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> Why do you care about the success of the technical products you're working on? If you're asking that question, then really everything else in the pile of med

> Why do you care about the success of the technical products you're working on? If you're asking that question, then really everything else in the pile of mediocrity you just wrote makes sense. If you don't care, then dysfunction is not a problem. > Aren't you aware that it's going to mainly hinge on the quality of the marketing? Sure, if you're producing a Web 2.0 Social Media glorified ad server, sure, your shitty product can only be saved by advertising. I prefer to work on actual problems such that solving them will provide value, though.

vinceguidry 11y ago
> I prefer to work on actual problems such that solving them will provide value, though. I think you're living in a fantasy world. It's not enough that you solve a problem. You actually have to bring it to the world. Mochizuki claims to have solved the ABC conjecture, but isn't doing anything to promote his work, leaving the rest of the mathematics world to pick up his slack. Tell me what you're working on is that important, that the rest of the world will seek you out if you fail to promote it. I work for a cosmetics marketing company. We design and market three different lines of cosmetics and skincare. I do their website backend. Our products are really good, and attractively priced compared to our competition. We are not producing a Web 2.0 Social Media glorified ad server, but it's not a shitty product, but it does need effective marketing. My contribution is to enable their marketing efforts. Me putting in 3x the effort isn't going to help their bottom line a whit, and it might even hurt it by lowering the stability of their platform.
- copsarebastards 11y ago
  > It's not enough that you solve a problem. You actually have to bring it to the world. Mochizuki claims to have solved the ABC conjecture, but isn't doing anything to promote his work, leaving the rest of the mathematics world to pick up his slack. The problem isn't that Mochizuki hasn't marketed it: his solution is widely known despite him not marketing it at all. The problem is that his solution is incomprehensible, even to other mathematicians. And it's worth noting that, if made comprehensible, his solution will provide enough value that people are willing to take the risk of attempting to understand his work. > I work for a cosmetics marketing company. We design and market three different lines of cosmetics and skincare. I do their website backend. Our products are really good, and attractively priced compared to our competition. We are not producing a Web 2.0 Social Media glorified ad server, but it's not a shitty product, but it does need effective marketing. Your product is not your website, it's the good cosmetics at a good price. In the current economy, yes, you do need marketing to get there, but your marketing would be worthless if you had a crappy product (or maybe not, but that's even worse). So you're working on a product that provides value, and your job is not a disproof of anything I said. > Me putting in 3x the effort isn't going to help their bottom line a whit, and it might even hurt it by lowering the stability of their platform. That's quite a straw man you're presenting. I never said you should put in 3x the work: I'm a big proponent of keeping a sustainable pace. But I'm also a proponent of understanding the problem you're solving, and if you're looking at a piece of code in isolation from the context of the business, you don't understand the problem you're solving.

vinceguidry 11y ago

> I prefer to work on actual problems such that solving them will provide value, though. I think you're living in a fantasy world. It's not enough that you solve a problem. You actually have to bring it to the world. Mochizuki claims to have solved the ABC conjecture, but isn't doing anything to promote his work, leaving the rest of the mathematics world to pick up his slack. Tell me what you're working on is that important, that the rest of the world will seek you out if you fail to promote it. I work for a cosmetics marketing company. We design and market three different lines of cosmetics and skincare. I do their website backend. Our products are really good, and attractively priced compared to our competition. We are not producing a Web 2.0 Social Media glorified ad server, but it's not a shitty product, but it does need effective marketing. My contribution is to enable their marketing efforts. Me putting in 3x the effort isn't going to help their bottom line a whit, and it might even hurt it by lowering the stability of their platform.

copsarebastards 11y ago
> It's not enough that you solve a problem. You actually have to bring it to the world. Mochizuki claims to have solved the ABC conjecture, but isn't doing anything to promote his work, leaving the rest of the mathematics world to pick up his slack. The problem isn't that Mochizuki hasn't marketed it: his solution is widely known despite him not marketing it at all. The problem is that his solution is incomprehensible, even to other mathematicians. And it's worth noting that, if made comprehensible, his solution will provide enough value that people are willing to take the risk of attempting to understand his work. > I work for a cosmetics marketing company. We design and market three different lines of cosmetics and skincare. I do their website backend. Our products are really good, and attractively priced compared to our competition. We are not producing a Web 2.0 Social Media glorified ad server, but it's not a shitty product, but it does need effective marketing. Your product is not your website, it's the good cosmetics at a good price. In the current economy, yes, you do need marketing to get there, but your marketing would be worthless if you had a crappy product (or maybe not, but that's even worse). So you're working on a product that provides value, and your job is not a disproof of anything I said. > Me putting in 3x the effort isn't going to help their bottom line a whit, and it might even hurt it by lowering the stability of their platform. That's quite a straw man you're presenting. I never said you should put in 3x the work: I'm a big proponent of keeping a sustainable pace. But I'm also a proponent of understanding the problem you're solving, and if you're looking at a piece of code in isolation from the context of the business, you don't understand the problem you're solving.