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Very insightful (as is usual from Derek!). I've developed a nice thick skin while working at justin.tv, but in the early days I'll admit some of the contact I
by abstractbill 17y ago
Very insightful (as is usual from Derek!).
I've developed a nice thick skin while working at justin.tv, but in the early days I'll admit some of the contact I had with our users was pretty devastating. At times I was simultaneously trying to scale the chat server code to handle more and more users, fighting off a bunch of script-kiddie attacks, and replying to emails telling me I must be just about the most useless programmer in the world :)
- davidedicillo 17y agoWanna talk about thick skin? Try being a soccer referee in Italy...
- davidw 17y agoBut the kickbacks make it all worth it, right? ;-)
- smokey_the_bear 17y agoOne of the best things about my co-founder is that he's thicker skinned than me. Some of our user email makes me really upset, but he just cheerfully replies so I don't have to dwell on it.
- patio11 17y agoFor those of us who don't have the luxury of human firewalls, I recommend a puppet. The puppet answers the emails so that you don't have to. He says whatever needs to be said to bring the business and customer to a successful resolution. The puppet has no ego, the puppet has no worries, the puppet has no deep-seated need for approval, the puppet exists only to reach mutually beneficial solutions. My puppet has gotten through a couple of cheerful responses to emails which, if I had read them myself, would have left me unable to sleep for weeks. My puppet also reports that the worst one had a follow-up "Thanks for getting back to me! Oh sorry I was so stressed yesterday lol." The puppet lols, too.