6 ms·

I work in IT, because I fell in love with computers when I was nine. I get paid the same as you. My skill at being able to "juggle seven clubs" has no value. Yo

I work in IT, because I fell in love with computers when I was nine. I get paid the same as you. My skill at being able to "juggle seven clubs" has no value. You know how to google as well as I do. Today's Internet sensations make much more money than both of us. Their skill is in their audacity, with which I am genuinely impressed. Juggling fire is audacious. Juggling seven clubs is like being able to program well in Arc: an interesting skill with little or no commercial value. You would not get money from YC just because your app was written in Arc. You almost certainly wouldn't get money if your site looked as bad as HN (unless it was already a runaway success like Reddit was when YC invested in it :). It's interesting to me that PG puts any time in Arc. It's a bit like juggling clubs in his driveway. PG is probably his most brilliant at being a hacker, but that skill doesn't have the same ROI as being a VC. More power to PG and Gatto for finding ways to make money while doing something valuable for society. Long live YC and Big Top Concrete!

davidgerard 10y ago
This story is me after I moved from near-unemployable nonprofit lifer to overpaid geek: http://thebaffler.com/blog/from-punk-house-to-penthouse-frost http://thebaffler.com/blog/from-punk-house-to-penthouse-fros... I was pushed into STEM hard at school, ‘cos I was fairly good at it! But I also suddenly gained an interest in music and pop culture and the analysis of it, which proceeded to occupy about 110% of my brain for much of my twenties. I struck out in tertiary education repeatedly attempting to get a STEMish qualification, and what actual paying work I got was music journalism (which to be honest I enjoyed even the tedious bits of), public servant or just plain office drone. I was a hot prospect for an underpaid overworked career as a paperpusher and/or bullshitter on the nonprofit/NGO circuit until I remembered I could work these computer things and got on the rather more lucrative career path. Would I be happier as a severely insecure and underpaid humanities academic, writing probably much the same sort of stuff as I do now but more of it and showing more of my references? (the really good thing about music journalism is the freedom to be a primary source.) Well, I’d have a lot more fun with it. OTOH I eat vastly better on this path.
- ktRolster 10y ago
  Don't you still improve your musical skills, even though you are making money in STEM?
  - davidgerard 10y ago
    Per link above, https://rocknerd.co.uk https://rocknerd.co.uk :-D I even have a Soundcloud! https://soundcloud.com/diva-rose/ https://soundcloud.com/diva-rose/ Though I am quite unlikely to become a pop star at 50.
    - ktRolster 10y ago
      Though I am quite unlikely to become a pop star at 50. You're unlikely to become a pop star at any age, and you won't fit into the typical teeny-bopper star at age 50, but.....for example, Seth McFarlane is doing rather well with his record sales, even though he's old and chubby and doesn't fit the 'typical' mold. Also, the Gorillaz. So it's something that can be done.
      - davidgerard 10y ago
        And today I just found this: http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/biggest-british-debut-album-2016-hang/ http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/biggest-british-debut-... Look at who made the biggest-selling British debut album of 2016.
sbov 10y ago
> Juggling fire is audacious. Is it? The article points out that juggling fire is no more dangerous than juggling pins. It only appears audacious to an ignorant audience.
- Godel_unicode 10y ago
  That's kind of the point though. The reality of the difficulty is unimportant, it's the perception of difficulty that matters.
  - sbov 10y ago
    Then it's a dangerous parallel when talking about startups. Easy but impressive has no moat. Probably worse than easy but boring.
    - Godel_unicode 10y ago
      Or it's impressive because the marketing and design is really good? Think Beats headphones; nothing special technically, horrible value proposition, yet you see them everywhere. Is that not a most?
      - sbov 10y ago
        If by "marketing" you mean "celebrity endorsement". Beats was founded by Dr. Dre and featured by several hip hop artists and in several music videos. Which is not said to denigrate Beats. By all means, play to your strengths. But it's certainly not an avenue obtainable by your average startup. Beyond that, if you're talking a startup - especially an early startup - you probably aren't at the "I'm everywhere" stage yet. We mostly self fund our companies. Easy and impressive, for us, tends to be a death knell. 6, maybe 12 months before someone bigger with more money comes into the market. Boring and easy is OK though, because people don't really pay much attention to boring.
  - fourthark 10y ago
    Showmanship and perceived difficulty often seem to matter more than actual skill in writing code, too.

davidgerard 10y ago

This story is me after I moved from near-unemployable nonprofit lifer to overpaid geek: http://thebaffler.com/blog/from-punk-house-to-penthouse-frost http://thebaffler.com/blog/from-punk-house-to-penthouse-fros... I was pushed into STEM hard at school, ‘cos I was fairly good at it! But I also suddenly gained an interest in music and pop culture and the analysis of it, which proceeded to occupy about 110% of my brain for much of my twenties. I struck out in tertiary education repeatedly attempting to get a STEMish qualification, and what actual paying work I got was music journalism (which to be honest I enjoyed even the tedious bits of), public servant or just plain office drone. I was a hot prospect for an underpaid overworked career as a paperpusher and/or bullshitter on the nonprofit/NGO circuit until I remembered I could work these computer things and got on the rather more lucrative career path. Would I be happier as a severely insecure and underpaid humanities academic, writing probably much the same sort of stuff as I do now but more of it and showing more of my references? (the really good thing about music journalism is the freedom to be a primary source.) Well, I’d have a lot more fun with it. OTOH I eat vastly better on this path.

ktRolster 10y ago
Don't you still improve your musical skills, even though you are making money in STEM?
- davidgerard 10y ago
  Per link above, https://rocknerd.co.uk https://rocknerd.co.uk :-D I even have a Soundcloud! https://soundcloud.com/diva-rose/ https://soundcloud.com/diva-rose/ Though I am quite unlikely to become a pop star at 50.
  - ktRolster 10y ago
    Though I am quite unlikely to become a pop star at 50. You're unlikely to become a pop star at any age, and you won't fit into the typical teeny-bopper star at age 50, but.....for example, Seth McFarlane is doing rather well with his record sales, even though he's old and chubby and doesn't fit the 'typical' mold. Also, the Gorillaz. So it's something that can be done.
    - davidgerard 10y ago
      And today I just found this: http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/biggest-british-debut-album-2016-hang/ http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/biggest-british-debut-... Look at who made the biggest-selling British debut album of 2016.

sbov 10y ago

> Juggling fire is audacious. Is it? The article points out that juggling fire is no more dangerous than juggling pins. It only appears audacious to an ignorant audience.

Godel_unicode 10y ago
That's kind of the point though. The reality of the difficulty is unimportant, it's the perception of difficulty that matters.
- sbov 10y ago
  Then it's a dangerous parallel when talking about startups. Easy but impressive has no moat. Probably worse than easy but boring.
  - Godel_unicode 10y ago
    Or it's impressive because the marketing and design is really good? Think Beats headphones; nothing special technically, horrible value proposition, yet you see them everywhere. Is that not a most?
    - sbov 10y ago
      If by "marketing" you mean "celebrity endorsement". Beats was founded by Dr. Dre and featured by several hip hop artists and in several music videos. Which is not said to denigrate Beats. By all means, play to your strengths. But it's certainly not an avenue obtainable by your average startup. Beyond that, if you're talking a startup - especially an early startup - you probably aren't at the "I'm everywhere" stage yet. We mostly self fund our companies. Easy and impressive, for us, tends to be a death knell. 6, maybe 12 months before someone bigger with more money comes into the market. Boring and easy is OK though, because people don't really pay much attention to boring.
- fourthark 10y ago
  Showmanship and perceived difficulty often seem to matter more than actual skill in writing code, too.