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Several teams in Apple don't have an open floor plan. They pair two individuals in an office.

100%, I find it hard to take a marathon approach and keep chipping away. Keeping the immediate goals in mind with an overall path to follow keeps me motivated more!

I view life in 1 year increments. For this year, I aim to become fitter and healthier.

On the professional front, I would like to switch to a different team and seek new challenges!

Unfortunately, there's no way to do it currently. How do you like using your homePod ? What are somethings that you like / dislike about it ?

This is a great thread! I am in a similar position currently - I am working as a software engineer in a domain that I like, but I am really into product design, strategy in general. This lead me down an exploratory path and I got lucky with an offer from a tiny startup to join them as the first PM. The experience seems to be promising and I think I'll learn a lot.

However, I have some concerns such as the loss of pay (no more RSUs), the nasty commute (1 hour each way minimum as opposed to 20 minutes currently), the work life harmony going for a toss. Anyone out here (who made a switch to the PM space in smaller companies) willing to share their experiences ? Would love to know!

Congrats, Harj!

Any love ?

Courage by Osho.

Software Engineer @ a big tech firm : I like the fact that the work engages me to a reasonable degree. I am okay @ coding and I like it to an extent - it keeps me engaged, which is a massive plus. My co-workers are fantastic, which makes the job better. Needless to say, the money helps a lot, which lets me enjoy my weekends and other times.

Ofcourse, I yearn for a life where I am free and completely in control, doing something I like, but I really appreciate the fact that I have a job that keeps me going as well.

Been trying to ship an Alexa skill over this last couple of weeks - so far, the progress has been few and far. But hoping to get there.

It's been a great learning experience just to see what AWS has to offer and the alexa SDK is very well thought out.

That's interesting - will check it out in 2017. I got rid off a lot as well, but now that the dust has settled down, I am finding it increasingly hard to remember to not accumulate. It's a constant battle in this on-your-face advertising and consumption oriented constructs prevalent in society.

Currently Reading : Goldfinch!

Best Book I read this year : Deep Work by Cal Newport and One World Education by Sal Khan.

Best fiction : Laughter in the Dark by Nabokov.

## Deep Work by Cal Newport

## The life changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo

## So good they can’t ignore you by Cal Newport

## Serious men by Manu Joseph

## Strangers on a train

## One world education by Sal Khan (Highly recommend it)

There are several wonderful takeaways from the book which I will try to list :

- The current model of education is broken. The Prussian system was designed to isolate workers from thinkers and factory laborers from office bearers. In an era where we need lots of original and creative minds to solve problems, it just doesn’t work.

- Conventional education system leads to a lot of gaps in learning, which are not addressed. For example, in spite of scoring 90% in math, you might have missed out on a key concept which will come back to haunt you later on.

- The system of homework is broken. It prioritizes quantity over quality and is meaningless.

- The testing system is just a snapshot of the student’s learning and does not says nothing about a student’s potential to learn a subject.

Sal goes on to propose a futuristic schooling system where students would use Khan Academy or an equivalent medium to progress at their own pace and use their classrooms for pursuing creative activities and enhancing his/her learning. Another interesting idea which he proposes is to dismantle age-wise segregation and group them based on the levels they are at in terms of progress made.

I think Sal Khan is a fantastic role model for kids and adults alike. A former hedge fund analyst turned educator is shaking up the fundamentals of our education system and tackling problems which are deeply rooted and slowly turning political as well. Here’s to a bright Sal-led future for education!

Overall, I would give the book 4.5/5. Visionary. Excellent. Ambitious!

## The Invisible Hand

## Disgraced by Ayad Akthar

## Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

## Laugher in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov