Top posts
Every blog post that took off on Hacker News, ranked by the votes of its best submission. 6,087 posts.
Why I got Fired from Facebook (a $100 Million dollar lesson)
I got fired from Facebook... and it cost me $100 million dollars. Probably even more now. This is my story as (former) Facebook employee #30.
Tacit Knowledge Is Dangerous
Then Life Continued
Academic Ranks Explained or What on Earth Is an Adjunct?
This week we’re going to take a detour into understanding the structure of academia, in particular the different kinds of ‘professors’ and their academic ranks in the American sys…
How I feel quitting my own startup
I left my own startup after almost 5 years of hard work. It was a tough decision, but a necessary one.
Good data scientist, bad data scientist
What separates a good Data Scientist from a bad one?
How to Write Unmaintainable Code (1999)
In the interests of creating employment opportunities in the Java programming field, I am passing on these tips from the masters on how to write code that is so difficult to maintain, that the people who come after you will take years to make even the simplest changes. Further, if you follow all these rules…
Personal relations as a manager
I was reminded by a discussion with a friend why, as a manager, you should be cautious about the relations you develop with the people in your team.
Rim/Blackberry tales – reply all
Names and emails (even Sumit’s) have been redacted to protect the innocent and the guilty. But you know who you are. Who is Sumit B? I...
The joys of maintenance programming (2011)
In the old days when I started programming, green programmers trying to build their skills and get experience started out doing maintenance programming. Only the old hands got to write new code. The newbies cut their teeth debugging and fixing musty old code that still worked for the business. I’ve done my share of…
Things I wish I knew the day I started Berklee
Derek Sivers official site. Thoughts on philosophy, culture, self-improvement. Author of Useful Not True, How to Live, Hell Yeah or No, Anything You Want.
I spent two years trying to do what Backstage does for free
Absent a time machine, telling others how to avoid my mistakes is the best I can do.
An Open Letter To Business People
So you have an idea for a startup? Awesome! The world needs more people like you. You’re going to have to start by finding a technical cofounder. This is hard because you’re not a programmer, so I’m going to teach you how to do it.
Pursuing a Business I'll Love
Two of my businesses had record-setting months, and I’m finally building the app I’ve always wanted.
Become a better programmer with programming challenges
When I went to university me and some friends spent time on practising algorithm implementations for the national programming contests that ...
The longer it has taken, the longer it will take (2015)
With fat tail, I.e. power law, project times, late projects are likely to be even later,
Experts often end up where they started as beginners
Experts often end up where they started as beginners. If you've never seen the word valet, you might pronounce it like VAL-it. If you realize the word has a French origin, you would pronounce it val-A. But the preferred pronunciation is actually VAL-it. Beginning musicians play by ear, to the extent that they can play
Bored people quit (2011)
Much has been written about employee motivation and retention. It's written by folks who actively use words like motivation and retention and generally don't ha
Strategy 101: An introduction to power
If you’re interested in strategy, this post will be valuable to you. It shares the the tools that I’ve found most valuable so far.
Top 12 TED Talks for Entrepreneurs
Need some inspiration and motivation on your entrepreneurial journey? Here are the 14 best TED Talks for entrepreneurs you should watch.
How Thomas Jefferson prepared for meetings
Here's an interesting historical anecdote from Karl Fogel's Producing Open Source Software on the value of preparing for meetings. In his multi-volume biography of Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson and His Time, Dumas Malone tells the story of how Jefferson handled the first meeting held to decide the organization of the…
Am I really a developer or just a good Googler?
I got a very earnest and well-phrased email from a young person overseas ...