem may be though that there are subjects (finance, operations), where I can see the concept of a human resource becomes a bit abstract in order to focus on other concepts. In this regard, schools can certainly do better to connect the people element across disciplines.

For those with a complete disdain for "business types", I'd encourage you to read Peter Drucker. Some of his opinions may feel a bit outdated, but he speaks quite a bit to the knowledge worker and their needs.

New comment by mindtricks in "I remember feeling derisive about marketing as a young techie"

mindtricks — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 17:03:32 +0000

The reason most young engineers think this way is 1) they think their work is self-evident and doesn't require demand creation, 2) their management does not engage with marketing and therefore can't convey the value down, and 3) confuses "growth hacking" and "advertising" with the broader work that marketing supports.

...and for the records, they're completely justified here. They have a lot on their plate as a new engineer and this is not an area that has immediate value to them.