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Ask HN: Knowledge that you won't share

5 points by prakhar897 3y ago

I've been working on an "job manual" for 3 years. This manual helps me immensely in getting more money. I don't share it as this will increase a lot of competition and I will get zero reward for sharing it. Another article featured on HN had a guy automate his job. He told his manager who brought the software inhouse and fired him. In both the instances, people are/will be punished for sharing their knowledge. So, do you also possess some knowledge which you aren't sharing but if you do, it will do.....something?

pxcse 3y ago
Yes, I do. But if I told you about it it would defy the purpose, wouldn't it?
adyashakti 3y ago
if i did, would i post about it here?
- austin-cheney 3y ago
  It wouldn’t matter. Software is so dysfunctional that you can post about it with an explicit implementation tutorial and how much money it saves you and still people will avoid it like a plague. This is true because most people doing this work cannot read/write software and insecurity is so high that people fear new solutions unless prepackaged as a zero effort executable.
pestatije 3y ago
someone will be working on new features for this company's internal project management tool...when project managers irremediably get turned over, the tool will lose some of those features, which new managers will promptly note as new requirements...this loop repeated itself a few times before the company moved on to another solution
popcalc 3y ago
Dark knowledge: buy your own domain and slowly migrate away from Gmail. I recommend a western European ccTLD. Buy 10 years worth of renewals and hand the domain into the care of your trustee. Start a mailbox.org subscription and connect the domain with wildcard aliasing. Now when you sign up for Xservice, use xservice@mydomain.example. You'll both be able to learn who is selling your email and black-holing aliases that get overrun with spam.
jjgreen 3y ago
The schematics to a Bose-Einstein condensate bomb which would destroy this quadrant of the galaxy, no-one needs to know about that ...
mindcrime 3y ago
Well... there's "won't share" and then there's "don't share." The latter is easier to talk about, so let me cover that first. Of course there are things that I "don't share" at least as in "by default." That is to say, I don't (despite what some people might think) broadcast every thought that comes into my mind, and everything I know (or think I know), out to the world. And people probably appreciate that. At work though, I am pretty free with sharing knowledge and information. There are things I don't necessarily go out of my way to share, but I'm not sure there is anything at all that falls into the "won't share" category. That is to say, if specifically asked about something, or in order to accomplish a task in a collaborative setting, I don't know that there's anything that's such "secret sauce" that I'd try to keep it concealed. By and large this approach has worked out for me over the years. I've never found much value in intentionally trying to be super secretive. Conversely I think I've benefited from being very open and quick to share knowledge, even if not in a direct, immediate, financial sense. But I think having that attitude (in some companies anyway) has a general effect of creating the perception of one being a good team player, a knowledgeable, helpful, and enthusiastic co-worker, and somebody that people like and want to work with. And that in turn helps "grease the wheels" in terms of getting people to cooperate with you, support your initiatives, give you good 360 review feedback, and other things that have real (albeit not immediate) benefits.

5 points by prakhar897 3y ago

pxcse 3y ago

Yes, I do. But if I told you about it it would defy the purpose, wouldn't it?

adyashakti 3y ago

if i did, would i post about it here?

austin-cheney 3y ago
It wouldn’t matter. Software is so dysfunctional that you can post about it with an explicit implementation tutorial and how much money it saves you and still people will avoid it like a plague. This is true because most people doing this work cannot read/write software and insecurity is so high that people fear new solutions unless prepackaged as a zero effort executable.

pestatije 3y ago

someone will be working on new features for this company's internal project management tool...when project managers irremediably get turned over, the tool will lose some of those features, which new managers will promptly note as new requirements...this loop repeated itself a few times before the company moved on to another solution

popcalc 3y ago

Dark knowledge: buy your own domain and slowly migrate away from Gmail. I recommend a western European ccTLD. Buy 10 years worth of renewals and hand the domain into the care of your trustee. Start a mailbox.org subscription and connect the domain with wildcard aliasing. Now when you sign up for Xservice, use xservice@mydomain.example. You'll both be able to learn who is selling your email and black-holing aliases that get overrun with spam.

jjgreen 3y ago

The schematics to a Bose-Einstein condensate bomb which would destroy this quadrant of the galaxy, no-one needs to know about that ...

mindcrime 3y ago

Well... there's "won't share" and then there's "don't share." The latter is easier to talk about, so let me cover that first. Of course there are things that I "don't share" at least as in "by default." That is to say, I don't (despite what some people might think) broadcast every thought that comes into my mind, and everything I know (or think I know), out to the world. And people probably appreciate that. At work though, I am pretty free with sharing knowledge and information. There are things I don't necessarily go out of my way to share, but I'm not sure there is anything at all that falls into the "won't share" category. That is to say, if specifically asked about something, or in order to accomplish a task in a collaborative setting, I don't know that there's anything that's such "secret sauce" that I'd try to keep it concealed. By and large this approach has worked out for me over the years. I've never found much value in intentionally trying to be super secretive. Conversely I think I've benefited from being very open and quick to share knowledge, even if not in a direct, immediate, financial sense. But I think having that attitude (in some companies anyway) has a general effect of creating the perception of one being a good team player, a knowledgeable, helpful, and enthusiastic co-worker, and somebody that people like and want to work with. And that in turn helps "grease the wheels" in terms of getting people to cooperate with you, support your initiatives, give you good 360 review feedback, and other things that have real (albeit not immediate) benefits.