cefthurston
Joined 11 years ago
Joined 11 years ago
Why? 1) Tech companies are addicted to FB ads and Google ADs. The CPA is growing rapidly. 2) Brands and publishers should be connected via a network marketplace model, not agencies and gatekeepers. 3) "Publishers" are fragmenting from a handful of big ones (MSM) to a long tail. Everyone consumers their own mix. 4) Search is also fragmenting across video, audio, social, etc. 5) So technology is the perfect way to connect these nodes. We're doing that.
We're focusing on authentic signals that work even if you don't care for search traffic. Ironically, these are the signals search engines most pay attention to. So either way, the path is to focus on authentic and meaningful connections.
Would love thoughts, comments, notes, questions, etc.
Right now, sounds like you're focusing on the solution. Just look for interesting problems and go from there.
I'd change that to where _do_ they go. This trend is becoming more pronounced but has been around a while.
As other posters note, they leave for other tech hubs, or other industries. Even if they could earn even more in the Bay Area they recognize that it's a long path to a quality of life that would be more accessible somewhere else.
There's also a weariness folks in the industry get after a while. On the one hand, it's an amazing place to get 20 years of experience in 5. Put at some point the bubble grates on you.
I soon stopped because it was full of high school students who didn't want to be there and the sound of a hushed conversation against a backdrop of silence was really distracting.
I quickly started going to foodcourts instead. Those are better than coffee shops for me. There's a lot more white-noise and less pressure to order anything because no vendor feels you're taking 'their space'.
Outlets were a bit harder but doable but outweighed by food choice at meal times and ability to run quick errands if needed.
This was from Waverley Library to Westfield's food court in Bondi Junction in 2012 fwiw.
I find the most valuable thing in HN are the conversations in comments (sometimes also the least valuable thing, too).
I saw some folks mentioning Gigster so thought I'd add some notes. For reference I'm Christian Thurston and I've been working at Gigster from early on.
The benefits of our model is that we do fixed price, not hourly, so if you're able to work better and faster then your effective hourly goes up. Also, with us you don't have to interface with the client - you work with a PM who speaks tech and write code - that's it.
Our clients are both technical and non-technical but it's a lot less relevant because you'll always be working with that PM layer as a dev, not directly with the client.
Here's what the higher end of pay looks like as well: https://www.forbes.com/sites/reneemorad/2016/10/24/the-skill...
Good luck on your search and hope you find a good situation that fits your needs :).
Does that gel with your personal experience?