Hacker News: ticmasta

New comment by ticmasta in "Computers Aren't Fun Anymore (2020)"

ticmasta — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 20:26:11 +0000

>> Web development takes the lion's share of computing people pay for which translates to the work people will do (we need money for survival)

This just isn't true. There are so many systems where the web component is just the tiny part of the iceberg you can see, but underneath some form of browser client there's a huge mountain of computer-based technology. Concepts like containerization and microservices are far bigger than the notion of current web development.

New comment by ticmasta in "'New car smell' is the scent of carcinogens"

ticmasta — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 17:20:44 +0000

2-stroke exhaust and new tires... Maybe it's the association with memorable activities like visiting a motorcycle dealership with my dad as a kid, or a mowed lawn and warm summer rain? Meanwhile diesel exhaust makes me think of those cold, cold winter days, waiting for the car to warm up on an ice-cold vinyl seat...

New comment by ticmasta in "The Atari 2600 Webserver"

ticmasta — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 17:39:39 +0000

forget about that - they're doing a cryptocurrency!

New comment by ticmasta in "Ad block and you don't stop"

ticmasta — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 21:30:23 +0000

Maybe the "we love ads" argument is gone, but I still see the "I've trained myself to ignore ads" line of reasoning, which is countered by dark patterns exploiting thousands of years of evolution against ignoring things like motion and bright colours. Plus I'm not sure how you "ignore" non-optional ads between what you want and where you're at...

New comment by ticmasta in "The Tech Stack of a One-Man SaaS"

ticmasta — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 17:17:25 +0000

Just a single data point warning: I've had nothing but bad experiences with blacklisted, shared IPs from SES. Everything gets flagged as spam.

New comment by ticmasta in "The Tech Stack of a One-Man SaaS"

ticmasta — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 17:14:37 +0000

You didn't seem to get much of a reaction, probably because of your recommendations to go with proven (read: old & boring) tech, but I appreciate it. Front-end churn is real and, coupled with rapidly evolving and ever-abstracting containerization approaches, staying on top of it is a full-time job, best done as an employee.

New comment by ticmasta in "Ask HN: How are you performing email flows on your early stage product?"

ticmasta — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 16:59:50 +0000

Sending via SES and WorkMail ALL of my emails are flagged as spam, including replies to the original sender and things as benign as accepting meeting requests. We use it primarily for inbound, so not as big a deal but definitely going to move soon.

New comment by ticmasta in "Jackie Chan's Best Advice"

ticmasta — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 17:57:41 +0000

I understand where you're coming from, but you don't have to pursue your absolute best in everything you do. It's fine to just "do" things casually. I think people would be much happier if they prioritized participation over mastery.

New comment by ticmasta in "Six Months of Tiny Projects"

ticmasta — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 17:48:25 +0000

>> 1-2 months is a more reasonable tiny project timeframe. It gives you enough time to build something with substance, and test the idea thoroughly.

This is a similar timeframe that Basecamp uses for internal initiatives. I've been pushing for us to switch from 2-week sprints to something closer to 6-week features. If you're building on existing product or a brand new one 1-2 weeks is just not enough time for meaningful progress.

New comment by ticmasta in "Body found in Canada identified as neo-nazi spam king"

ticmasta — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 00:35:17 +0000

Maybe he meant "reputation for ridiculously bad drivers going crazy fast"?

New comment by ticmasta in "I sold Baremetrics"

ticmasta — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 18:29:02 +0000

the math is still incredibly lopsided. Your secretary can pay off her mortgage or buy a new car; the founders get FU money. This is just how it works; hate the game not the player.

New comment by ticmasta in "I sold Baremetrics"

ticmasta — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 18:26:47 +0000

The HN community is full of incredibly intelligent but often young tech-centric people. I used to be part of the latter, but the reality is they lack a huge amount of context and experience. Being a talented developer-employee, even an early employee is jut not the same as being the founder / maker / starter. I sincerely doubt any of these people spent every single day of the past seven years worrying about the fate of their entire company; if you did, you're an incredible employee but you should have been running your own gig.

New comment by ticmasta in "I sold Baremetrics"

ticmasta — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 18:21:12 +0000

He mentions his VCs have always been available and engaged, so I think it's reasonable that they knew he would be open and public about the deal; he always has in the past.

New comment by ticmasta in "Launch HN: Gather.Town (YC S19) – Spatial video chat for remote teams"

ticmasta — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 22:06:29 +0000

Am I the only one who immediately thought of this episode of community (Digital Estate Planning)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 1fgR7oeIXFA

New comment by ticmasta in "Covid vaccine: First ‘milestone’ vaccine offers 90% protection"

ticmasta — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 17:34:01 +0000

if it's before though, then how would isolation after symptoms prevent the spread? I think the original post stand if perhaps overstated.

New comment by ticmasta in "Launch HN: Sunsama (YC W19) – Daily Planner for Busy People"

ticmasta — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 17:52:40 +0000

>> only to find out later there's no way to add an Outlook calendar.

I haven't even looked at it but seeing this in the comments means I can't use it. Many (most?) of your target "elite professionals" are running Outlook in the enterprise.

New comment by ticmasta in "No More Google"

ticmasta — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 01:00:04 +0000

I'm getting there, plus old enough that FB and twitter never made any impression. Google apps is hard to cut off when you have school age kids though.

New comment by ticmasta in "Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them"

ticmasta — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 00:58:13 +0000

This seems similar to how I felt when consulting and knew I was billing at a much higher rate than others. Even if there is some form of value-for-money angle you feel like you have a target on your back and will be an early "win" for the bean counters when the knifes come out. My advice: be prepared for the end at anytime (like 4pm today) and enjoy it while you can!

New comment by ticmasta in "Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them"

ticmasta — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 00:55:02 +0000

wouldn't the wage fixing scandal, which was essentially illegal oligopolistic behaviour, be an example of how a larger market, wider area supply/demand relationship would look more like the classic economic model, i.e., this exact case?

New comment by ticmasta in "Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them"

ticmasta — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 00:52:36 +0000

When there are 100 jobs and only 10 qualified people in SF ,all paying huge cost of living, they can command very high salaries to cover COL plus more.

When there are 10 Million people living in dramatically cheaper COL centers they (a) can survive on much less, and (b) are all competing for 100 jobs, driving the supply curve way down.

>> restatement of economic generalities help

because this is a textbook example of why these generalities hold true, but only in really basic, aggregate cases.