whelps
Joined 14 years ago
Karma
9
Submissions
19
Member since
Sep 12
Recent submissions
Comment · 14 years ago
I understand where the name came from, but bookbookgoose just doesn't work for me. Its just too long and unwieldy for me. As for the service itself, I am not sure what type of customer this is servicing. Are there people out there that are trying to find random books to read without any context (i.e. subject matter, recommendations from others, etc.)? Now, I think this would be a lot more useful if you could perhaps do the random thing but filtered by some criteria that makes it relevant to the user. So, for example, I want to read about 'javascript' and I search through random javascript books. It would also help to display the amazon rankings and other stats.
Comment · 14 years ago
Thank you olalonde for posting this. It comes at a perfect time for me as I am in the process of evaluating my own career and this article hits the nail on the head in so many ways. I work for a non-technical CEO at a small startup and perhaps I am not a great hacker (as Paul says, 'I don't know'), but I do know that the non-tech CEO - hacker relationship is one fraught with peril regardless of how good "friends" the two people are outside of work.
Comment · 14 years ago
You can start here: http://www.certifiedcareercoaches.com/certifying-career-coac...
Each of these organizations have lists of coaches that have been certified to some degree. I have no idea what career coaching certification actually means, but I found my coach in this way. Each of the programs have search pages where you can look for a coach based on your requirements, location, etc. Once you get some names, you definitely need to give them a call and have a 10 minute conversation getting a feel for their "style". Most coaches have info on their websites or that they will send you that attempts to give you an idea of how they work. In particular I would pay attention to how much a coach follows a socratic method (i.e. just asking questions and guiding you) vs more training oriented (i.e. you need to do x, y and z). Good luck!
Comment · 14 years ago
> Elon Musk said that running a startup was like eating glass and staring into the abyss. When I first heard those words they sounded brave and romantic.
I honestly don't think anyone understands what it really feels like to build a company until you do it. Before I started running my first startup, I thought that the hardship and mental anguish other people describe was somewhat like what I already experienced during hard times at other companies. It wasn't. You pour your heart and soul into a startup and push to the side your physical health, hobbies, family and basically everything else. Then after a year or more of doing everything possible to try and succeed, you potentially end up with nothing. Like Lucas says, you don't really end up with nothing, but it sure as hell feels like it at the time.
Comment · 14 years ago
I think the "Jobs path to success" is largely misunderstood in that there is an assumption that anyone can mimic Jobs and achieve success. The problem with this line of thinking is that while it is true Job didn't rely on market research, the reason why he was able to do that he had an innate understanding of what people will like. You can't unfortunately teach that and without it, the "Jobs path" is a recipe for disaster.