4 ms·

I completely disagree with many points in this article. There are a great many people out there who are very good at building stuff but utterly fail at "being

by swombat 14y ago

I completely disagree with many points in this article. There are a great many people out there who are very good at building stuff but utterly fail at "being successful". And conversely, there are people out there who suck at doing the stuff they're supposed to do but are very good at being successful. The two are orthogonal. If you focus entirely on "your craft", whatever it may be, and ignore the skills that will enable you to deliver the resulting mastery to actual people (in particular sales and marketing, which most "I just want to be really good at X" people seem to think is beneath them), then you won't be successful. You'll just be one of those people who spends their life wondering why they were always penniless and couldn't get the things they wanted or have the impact they deserved to have even though they were really good. The world is full of smart, competent people who don't know how to build their success, don't know how to market and sell themselves. Don't be one of those. Be a master - sure - but also learn how to translate that mastery into real success. Re: mastery being more satisfying than success - that's only true if you're not broke. An empty belly, or the inability to afford even the most basic things you really want, makes mastery a hell of a lot less satisfying.

keithpeter 14y ago
I understand what you are saying in the context of the audience for this forum; coders and those running software start ups, and I think you have a point. Those who see refining their coding craft as their central interest do need to link up with market facing people to become successful. However, I think the gentleman running the sushi bar in the original article has no big money worries if he is charging $600 a head for 10 seats with half hour turnaround!
- swombat 14y ago
  However, I think the gentleman running the sushi bar in the original article has no big money worries if he is charging $600 a head for 10 seats with half hour turnaround! And do you think that is a product of "lucky" celeb status (if there really is such a thing) or deliberate sales/marketing (performed either by himself or others, perhaps even without his direct approval) over the last 60 years?
  - keithpeter 14y ago
    I agree with you that the gentleman who runs the sushi bar must have had an eye to his reputation; perhaps capitalising on an early press article or some kind of favourable review. Small traders have an eye to their marketing as well as the craft, they are 'canny' in my experience. I suspect that zoned out coders may be less well equipped in this area. One of my favourite examples of a very canny maker is Sakuma San... http://www10.big.or.jp/~dh/sakuma/index.html http://www10.big.or.jp/~dh/sakuma/index.html Mr Sakuma has spent much his spare time building thermionic valve amplifiers ('tube' in US) of a minimal and historically informed kind. Valve technology is simple, with low component counts, and can sound excellent, but tends to be 'tuned' to a specific kind of music/programme material.
- nandemo 14y ago
  You're looking at Jiro charging $600 a head (looking at his website, the course starts at $350 but let's assume an average $600 for the sake of the argument), but for every Jiro there are other 50 sushi masters out there who are probably as good as Jiro (†), are charging only $60~100 per person and still have empty seats every night. (†) If we are to trust Japanese TV shows, most TV celebrities can't tell a $500 sushi from a $50 one.
EmielMols 14y ago
But one could argue that in many modern societies, empty bellies are never of issue. Given that you could find the means to sustain certain basics (food, love, friendship, etc), reasoning about "what's next" (e.g. pondering about purpose, what would make you happier) could actually be done without considering, say, money. The interesting thing in posts like these, I would say, is that everyone puts in the "classic" Wall street boys comparison. Are they really all unhappy, money unconsidered? Is money their only measure in life? Sounds rather generalizing to me..
djt 14y ago
He's not saying to ignore all the other aspects of life or business.

by swombat 14y ago

keithpeter 14y ago

I understand what you are saying in the context of the audience for this forum; coders and those running software start ups, and I think you have a point. Those who see refining their coding craft as their central interest do need to link up with market facing people to become successful. However, I think the gentleman running the sushi bar in the original article has no big money worries if he is charging $600 a head for 10 seats with half hour turnaround!

swombat 14y ago
However, I think the gentleman running the sushi bar in the original article has no big money worries if he is charging $600 a head for 10 seats with half hour turnaround! And do you think that is a product of "lucky" celeb status (if there really is such a thing) or deliberate sales/marketing (performed either by himself or others, perhaps even without his direct approval) over the last 60 years?
- keithpeter 14y ago
  I agree with you that the gentleman who runs the sushi bar must have had an eye to his reputation; perhaps capitalising on an early press article or some kind of favourable review. Small traders have an eye to their marketing as well as the craft, they are 'canny' in my experience. I suspect that zoned out coders may be less well equipped in this area. One of my favourite examples of a very canny maker is Sakuma San... http://www10.big.or.jp/~dh/sakuma/index.html http://www10.big.or.jp/~dh/sakuma/index.html Mr Sakuma has spent much his spare time building thermionic valve amplifiers ('tube' in US) of a minimal and historically informed kind. Valve technology is simple, with low component counts, and can sound excellent, but tends to be 'tuned' to a specific kind of music/programme material.
nandemo 14y ago
You're looking at Jiro charging $600 a head (looking at his website, the course starts at $350 but let's assume an average $600 for the sake of the argument), but for every Jiro there are other 50 sushi masters out there who are probably as good as Jiro (†), are charging only $60~100 per person and still have empty seats every night. (†) If we are to trust Japanese TV shows, most TV celebrities can't tell a $500 sushi from a $50 one.

EmielMols 14y ago

But one could argue that in many modern societies, empty bellies are never of issue. Given that you could find the means to sustain certain basics (food, love, friendship, etc), reasoning about "what's next" (e.g. pondering about purpose, what would make you happier) could actually be done without considering, say, money. The interesting thing in posts like these, I would say, is that everyone puts in the "classic" Wall street boys comparison. Are they really all unhappy, money unconsidered? Is money their only measure in life? Sounds rather generalizing to me..

djt 14y ago

He's not saying to ignore all the other aspects of life or business.