Ask HN: Do I give up now? - <AUTHOR> I've heard failure is good, but 10 years is a long time. That's how long I've been failing for now. I've worked on failed project after failed project, and now at 25, I'm wondering what the fuck I've been doing with my life - my youth.
When I was 15 me and my friend started a little hosting website. It was really fun. I learnt to program, and we even made a little bit of money. In the excitement I began to learn about business, startups and programming. I thought it was going to be so easy to make money. I mean, if I could make a bit of money on the web at 15 without knowing anything about business or programming, I'm going to be great at this startup stuff by 20 right? Well, clearly, I'm not.
And I read a lot. And I think even more. I just have no idea why I'm not succeeding. Because for the last 10 years I've worked 16-18 hours a day, every day, with absolutely nothing to show from it. Well, aside from the lack of a social life and the book on my coffee table by Eric Ries. I really should book that holiday.
Maybe I'm just not as smart as I like to think? But how would anyone know? I mean, I do okay on IQ tests.
Maybe I've just been unlucky? But 10 years of bad luck? Anyway, one must fail to succeed.
And even if I say so myself, I don't think my ideas suck. And even if they did, I've worked on other peoples ideas too.
So when do you give up HN? Because 10 years later I'm suck in a day job as a programmer. Something I never wanted to be, I just wanted to build a business.
I've built my own prison and I've lost some of the best years of my life behind a text editor and a dream. Not to mention the money and friends I've lost along the way.
I think maybe I've had too much wine. It's Friday night and I have a project to work on after all. <comment><USER3> For me, the process was realizing that my desire to have my own business, and my dislike of an ordinary job, were based on many different underlying motivations, some of which, on closer analysis, I consciously chose to reject.

I had always wanted and expected to achieve _great things_. I think this is a natural and healthy desire. But when I looked back on the last 10 years I realized I wanted to be a political figure (when I was left wing) then a famous scientist, then a famous scientist in another field, etc. The only common thread was the desire to be great and to have a big (positive) impact on the world.

To let go of this required me to realize that a small probability of having a big impact on the world was not better than the certainty of having a small impact. Once I was open to making a small impact, it became very easy to see the value in my work, and to focus on enjoying the fortunate position of having an easy job that paid well.

<comment><USER4> You have to learn to go from stone to stone.

When you're on a big hike, with full pack, you don't look at the top of the mountain.

You look at that stone. Then you walk to it. Then you look for and walk to the next stone. and again. And again.

If you look at a mountaintop and say 'I want to be there' and then change before getting to the top you're always going to think like that.

Churn it out. Stop beating yourself up. Only do things you want to do and stop thinking that 25 is old.

<comment><USER3> is this a reply to my post or to the original poster?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I think you have three fundamental problems.

1\. You think your best years are behind you. - I hope they will but no amount of my words will convince you they are not.

2\. You consider this failing - Try thinking about it as learning. Doctors go through 10+ years of education before they can do what they do well.

3\. You "just want to be a business". - You _need_ to be solving a problem not building a business. No one is going to pay you because you want to build a business.

</comment><comment><USER6> You're not alone. I'm 25 and have worked on roughly 5 major projects, and thus far all have failed due to execution; sometimes failing because of me, sometimes failing because of other people. Then there are all the small things, some of which succeeded but I didn't care for.

Being smart and being lucky aren't something you need to worry about. Being better tomorrow than you are today should be the goal. Even if it's just a small thing.

Ask yourself what you want in the next 5 years, and focus on that. It sounds like you want to focus on relationships and travel. Focus less on the ideas and the business stuff, those don't matter in the long run. Focus on life.

Today, I walked into work knowing I was going to quit, because I don't see the success. I failed at that, because I know the idea is good and I like the people, and for me to cut the cord early would fuck everyone else at the moment. I'm making a decision that means I'm unhappy for the moment, but I'm doing it for other people's safety.

I'm also suffering from the issue of having left a place I love and everyone I care for, for a place I don't fit in and can't connect with anyone. My social life is dead and it's not something I've been able to change in the valley.

I'm thinking about leaving tech, as a profession, because professionally it turns everything I love into a thing to loath. And going back to the slower pace of living, without fear of failure or success, just living intentionally and taking every day and every moment for what it is.

<comment><USER7> I'm only a little older and I went through similar stages. Obviously you take the bad with the good, but moving out to the Bay Area I got a little jaded by how many people I met in the startup world were so motivated by status. (I actually had a pretty eye opening experience at my first startup school, lots of really nice people, but also more than a few bad people (IMO, my judgement), who didn't care about cutting off or snubbing others in conversations when that person's lack of importance in the tech world became clear. Christ, one guy in particular totally cut off my conversation with a YCombinator guy and didn't acknowledge me when I tried to talk to him, just interested in networking with the YCombinator guy about his dumb 3-d printing network or whatever it was). Ranting a little, but that is definitely a feature of the SV startup world which made me question startups for a while.

Finally did a back to basics by deciding to totally ignore the SV scene and just work on stuff I like and hang out with people I like or respect. Making my realize being in the Bay Area is a little pointlessly expensive now, so who knows.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> It's not easy, lots of us are still looking for our first big win.

At 25 you have lots of at bats to succeed with a startup/business.

I wouldn't say you're stuck in a day job as a programmer.

That's why they call it work. Look around few people are making what you make and are able to support themselves, travel, save for a house, nest egg for a family. So be thankful you have the skills to pay the bills.

I would work on the work life balance. Focus on your day job during the day, learn what you can and advance. Save money for runway and funding your startup when you do come up with your next idea.

A mastermind would be a great idea. To bounce your ideas off of and decide what to put time in to.

Don't work 16 hour days non-stop, balance your time for family/friends. Use funds from your day job to pay developers and maybe a VA to handle some of the time you'd normally put in.

If you haven't already listen to the StartupsForTheRestOfUs.com. They have great advice for lots of topics you mentioned.

Reach out to people in the community. Rob has the micropreneur academy which might be a nice way to meet up with like minded people to bounce ideas off of/get advice.

Lots of people are where you are later in life. Make the most of your youth and have a life work balance.

Good luck with your next venture.

</comment><comment><USER9> The people who say you should work 16 hours a day are the ones hoping to get rich at your expense. Also, after 40 hours a week, productivity starts to go negative.

Stick to 8 hours a day. Work for a couple of years as an employee and build up some savings. Then start something on the side or try again with some savings.

<comment><USER10> The exception is if you've been "at work" for X hours, then really get in the flow and are doing really well, hell, ride it out. This happens now and then with me, and I'll stay up all night making good progress.

Just beware if you've been debugging a single issue for more than 30 minutes or so, you may be degraded and stuck. (Or worse, if you're doing perf optimizations.)

<comment><USER9> Nowadays I only stay late if I'm troubleshooting a production issue.

Otherwise, I just take notes of where I am, what I was thinking, and finish the next day.

<comment><USER11> I'm currently in a toxic workplace ... incompetent management but I stuck around since I had decent coworkers. Well .. a few reorgs later, and I'm stuck with the crazies ... my current coworkers are keeners/workaholics who work at midnight-3am. They are social BSers since they make sure they email everyone/post questions on Slack. We've been on crisis mode since last fall.

Days like this, I feel like I've had it with tech. Wish I had a plan B. In any case, I'll likely quit my job in a few weeks.

I like what an earlier poster was saying about respect. Tech is full of the young and it is a competitive field. We have short memories and it seems we have forgotten that our field used to be noble. People used to be in tech because we loved it. Today, it is all about the money and I hate it.

<comment><USER9> >People used to be in tech because we loved it. Today, it is all about the money and I hate it.

It's Gresham's Law. When most of the people in a field are there to chase the money, the people who really enjoy it and are good at it don't fit in and they're the ones who get chased out.

That's why things like Scrum and Agile and open plan offices are popular. If you have a team of 20+ mediocre people, you need to do stupid stuff like that to keep things moving in the right direction. It doesn't matter that 2-3 people with real talent would get a better product out cheaper. If you hire 2-3 great people, then you're dependent on them. If you hire 20 mediocre people, then it doesn't matter when one leaves.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'd say get a job in an industry you are actually interested in working. If you've been doing your own thing from 15-25 you could probably benefit from some practical experience at a company that's successfully executing in a space in which you want to break. 1-3 years experience at another company will give you a ton of valuable insider knowledge making your next startup (maybe one you even start whilst employed) that much more likely to succeed.

Don't give up! But maybe make a change.

<comment><USER13> Agreed. Having some real world industry experience is really invaluable. Plus, if/when you eventually do "succeed" with a startup, the next stage is actually building a company - and it's going to be difficult to do that without having actually worked at real companies (preferably more than one) to get an idea of how things work, and how you want to do things.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> You're only 25, that's still young. To think that you would have startups nailed by the age of 20 was optimistic to say the least.

You're not in your own prison. Your programming job (presumably) pays well - that's more than a lot of other people have to go on. Take that vacation, clear your head, come home, start putting money aside to bootstrap a busines venture. Take your time working out what it should be. Then make the leap.

</comment><comment><USER15> Don't stop coding. What you should do is get a little bit more deliberate about it. And a little more every time you sit down. Demand more out of your time. Accomplish more. Spend less time on the computer, but accomplish more so that you're not actually becoming less productive.

Use the time you're saving to have a life. Travel, date, cultivate hobbies. Talk to people who aren't in the same bubble you're in. Gain knowledge about the rest of the world.

To be honest, you just haven't been coding long enough to be really good at it. 10 years is nowhere near enough. It took me 20. Been doing it since I was 9, now I'm 31. It really took til my late twenties to find a stride. But it's not time spent behind the screen that's the metric to move. You have to know what and why you're doing it and for who. There's a bigger economic ecosystem coding fits inside that, if you don't understand, it's easy to spin your wheels for a long time until you figure it out.

Paradoxically, it's not time spent coding that makes you the best coder. It's all the rest of it.

You don't have to stay inside the prison you built for yourself. All it takes to leave that prison is to go outside. My advice, go to the bar. Talk to whoever you find next to you. Do it again tomorrow. As many times as it takes to make you sane again. Maybe make some real friends.

I traveled. It's a hollow joy. I found myself opening up my laptop and going through tutorials in the middle of paradise. Now I bring my laptop to the bar. If there's someone to chat with, I'll close the lid and chat. If not I'll make some progress on whatever project I have.

</comment><comment><USER16> I think you need to figure out just what you mainly want. What's driving you? Just the goal of making lots of money? More or less than the lost friends? Is it a status thing of having something to show for it?

That paragraph might sound judgmental initially, but personally I don't think there's anything wrong with being driven by the desire to make a lot of money, or prove something (whether to yourself or to others - it sounds more like to yourself in your case). But I think you need to really nail down your motivations in order to decide what your goal is -- for instance, what's your objection to having a day job? If you weren't working on side projects too, would you really be taking trips? Some people don't get as much out of traveling as others, that's OK, don't feel like you have to do it because everyone else is. You want to build a business, but that's vague: what's the part of it do you really want to do? Does it depend on the type of business?

Figure out the details of what you want and why you want it, so you can keep yourself sane and remember why you're doing it, then get back to the how.

</comment><comment><USER17> I think if you're looking for an idea and constantly switching from one project to the next then you've got the wrong mindset. Take the time to solve a real problem for a group of people, and find an authentic way to reach them. Pick something that you personally care about, that you would work on for free (because you will be for a while).

My indicator for successful startups is:

1\. They solved a real, significant problem for me (if it doesn't help me then it's not generic enough and then there's not a big enough market, though this does not apply to enterprise startups).

2\. I use their product/service every day (or at least once a week)

3\. What they built is cool

Does your work fit that criteria?

And if you're doing it to get rich, you'll have better luck joining an early stage startup that's clearly taking off. The first 100 employees at Google and Facebook made way more money than the median startup entrepreneur.

</comment><comment><USER18> Are you working alone?

If so, maybe that's your issue. I myself am a programmer. I consider myself a good one. I've worked independently for about a year, but business isn't terribly good.

I recently finally listened to my dad's advice, and partnered up with a not- very-good-programmer. The catch? He's great at finding clients, leads, and all that social part. I now realize that the time I'd dedicated to talking about the project, contacting potential clients, etc were a waste: it's not my speciality.

I suspect you're doing something similar: you might be a great programmer, but that doesn't mean you're good at _everything_ that needs to get done. Have you had proper marketing for your ideas? Did a designer design the UI (or are you any good at it)? Did someone with business expertise manage the business side of it?

</comment><comment><USER7> Don't 'give up' but it seems like a real part of you is yearning to invest yourself in other areas of your life, so you should do so. From 10 years of coding, I presume you have money saved up. Go sublet your place and spend 4+ months traveling. Develop some passions outside of startups... I mean not hobbies, but things you really care about and want to work towards, view as important, and want learn more about. Completely centering your life around making money from startups is a sure way to quash your inner life, and paradoxically makes you much less equipped to actually succeed in startups.

</comment><comment><USER19> Absolutely not. You now have 10 years of experience in what not to do and what mistakes not to make and you are better off for it than many others. Failures are just as valuable as successes in the grand scheme of things, if not in the strict monetary sense.

The key is to keep trying and keep learning until you're successful. Just because some people made it big at your age doesn't mean there isn't room at the table for people who make it happen later. I should know: I didn't really come of age until I was 35 years old.

What doesn't kill you just makes you stronger -- and increases your chances of success.

Good luck to you.

</comment><comment><USER20> No, you shouldn't give up.

You should work a lot less instead and take breaks in-between as well. Such a workload is not sustainable. If you continue going at this pace you'll likely drop dead before you're 35.

Working so much could also be the main reason why you're not succeeding with your business and your ideas. Creativity can't be forced. Your brain needs some downtime in order to be able to get new ideas and new insights. Many smart people say they get their best ideas while under the shower or otherwise letting their mind wander idly.

Stop reading (seriously). Reading in the end just means thinking and reiterating somebody else's thoughts. Get first-hand experience instead. Go out. Travel. Meet like-minded entrepreneurs. If possible work some time as a freelance to get industry experience.

Finally, stop looking for ideas and start looking for problems instead. Working in any kind of industry you're likely to encounter many obvious problems still worth solving (people who've been working in an industry for years tend to overlook these because "it's always been done this way").

[Edit]: Speaking from personal experience: I'm 36 and I've been doing this for 18 years more or less. I had some moderate successes. I failed a lot but I don't consider myself a failure. I'm just still learning.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I really didn't expect so my replies from my half drunken post! Thank you for all the kind advise.

A lot of people seem to be pointing out that I'm still young and that there are lots people in similar positions to me who have been failing for a long time.

I know I'm still young, and I know it's not easy to build a successful startup, but I think that's missing the point. I am still relatively young, but I won't be as young in 10 years. And what if I keep failing for another 10 years? Or even another 10 after that? Do I really want to spend 20, or 30, years of my life in a job I don't enjoy that much for a dream that may never happen?

Don't get me wrong. All I really want from life is to build something I'm proud of. I don't care much for cars, houses and holidays. They're nice, but I'd give up any chance of having them if I could build something that fills me with passion everyday I wake up. It's just, I can't guarantee that the time I put into having those things will actually get me anywhere. I mean, I've already gambled 10 years unsuccessfully so far.

I really relate to what nacrikt said:

> I'm thinking about leaving tech, as a profession, because professionally it > turns everything I love into a thing to loath. And going back to the slower > pace of living, without fear of failure or success, just living > intentionally and taking every day and every moment for what it is.

After 10 years of nothing, I feel like cutting my loses and living life a little slower for a while might not be so bad.

<comment><USER13> Have you considered seeking out a position at an existing tech company doing something you feel is worthwhile? If your primary goal is to build something you're proud of, there's nothing that says you have to do it on your own. There's also no reason why working for someone else has to be a soul-sucking experience. There are lots of great companies out there. Especially since your primary focus isn't simply salary, you can afford to be a bit more discerning in the companies and positions you'll consider.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Look for your "catch 22". Sometimes the approach you want to use can never win and you've been ignoring that flaw. For example, you were building solutions to problems that customers didn't accept, trust or want.

Reanalyze your failures looking for a common cause. Maybe you didn't get customers soon enough or spent too much time perfecting features that customers didn't value. Maybe you were too early or late to the market.

Try a new prespective. Maybe you shouldn't code as much as you have. Maybe you should focus on marketing or sales.

Redefine success. You shouldn't think that building a business is the only thing that will make you successful. Think in terms of layers of success. There are layers for friendship, marriage, children, health, career, etc. Not all layers will be the best but there is a gestalt.

You need to amortize your happiness over your work life time. You have to work in a way that makes you happy as you go so if your work isn't successful, at least you had fun. For example, you can work in interesting places anywhere in the world. Or you can work on an interesting vertical (e.g. special effects for movies). Or you can work with interesting people, etc.

</comment><comment><USER22> I would suggest you invest some energy in finding some mentors. Find people who you look up to. I wouldn't try to find Tim Cook or Elon Musk.. I'd look for people who've been successful, and who you can connect to through your network (if you aren't investing time in building up your network in LinkedIn, I suggest you do so).

There's a LOT of entrepreneurs who take a few times to come up with something that succeeds. Personally (I've founded 2 startups and worked at 4 others), I think it's much more about the people than the idea.

Get to know people who are passionate about creating things. Find some amongst them who have common interests. Build something you love. If others love it, too, you will build success.

I'm always happy to help people early in their careers (like you, at your ripe young age of 25). If you can't find others to help you, send me a THOUGHTFUL intro on LinkedIn, and I'll be happy to talk. [http://linkedin.com/in/triantos](http://linkedin.com/in/triantos)

Good luck!

</comment><comment><USER23> What went wrong with the businesses you've built so far? It's hard to tell whether you should give up (although spoilers: no, probably not, unless you've got something you'd rather be doing) without knowing what went wrong.

Did you launch? If so, did you get initial traction? If so, were you just unable to scale? If not, was it that people weren't interested in the ideas? What were those ideas?

I'm not sealioning here - I have a certain amount of experience in debugging business problems, and if you respond I'm happy to try to help. Feel free to email me if you'd prefer - mail address is in my profile.

If it makes you feel any better, I've been working for nearly 20 years to crack a specific business sector myself! I've had some success, but "mission accomplished" is still some distance off.

Finally - you almost certainly SHOULD stop working as many hours as you are. There's a lot of solid, carefully tested, science-backed evidence that you're almost certainly harming rather than helping your chances by working that many hours.

</comment><comment><USER10> If everyone smart could spend 10 years and hit it with startups, then, well, things would look a lot different and no one would choose a normal job until their 40s, and nearly everyone would have made it with a startup and be wealthy. That's obviously not reality so the 10 years = success thing is just a wrong idea. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you, and it could even be pure luck!

If you've been at work every day for that long, a: cut back the hours and b: go disconnect. Take a week or a month or whatever, and just don't connect to the Internet. (It gets easier after ~3 days.) Reflect on things.

Another trick I've used is to go consulting for a bit. Work on somebody else's stuff, deal with their problems, collect cash. Importantly: Get a job where you're not shouldering the cognitive burden of their business (so, not a CTO role, or Lead Technical Architect Designer Whatever). Look for a more 9-5 thing.

Eventually you'll start feeling the urge to go do your own thing and switch back.

</comment><comment><USER24> Here are a few pieces of advice:

1\. Take it easy. Relax. Rest. Take a break. 100% break for maybe 2 weeks. If you can't afford it, change your job, work enough to pay your bills and relax with all the extra time (provided you don't live in an expensive city). Find a way to GET AWAY from the computer/tech. The break will help you think clearer.

2\. Change your definition of 'success'. Something more like 'doing what you like and getting paid to do it'.

3\. Improve your skills. Nothing to show for it? I hope not. Either way, find ways to improve your skills. Code reviews, open source, etc.

4\. Work for someone else. Many people started their own business FIRST by working for someone else. After 9 months to a year they felt confident enough to do their own thing. I'd suggest you follow in their footsteps. Support someone else's business that will pay you.

Good luck in your endeavors.

</comment><comment><USER25> Are you a starter but not a finisher? Are you sure you really want to build a business? Or do you just like the idea of having a business, but not the grinding work? You say you like to read and think a lot - this could be signs that having a business is not really what you want. Where have you spent your 16-18 hours a day? On your website, on your framework, on your code editor? Or on solving business problems, on sales, on talking to people with money? You don't have friends and say you lost your best time. So start living now. Stop "building businesses". Work in business. Talk to business people. Get experience. So yes, I'd say indeed give up. Because it doesn't matter what you tell yourself now. You are going to change your mind anyway. With 25 there is so much more to learn and do.

</comment><comment><USER26> Take a break, bud. Do something else for a bit. Lotsa interesting stuff to get into out there. :)

</comment><comment><USER27> My "succes" started when I stopped hunting for it, stopped looking for it and started living.

After a while of just being (I made a promise to myself that I would do nothing but earn enough to support my family for 12 months) I started connecting with likeminded (especially the microconf crowd)

Having two mastermind groups, a conference every six months and some friends who are interested in living instead of making a shitload of money (internal vs. external motivation) helped me move myself and my business to something sustainable and wholehearted.

PS. I took 13 years from me starting as self employed until I became "succesfull" \- and that is 13 years of failure and little money - all because I was so externally motivated.

</comment><comment><USER28> 10 years of bad luck doesn't sound so bad. Even in failure, you are blessed to work in one of the more fascinating industries to come along in 100 years.

No doubt, most successful people I know are lucky, but those are not the people I admire the most. I admire the unlucky who persevered and overcame. They have the battle scars and experience to know what doesn't work, when to ask for help, and when to muscle through tough situations. They didn't accidentally get born into wealthy family with a paid-for college degree, or join MENSA.

That all being said, don't spend your whole youth trying to grow up, it just sort of happens. Enjoy your youth and make sure you are constantly learning and meeting new people.

</comment><comment><USER29> You're 25, you're still young and have plenty of time to succeed. A lot of people try hard for years without doing so.

There is a huge difference between making a little money from a website and running a business. It's maybe not your project, maybe the way you communicate on it or the way you plan to make money on it.

There are lots of ways to run a business and lots to fail one. Take your time and check point by point what went wrong with your project:

\- Did your project fill someone's need? \- Did you have an exact idea of how you would earn money? \- Was your communication effective enough (did you reach your target)?

My thoughts is that you're still young, do not lose hope at 25, try to find what were your weakness. Keep it up :)

</comment><comment><USER30> Friends are overrated. If you worked that much on those projects, you must have felt like this was more interesting to you than going out. And honestly, if you're an introvert, going out sucks, working alone is much more interesting. Also, have you heard about Julius Caesar who was crying at 30 because he hadn't done what Alexander the Great had done at that age? You still have room to grow. I can't be of help as far as business is concerned because I've failed a lot too. All I know is that my most successful project is the simplest in terms of technology, but that there's an evergreen flow of people looking for what I offer.

</comment><comment><USER31> For me, at the stage you are in life, I felt extremely unaccomplished. And I was. I still am in some sense. I have spent 10 years working on a failure. I still work on it. But I also know I have made progress. There are things I have accomplished. I am sure there are things you can look back on proudly.

Can you take a vacation? My selfish fantasy advice: Go somewhere sunny and sit on a beach for a while. Take your laptop with and code there too if you want, but don't push yourself. Just take a break and relax. Meet people. Have fun. You are young. Everything is ahead of you.

Sorry. Possibly too much wine.

</comment><comment><USER32> "I've lost some of the best years of my life"

Others have more or less alluded to this, but it's worth stating it explicitly: 15-25 probably aren't going to be _anywhere near_ the best years of your life.

Also, at least you've got a marketable skill. Think of all the college graduates who don't even have that going for them, plus a pile of student loan debt to boot.

<comment><AUTHOR> Actually I went to Uni just so I wouldn't have a job and so I'd have more free time to work on startups.

I only went to a few classes the entire time I was there, and I got a bad grade obviously, but it wasn't too bad considering I never went to class.

It was actually pretty good for me though. I learnt a lot about startups in uni thanks to all the support and help they can provide. Also, it's a decent environment to find other people working on startups which you can learn from and work with.

I will mention that I'm from the UK though, and back when I went to uni student loans weren't too bad. Thankfully, I should have them all paid off in a few years.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> Well, I wouldn't stop working on stuff, but I wouldn't keep my nose to the grindstone either -- you should take that vacation!

</comment><comment><USER34> Sounds like you've had some bad luck. It's okay, it happens to everyone. It's no fun to fail. Find a few things that you can succeed at. Do those and get used to succeeding. Then do more and greater things and succeed at those. Success breeds success. Start investing in success.

</comment><comment><USER35> "Hard work" is relative. As a baseline, if you are able to feed, cloth, and shelter yourself, you are doing just fine. If indeed you have actually been working that much every day then perhaps you need to take some time off and relax.

</comment><comment><USER36> Although 10 years is not a short time,but your experience among these years is priceless.

"Work longer, work harder and work wiser, you must not only choose two of them."

Maybe you didn't find your way yet. Work wiser.

Anyway, keep Forward..

</comment><comment><USER37> you are fine, try to see it

something is broke in your mechanism

thinking this way is unnatural and a result of external influences

who broke it is up for debate but it is up to you to mend yourself

you sound like you want someone to relieve you of your self imposed responsibility

do something for yourself, ask yourself what that is and do it

make it something that you are so sure and proud of that even if people deride you for doing it or complain that it is taking you too long you can comfortably know you are spending your time the way you should be

go for long walks in your city at all hours, stumble upon unique corners that you would otherwise ignore or miss on a bike or bus or in a car, allow your mind to wander, build ideas up in your head

go to a city in a developing nation far from your home and do the same

achievement comparisons are superfluous thoughts, but if you need an extra jolt of energy now to start tackling your fears i present to you some highlights from the age game:

      Vincent Van Gogh ::

* first picked up a paintbrush when he was 26.. note similarities to your own age..

* he was universally despised throughout his life.. he either sold 2 of his paintings or 5 depending on your source..

* died in poverty, but is now considered an essential element in the development of visual media

      Bill Withers ::

* first picked up a guitar at 30, wrote some of the greatest songs sung and remixed by many musicians since and is an accredited influence to many contemporary musicians

      Walt Whitman ::

* published only one book in his lifetime.. with five revisions.. leaves of grass at 36

* i personally think he is the greatest author ever to write.. even though i do see areas and room for improvement, yet i believe he is the best of the best.. and historically he is essential to contemporary life

* without whitman we may have had to wait longer for the beats, which means we would have had to wait longer for the drug and sexual revolution of the 60s which would have meant we needed to wait longer for all of the wonderful derivatives of that movement: civil rights, gender rights, and on and on

</comment><comment><USER38> If you haven't made it big at 25, you can just as well kill yourself now, because as everybody in tech knows, your life is practically over. </s>

</comment><comment><USER39> too much wine. having a job is not a prison. being in prison, is a prison. you're just biding your time until you figure out what works. you also need to find some happiness in life away from your work. People are good for that.

</comment><comment><USER40> this will answer your question: Angry Birds was Rovio's 52nd game. They spent eight years and almost went bankrupt before finally creating their massive hit.

</comment><comment><USER41> a mentor can help you cull your ideas and help you plan valid testing for them. for a twenty five year old i would suggest you find someone in their fourties

</comment><comment><USER42> It seems you're trying too hard. It might sound counter intuitive, but you should let it go, take care of yourself, and do more things you enjoy - <USER2> because you enjoy it, not because "it will make you successful".

You should reframe your perspective. Instead of " _failing for 10 years_ ", you should look at all the knowledge and skills you've acquired during this time. That alone is already better than the majority of the population, and I bet lots of people would kill to be in your position. And you're only 25.

Also, it doesn't surprise me that you didn't succeed, despite your effort. The odds are simply against you [3]. Failing _is_ the expected outcome. What is wrong is your expectation of success, just because you spent 10 years trying hard. Sorry to say, but that's not how it works [4].

You should take a serious look at your professional career, and consider other options. Building your own business is not the only way to cultivate a successful career, build a strong network, and learn to be a better professional. And remember that many successful entrepreneurs started after 30 (or 40, or 50), so that option always exist. Different challenges, but still doable.

You mentioned that you like to read. Here's some references that I wish I had when I was 25:

[1] The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter--And How to Make the Most of Them Now [http://smile.amazon.com/The-Defining-Decade-Twenties- Matter-...](http://smile.amazon.com/The-Defining-Decade-Twenties-Matter- And/dp/0446561754)

[2] Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace) [http://smile.amazon.com/Search-Inside-Yourself- Unexpected-Ac...](http://smile.amazon.com/Search-Inside-Yourself-Unexpected- Achieving/dp/0062116932/)

[3] The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup [http://smile.amazon.com/Founders-Dilemmas-Anticipating- Found...](http://smile.amazon.com/Founders-Dilemmas-Anticipating-Foundation- Entrepreneurship/dp/0691158304/)

[4] The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator [http://smile.amazon.com/Launch-Pad- Inside-Combinator/dp/1591...](http://smile.amazon.com/Launch-Pad-Inside- Combinator/dp/1591846587)

[5] This Is Water: The Original David Foster Wallace Recording [http://smile.amazon.com/This-Water-Original-Wallace- Recordin...](http://smile.amazon.com/This-Water-Original-Wallace- Recording/dp/B003NGXOIS/)

(all are clean links; no affiliate)

</comment><comment><USER43> _I 've heard failure is good, but 10 years is a long time. That's how long I've been failing for now._

You're considering "giving up" after 10 years? You have no fucking idea. No offense, but you're just spoiled by a culture of instant gratification. In most societies and in most of history, it took _generational_ timespans to go from nothing to wealth. People moved to the towns at 15 as laborers (often worse off than peasants) so their kids could join the working class and their grandkids would have a shot at joining guilds so their great-great-grandkids would be wealthy merchants and their fourth-great-grandkids (whom they'd never live to see) just might join the gentry or the lowest edge of nobility.

It's not your fault. The crime of the pseudo-meritocracy that exists now is that (a) well over 90% of the people who have knock-out success by age 25 had parental lift, but (b) society does a damn good job of making sure that it looks like they earned it. It makes rapid ascension look not just possible, but normal. It's not: not even fucking close.

You feel like a failure because you're comparing yourself to people who have all sorts of ridiculous, but also invisible, advantages. You shouldn't beat yourself up that you can't compete with the kids who close $5 million seed rounds fresh out of Stanford. That's like trying to compete with a cheetah in the 100m dash: you just weren't born with it.

 _When I was 15 me and my friend started a little hosting website. It was really fun. I learnt to program, and we even made a little bit of money. In the excitement I began to learn about business, startups and programming. I thought it was going to be so easy to make money._

It sounds like you didn't fail. Not making money is failing. Having to turn off the lights is failing. You learned how to program and turned a profit on your first project. That sounds like success (albeit minor) to me.

 _Because for the last 10 years I 've worked 16-18 hours a day, every day, with absolutely nothing to show from it._

Yeah, you should probably change that. That's unsustainable. You sound burned out. I'd be worse off than you are if I worked that much.

You need to exercise, you need a social life, you need things in your life that aren't work, and you need some damn down time. Don't just "book that holiday" (it's not a bad idea, but it's not enough). Stop working hard and start working smart. If it's not important, don't do it. If it is important, you probably want to be well-rested when you do it, which rules out 120-hour weeks.

 _Because 10 years later I 'm suck in a day job as a programmer._

Well, if you drop back to an 8-hour day, you'll hate it a lot less. Give yourself a break. Most people don't hate being in day jobs because most people don't work so hard as to make themselves miserable. They show up at 9:00, leave around 5:30, socialize a bit at work, and once they've been at the job for a year or two, they figure out a way to work mainly on the parts of the job that they enjoy. You should try it.

And for a dirty secret: you can probably get away with 2-3 hours per day of actual work at most day jobs. I don't advise slacking to that extreme. It's bad for your career to fuck around, and even though you probably won't get fired, people will notice and not like you and it'll make your life unpleasant. But you're literally working an order of magnitude more, right now, than the minimum not to get fired.

Also, stop reading Techcrunch because the 25-year-olds whose startups turned into unicorns or thestrals or chimeras or whatever the fuck mythological creature they are using to describe hot-shit companies had so much parental lift (and luck) that it's useless to make a comparison.

You mention being stuck "as a programmer". Do you not like programming? If you don't like it, then stop doing it. That's not giving up. That's choosing not to do something that you don't enjoy. If you do like programming, then find your way to projects that you're enthusiastic about, and find a way to blow off or delegate the dreck work (see the above about slacking, and learn a bit about office politics).

 _Something I never wanted to be, I just wanted to build a business._

Then, you have three options. One: get some capital and start a business. If your social life is as pathetic as you've claimed it to be, then you probably have some savings. But don't do this until you've taken a break because starting your own business will call for some long hours... and you need some time to slack (relative to what you've been doing) and un-burn-out. Two: bootstrap a business using the time not spent on your day job (unless you're getting rapidly promoted, we've already gone over the fact that you shouldn't put more than 40-45 hours on it). You've shown that you can work smart but you need to work hard. Three: get into a top-5 MBA school. If you're a half-decent engineer than you're already smarter than 97% of Harvard MBA students although you may need some work on the social polish aspect. That's not going to help you as an entrepreneur but it'll get you into VC and then you can become a founder or startup executive after your time in VC.

 _I 've lost some of the best years of my life behind a text editor and a dream._

15 to 25? Those aren't the best years of most peoples' lives. Being a teenager is terrible in the U.S., college is overhyped and socially disappointing for most people-- especially men-- and pretty much everyone from 22-25 is confused, rapidly losing touch with his previous self and likely falling out of contact with old friends, and working in a job that's below what college trained him to expect.

Most of the older people I know say that the best years of their lives are the last healthy years, typically meaning 50s and 60s. Until your health goes for good, it keeps getting better, and the end is usually not far after that. My mother said that the best years of her life were her 50s, except for the health issues (cancer) that she had toward the end of the decade (she died at 59). I think that's common: most older people are happier than when younger and don't want to go back to who they were or the life they had when they were younger. (Obviously, no one would turn down having the body and health of a 25-year-old forever, if that were an option, but almost no one thinks that those are the best years.)

So, no, you haven't lost the best years of your life. You are slowly becoming less physically attractive, but it's surprising how little that matters, and it's also easy to do something about. (If you stay in shape, you'll be considered good looking for a _long_ time.) Don't worry about it.

 _Not to mention the money and friends I 've lost along the way._

Well, again, you should fix that pattern. My advice: getting emotional about money "that got away" is pointless. It's business. Emotions put your eyes on the scoreboard rather than the ball. As for friends, you can always get in contact with old friends. They fell out of contact with you, just as you did with them, right? That happens, and people are pretty forgiving. It happens to all of us, especially those of us who work hard and are ridiculously busy.

Good luck. It doesn't sound like you're as much of a failure as you think you are. In fact, I'll bet that you learned a lot. You're just tired and need a rest.

<comment><USER44> _15 to 25? Those aren 't the best years of most peoples' lives. Being a teenager is terrible in the U.S., college is overhyped and socially disappointing for most people-- especially men-- and pretty much everyone from 22-25 is confused, rapidly losing touch with his previous self and likely falling out of contact with old friends, and working in a job that's below what college trained him to expect._

I already knew that, but it is nice to hear it from someone else. Thank you.</comment></comment>


PSA: If you like updates, don't buy the Google Pixel phone from Verizon - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/10/psa-if-you-like-updates-dont-buy-the-google-pixel-phone-from-verizon/ <comment><USER2> > but this year Google is also offering financing plans that are identical to > what a carrier would offer

In the US. Other countries don't get that benefit.

</comment><comment><USER3> Telstra also confirmed they'd be holding back and altering updates. Nobody should buy this phone from a carrier.</comment>


Classic HN: Black Triangles (2004) - <AUTHOR> http://rampantgames.com/blog/?p=7745 <comment><AUTHOR> This has been submitted before, but the last discussion was 2 years ago, and the issues raised here remain relevant. I know that, because I've just run across them in a meeting that was, well, rather tense.

It's worth knowing about this to make sure you preempt the issues when meeting with non-technical (or sometimes technical) people.</comment>


JP Morgan rolls out first US bank-backed cryptocurrency to transform paymentsd - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/13/jp-morgan-is-rolling-out-the-first-us-bank-backed-cryptocurrency-to-transform-payments--.html <comment><USER2> This is what being all marketing and no substance looks like.

What big companies think is cool and innovative is always several years behind what actually is cool and innovative. And they always miss the point, in this case what the idea of crypto is.

But big companies are masters of shouting loudly, as in this case where JPMC's PR has gotten this story out in just about every major outlet. Whether this is anything beyond a PR exercise I don't know, I get the feeling there are some quite strong internal forces that will not be interested in actually using this.

Someone I know works for a big 4 that is also roughly at this point in the delayed hype cycle. They are furiously selling blockchain solutions to everyone who will listen, and doing quite well at it. They did a firmwide review of internal skills recently, and amazingly there are zero staff who have any idea what a smart contract is. You wouldn't know if reading about them in the news, but they are getting paid millions and millions for various projects that are currently undeliverable.

<comment><USER3> I would hope that a big bank is not chasing 'cool and shiny' things, but rather is chasing useful and 'safe' things.

<comment><USER4> They chase profits. These businesses tend to be very siloed and if they lose money on a new business venture, it's their money that's lost and not depositors. They are probably absorbing a tiny fraction of the risk they absorbed by making shaky but traditional investments in the early 2000s.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> In the early days of the internet, companies like Microsoft and Lotus Notes invested in corporation-controlled private messaging applications instead of using things like email and the world wide web. But in the end the benefits of open standards and interoperability made public networks more useful than a walled garden.

JPM thinks a centrally controlled digital currency is better than a public currency. Of course there are benefits to JPM in controlling this currency.

The interesting thing to watch is whether public and interoperable digital currencies prove to be more valuable and useful than a centrally-controlled one.

<comment><USER6> >But in the end the benefits of open standards and interoperability made public networks more useful than a walled garden.

The world has swung the other way. If I want restaurant reviews, I need yelp/tripadvisor/googlemaps/facebook to access each database of reviews. To order a delivery meal I need ubereats/doordash/grubhub/postmates/amazon. To compare taxi prices, I need to open uber and lyft, and to rent a scooter I need a new app in each city. To send a message I need fbmessenger/whatsapp/skype/hangouts. Even Match Group keeps its subsidiaries as silos, instead of allowing interop. It probably actually INCREASES peoples desire to hop around the different products, knowing they dont work together. If gmail and outlook didnt work, id be more likely to have both. Open standards and interoperability made public networks more useful, but now that the networks are in place, and access is ubiquitous, walled gardens can spring up and dominate MUCH faster than distributed protocols.

<comment><USER7> > Open standards and interoperability made public networks more useful, but > now that the networks are in place, and access is ubiquitous, walled gardens > can spring up and dominate MUCH faster than distributed protocols.

And personally, how do you suggest distributed protocols work to keep up with their centralized alternatives? Obviously one could build a walled garden (UI, API, Database) much quicker than its decentralized alternative.

<comment><USER6> I dont. Consensus and standards take some time to develop. It's about an attitude, where companies willingly allow 3rd party clients to access their data, or allowing services to interop.

The quickest to market car isnt always the best or safest product. Consumer safety laws even the playing field a bit. Im not advocating regulation, but it is one way to achieve more parity between products.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Wow, this is big. I disagree with some of the negative comments here, but that is what I love about HN: diverse opinions.

Being able to not transact large amounts of money and instead using a permissioned blockchain to prove you have the funds seems like a great use case to me.

Although mining some ether was fun as was making money on bitcoin, I believe that the really interesting applications will probably be in permissioned systems that either like JP Coin allow virtual transactions or support smart contracts. To get started, taking the eDX course on blockchain for business is a good start.

I also admit that after working as an AI/machine learning practitioner since the 1980s that blockchain applications interest me just because it is something new (for me).

<comment><USER9> I agree that smart contracts are by far the most interesting thing about this kind of blockchain idea. However since it is permissioned (i.e., not a blockchain), then JP can just change the rules whenever they want. The novel idea that came out of blockchain was the permissionless aspect. While there are tons of problems with blockchain today, you have some assurance that the smart contract will operate as the terms originally sent to the chain. Having a JP run a blockchain essentially cant provide any more (meaningful) assurance than an existing written contract by JP.

Furthermore to say that interesting applications will emerge in permissioned blockchains is akin to saying ever since 2010 Neural networks will make a large impact. It may be true but NNs have been around for decades while Permissioned Blockchains (i.e., distributed ledgers) have also been around for decades. They are merely; append only, distributed, permissioned data structures/bases that have some level of throughput and information guarantees

<comment><USER10> Block chains are always permissioned in a way though. The developers create the rules, and if you have commit access, you can change them. It's more open, but it's still permissioned.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> That's the intranet of money as opposed to the internet of money.

</comment><comment><USER12> Any technical details? Is it a new currency or an ERC20 token? What is their proof mechanism?

<comment><USER13> The JMP Coin is a fork of Ethereum called "Quorum". Its open source.

Check it out [https://github.com/jpmorganchase/quorum](https://github.com/jpmorganchase/quorum)

<comment><USER14> It's built on Quorom, it is not itself Quorom.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I think the only reason this is legal are "cryptocurrencies are classified as commodity, not currency". Banks can't technically make their own currency, but commodities are okay.

I see this eventually becoming a fairly serious issue with the fed, if this takes off.

<comment><USER16> Contrary to libertarian paranoia, alternative currencies are perfectly legal, and neither the FED, nor the Feds, will come after you guns ablaze. Here's Wikipedia on the topic: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_currency](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_currency)

To which I would add airline miles, gift cards, and postage stamps.

The distinction to commodities is only relevant for some questions around taxation, accounting, and investor protection.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I mean, sure why the hell not. You could write/buy/subscribe to a strongly consistent distributed cloud kv store system to do the same more efficiently, but knock yourself out.

</comment><comment><USER18> This tweet from CRW: [https://twitter.com/ProfFaustus/status/1096018468858667008](https://twitter.com/ProfFaustus/status/1096018468858667008)

I don't have too much to say besides I'm curious how things will develop around this over the coming months.

<comment><USER19> When that individual says anything truthful or delivers on any of his promises, it will be the first time. Until then feel free to ignore the troll.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> > paymentsd

Is this a hipster daemon written in Go? :)

<comment><USER21> this is actually systemd-paymentsd

[0] man systemd-paymentsd

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> I don't fully see how Dimon can back this, yet be so against Bitcoin. Based on the article, JP seems to be essentially building a distributed ledger, not too dissimilar to the one underpinning bitcoin (apart from the distinct possibility that it will not be quite as open as bitcoin).

Lol, I guess it's only worthwhile when they do it?

<comment><USER23> > I don't fully see how Dimon can back this, yet be so against Bitcoin.

Pegged value, privately controlled, governance and oversight built in, no PoW, no speculators. Effectively all it has in common with BTC is the ability to send payments from one account to another.

<comment><USER24> Dimon will be against any competitor. These aren't philosophers or even honest people. Keep that in mind when listening to them. I include btc shills in this as well. They have an obvious angle that is not influenced by morals, truth, etc.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> it's a false statement to call it a cryptocurrency. They simply set a permission private ledger for institutional usage. It has nothing to do with decentralized cryptocurrency with stable price, like MakerDao (or SableUnit)

</comment><comment><USER26> "While J.P. Morgan's Jamie Dimon has bashed bitcoin as a "fraud," the bank chief and his managers have consistently said blockchain and regulated digital currencies held promise."

They are only doing so because it saves them a ton of money.

<comment><USER27> > _They are only doing so because it saves them a ton of money_

This is less about cost savings and more about lock-in and liability. Customers can move their money around by wire or ACH with anyone. They can only do it with JPM coin through JPMorgan.

With such treasury services, moreover, fraud is a big cost centre. A cryptocurrency might be a good way to shift liability for unwanted transactions away from the bank and onto customers.

<comment><USER26> You are correct, but there is a tremendous incentive for them to save on costs by using their own blockchain.

"The blockchain potential in financial services is huge, and has several applications which span across payments, capital markets, trade services, investment and wealth management, securities and commodities exchanges.

Blockchain technology can be considered as one of the main drivers to achieve a substantial cost saving.

According to a Santander FinTech study, distributed ledger technology could reduce financial services infrastructure cost between US$15 billion and $20 billion per annum by 2022, providing the possibility to decommission legacy systems and infrastructure and significantly reduce IT costs."

[https://www.pwc.com/m1/en/media- centre/articles/blockchain-n...](https://www.pwc.com/m1/en/media- centre/articles/blockchain-new-tool-to-cut-costs.html)

[https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cost-cutting-potential- of-b...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cost-cutting-potential-of- blockchain-1520993100)

[https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-banks-can-save- big...](https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-banks-can-save-big-with- blockchain-2017-1)

[https://www.globalcustodian.com/settlements-costs- fall-27-bi...](https://www.globalcustodian.com/settlements-costs- fall-27-billion-2030-using-blockchain-research-finds/)

[https://www.ft.com/content/b6171016-171f-11e8-9e9c-25c814761...](https://www.ft.com/content/b6171016-171f-11e8-9e9c-25c814761640)

<comment><USER28> All fun and games, but to achieve that you can use existing database solutions which have transaction verifiability and auditing build in. Even third party verification is possible if required. This blockchain mania at banks does not add anything as long as they keep using private ledgers and thus do not require zero-trust proofs.

<comment><USER29> Having worked with existing solutions in a top 4 bank in my country I would rather be a beggar then work with those systems. The banking system needs change and needs it badly, they are so far behind the rest of the industry. Blockchain is still way more decentralized then current solutions which mainly work on a Master/Slave HA mode.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


UK Councils Improve Security and Citizen Privacy with Splunk - <AUTHOR> https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190409005081/en/UK-Councils-Improve-Security-Citizen-Privacy-Splunk <comment><USER2> How is logging all the things to a log aggregator helping privacy? In the projects where I used Splunk they were logging credit card details, transaction details, and PII all over the place, totally loosing privacy and security context data. Moreover, since Splunk is very expensive, only few gatekeepers got licenses, thereby not only concentrating power, but also questioning the usefulness of Splunk and Elastic Search (it being easy access and analytics on log data).

I've come to see log analytics-heavy approaches and similar over-the-top event-driven astronaut architectures as an excuse for poor design.</comment>


Grubhub app faces hate reviews in reaction to his email - <AUTHOR> https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/grubhub-food-delivery-takeout/id302920553?mt=8 <comment><USER2> Details of the CEO's actions are available here: [http://time.com/4567760/grubhub-ceo-trump- email/](http://time.com/4567760/grubhub-ceo-trump-email/)

ETA: The email is provided here: [http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/11/10/boss- tells-pro-trump-em...](http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/11/10/boss-tells-pro- trump-employees-to-resign.html)

</comment><comment><USER3> I voted for Bernie am a progressive, and the CEO's actions sound like something a right-wing nutjob would do... Have we the left moved so far right we've become the nutjobs? (Bernie people aside of course)

<comment><USER4> It's definitely everyone except you. Thank goodness you're so enlightened!

<comment><USER3> People need to get over it. Trump's president now. Those who chose clinton picked a racehorse w/ 3 legs. She was never going to win. I didn't vote for her and never would. Everyone in my fb stream of 3k+ Bernie supporters were all warning they would not vote for her, and guess what? -- THEY didn't..

GET OVER IT. He's the president. Nothing is going to change that. This CEO's reaction is almost discrimination in that political views are almost akin to religious convictions for some people.

<comment><USER5> No, it is not almost discrimination. Read the clarification the CEO provided after so many people misunderstood the intent of the original letter:

> I want to clarify that I did not ask for anyone to resign if they voted for > Trump. I would never make such a demand. To the contrary, the message of the > email is that we do not tolerate discriminatory activity or hateful > commentary in the workplace, and that we will stand up for our employees.

<comment><USER6> You mean after the lawyers and HR got to him?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> First of all I feel there was nothing wrong in the original email. Trump's ideas about immigrants, muslims, women were largely accepted as wrong and he himself has either apologized for them or started to remove parts of it from his website. So if there are employees who voted for Trump for those ideas they obviously would poison any workplace.

Second, republican supporters still work at the company. Bad mouthing the product and the app is not going to do good to any one. Not the people who work there, not to the 100s of people who survive on delivering food and 1000s of restaurants that are profitable due to orders.

I do not like to stereotype people. But the set of people who left such reviews as an impulsive act are definitely kind of people who are not going to do any good to society or US. And fox news and other similar media do no good to either side by manipulating news to create a strong divide. Yes got to get over what happened. But things are just sad indeed.

<comment><AUTHOR> One more thing: Imagine what Trump got away with: \- all his remarks \- no tax returns \- active lawsuits \- against climate change \- firing on real TV etc and etc

and here is a young ceo trying to voice his opinion to his employee at a company he created and runs. The most scary thing about this election is the impulsiveness, short temperament and impatience of people.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> We are all tired of this shit. Left needs to stop whining.</comment>


The side of Paul Allen I wish more people knew about - <AUTHOR> https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Forbes-Philanthropy-Summit-honors-Paul-Allen <comment><USER3> My Dad spoke very highly of Paul. Bill and Paul were invited to BPA to program a PDP-10 computer to manage power station operations [1].

My Dad, a DEC Technician, would come home and say _" There are a couple teenagers from Seattle programming the BPA mainframes."_

He then built a Heathkit home computer and taught me BASIC because _" Paul and Bill can do it. So can you."_

[1] [https://www.bpa.gov/news/newsroom/Pages/Legacy-computer- syst...](https://www.bpa.gov/news/newsroom/Pages/Legacy-computer-system- retires-after-keeping-the-lights-on-for-38-years.aspx)

</comment><comment><USER4> > Paul was driven by an incredible curiosity his whole life. Even when we were > just kids, he seemed to be interested in just about everything.

I can identify with this. I've founded a gamedev company, taught Computer Graphics, and worked at Google and Improbable as a SWE; but in the middle of all this I wrote a novel, I recently quit my job to become an actor/filmmaker ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10232800](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10232800)), and I really enjoy making Italian goodies on my free time (mostly biscotti, tiramisu, and limoncello). I'm also thinking of learning bookbinding / restoration, and how to draw and paint.

I can't tell whether I'm "doing this right" \-- and by "this", I mean "life". Sometimes I feel like I'm half-assing everything, and that I'd be better off laser-focusing on a single thing. Some of my friends have, and they're further along their careers (are they happier? I don't know). Sometimes I feel life is too short to not do what I feel passionate about.

I'm 38 and I'm doing OK in life, but I feel like I haven't figured out what to optimise for. I have this lingering feeling that I could, and should, be doing better (for some vague definition of "better").

Sorry to bring a personal question to HN, but the article made me think about my situation, I can't think of a better crowd to get their opinion than this one.

<comment><USER5> The only question to answer is, "are you happy?" I'm almost 50, I don't have a high profile job, failed at getting into Google 5 times, but just bought my wife a $20,000 grand piano for our anniversary without thinking about it. My kids make me happy, my house mortgage is less than 1X my household earnings, my work pays well and I have a great Work Life Balance.

We all die within 120 years, and if we are cremated, there will be no trace of us left in this universe. Who cares about anything except our happiness and our ability to make those around us happy during this short time we are alive?

<comment><USER6> Man, these earnest wealth brags are really annoying here. There's was no reason to mention the piano, but you did.

<comment><USER7> He mentioned it because it shows that while he hasn't been in the rat race he's done well enough to treat his family well. I'm happy for him, and honestly 20k isn't that much money in the big scheme of things so he probably didn't think of it as a brag

<comment><USER8> >and honestly 20k isn't that much money in the big scheme of things so he probably didn't think of it as a brag

lol are you bragging in the same exact way? 20k isn't much money in the big scheme? 20k is median more than people in 136 countries have

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult)

<comment><USER7> Most people here live in the first world...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Paul allen owned an island in the san juans - when i used to fly to my mothers on Orcas we had to land first at paul allens airport...

There was a beauty and a freedom i used to feel from that experience:

There was no tower, nor staff; just a landing strip and we would fly in - <USER2> our thing and then take off again.

It was awesome... and i loved it, because we talk about america being the "land of the free" but we are really the "land of the regulated —special terms apply such as 1) are you rich enough to be free"

But i really liked flying into that island in particular over Orcas due to how libre it felt.

<comment><USER10> As a private pilot flying in the US until the beginning of this millennium (then I moved away) - there are many, many such airports all over the country, that's nothing special. I landed at such airports even as a student pilot. Half Moon Bay airport, to be exact (student home airports were San Carlos and Palo Alto, so I was allowed to do that as a student, didn't even have to ask the instructor after getting the general approval for local solo flights). You even have "pilot-controlled lighting" to turn on runway lights if you arrive at night at some airports.

Yes, such airports are a lot of fun. Some are nothing but a strip in the middle of nowhere.

Each one has a frequency assigned and you announce yourself (or at least you are supposed to) when you come in to check if anybody else is there already, maybe even using the runway.

For reference: "Non-Towered Airport Flight Operations" \-- [https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/...](https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_90-66B.pdf)

I found a number, the vast majority of airports is in this category:

> _There 's a huge number of uncontrolled airports in the U.S. According to > the FAA, there are 5,300 public-use airports. Out of that number, there are > 500 that are controlled. [Mar 1, 2005 -- > [https://www.planeandpilotmag.com/article/uncontrolled- > airpor...](https://www.planeandpilotmag.com/article/uncontrolled- > airports/\]*)

<comment><USER11> What amazed me was learning that you can fly across country and never have to talk to ATC. I'm not sure on the details, I'm sure it's VFR, no class Bravo airspace, not sure about flight plan, but the fact that you can cruise around up there without ever announcing yourself or communicating with anyone is really surprising.

<comment><USER10> Just to maybe help avoid confusion:

VFR and air space classes are orthogonal. You can fly through class B (e.g. SFO, for me, learning in the Bay Area, when you transition north starting from San Carlos you first have to talk to SFO tower and then get to pass north just a bit west of the airport, right through class B) or any class. VFR/IFR means something different [0]. A flight plan too is orthogonal, you can file a VFR flight plan too. It is used for safety mostly, in case you go missing, for example [1].

[0] [http://www.stephan-schwab.com/airtravel/vfr-ifr](http://www.stephan- schwab.com/airtravel/vfr-ifr)

[1] [https://thinkaviation.net/how-to-file-a-vfr-flight- plan/](https://thinkaviation.net/how-to-file-a-vfr-flight-plan/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Didn't realize Paul saved Cinerama.

> "Our net worth is ultimately defined not by dollars but rather by how well > we serve others."

Yep, exactly.

<comment><USER13> Cinerama, MoPOP, Living Computer Museum. They're all love letters to geek culture. If you're in Seattle they are absolutely worth a visit.

Old Microsoft guys tend not to be recognized as being "one of us"... maybe it was Microsoft's culture, and the systematic undermining of open source software and startups through the 90s, but Paul definitely was more like us than we probably care to admit.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Didn't know that Allen had a big part in funding KEXP, in addition to all the well-known stuff (Seahawks etc). Crazy the impact one person can have on a city, even if that person is insanely wealthy.

</comment><comment><USER15> "not really a team player, for some reason didn't want to be screwed by stock reappropriation when he was recovering from cancer."

</comment><comment><USER16> I'm moved by what Bill said about Paul - in many ways, he was still the geeky guy on the teletype, ferociously well read, and driven not only to understand the world, but also to protect it and share it with others. I miss him.

</comment><comment> yo-scot-99 > Paul was always good at seeing the big picture.

This reminds me of a day at Asymetrix - a startup founded by Mr Allen. Somehow we got a very early incarnation of Mosaic and I remember showing everyone how to bounce over to each lab with just a click and what authoring in HTML meant. Asymetrix's main product at the time was Toolbook, essentially a Hypercard clone -- but this was obviously the future. Paul's reaction was muted but I think he knew "This is happening without us!"

<comment><USER17> I interviewed at Asymetrix at one point.

They had the very strange idea they were going to take on Microsoft and Borland with their own C++ development system, which seemed to make no sense to me given the other things they were doing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Being driven by curiosity is a wonderful thing. I don't know how he managed to keep it up his whole life, and I very much envy his ability to do so. In my case, I find my ability to act on curiosity to be waning as I get older. Commitments and general fatigue have started getting in the way.

Here's to hoping there are more Paul Allens out there.

</comment><comment><USER19> The Allen Institute is definitely doing great work:

[https://www.alleninstitute.org/](https://www.alleninstitute.org/)

<comment><USER20> AI2 (Allen Institute for AI) is, too! Over 200 papers published at major conferences with several awards.

[https://allenai.org/papers/papers- all.html](https://allenai.org/papers/papers-all.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Really thoughtful speech from Gates. What an amazing life!

</comment><comment><USER22> Allen wrote an autobiography, and it's pretty good. About up there with Woz's, and I can't think of another Homebrew-era memoir as interesting.

</comment><comment><USER23> Gates has become a real class act as he's gotten older

</comment><comment><USER24> Remember when Gates and Ballmer tried to screw Allen out of his shares because his productivity had gone down due to cancer?

[https://www.cnet.com/news/paul-allen-gates-ballmer-tried- to-...](https://www.cnet.com/news/paul-allen-gates-ballmer-tried-to-rip-me- off/)

<comment><USER25> Remember when Allen was a patent troll?

[https://www.wired.com/2010/08/paul-allen-patent- lawsuit/](https://www.wired.com/2010/08/paul-allen-patent-lawsuit/)

Someone who became one of the world's richest men for only a few years of work deciding to shake down a huge chunk of the web in a cash grab really isn't a good look.

<comment><USER26> > Someone who became one of the world's richest men for only a few years of > work

The shorter time it took to make his wealth the better it looks because less time means better efficiency.

It's not like you're entitled to wealth because of how long you've worked. This is an idea that has lead few to financial success I imagine. Privileges and salary based on time keeping a seat warm somewhere is a union/government thing, not a common private business policy. In private business it's about the value you create, and Paul Allen and the early Microsoft team ended up creating quite a bit and did so relatively quickly.

<comment><USER27> To understand parent's comment you have to remember that not everyone believe that wealth correlates with work, or that lottery winners are immensely efficient. Some believe instead that wealth frequently comes from nothing but luck. In this model, quick gain certainly suggest more luck.

Which model is more accurate? I guess the huge majority of the inhabitants trapped in this planet do not need to think too long about it.

<comment><USER26> Comparing courageous entrepreneurs forgoing the safe route and staking out a claim for themselves in their passion, finding success thereof to a winning lottery ticket is not becoming and speaks of a mind filled with jealous spite and ill manners.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> I can't see anything (iOS Safari).

</comment><comment><USER29> Url changed from [https://www.paulallen.com/bill-gates-the-side-of-paul- allen-...](https://www.paulallen.com/bill-gates-the-side-of-paul-allen-i-wish- more-people-knew-about/), which points to this.

</comment><comment><USER30> One thing I don't understand is why both of these billionaires has named virtually every philanthropically effort after themselves by themselves while they were alive. It used to be the case that philanthropy was appreciated to be anonymous, or at least not outright ego boosters. It's not that these billionaires would be forgotten if they didn't insisted slapping their names on everything they funded. They are as it is massively ingrained in annals of humankind. If I was a billionaire and starting institute of cancer, for example, I would name it after unsung heros of the field who did not had billion dollars and sacrificed their entire lives without making buck only to benefit people, like, Faber Institute after Sydney Faber.

<comment><USER31> "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

<comment><USER32> As we know the Rockefeller Foundation, three generations from now Allen may be similarly known. Paraphrasing Horace Mann, Allen certainly created more than a few small victories for mankind.

<comment><USER30> Certainly we are thankful to him for cutting so many checks. However "funded" is better description than "created". Creating something requires far more effort, time investment and expertise than giving someone sum of money.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Seattle Times: WA State bans large gatherings; Seattle closes public schools - <AUTHOR> https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/inslee-orders-halt-on-large-gatherings-in-seattle-region-asks-schools-to-prepare-for-closure-to-slow-coronavirus-spread/ <comment><USER2> I wonder if California will close all public schools? Everything here is unfolding randomly, some Universities are closed, others are open..</comment>


You can change who you are - <AUTHOR> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/12b6a7d4-94b1-11dc-9aaf-0000779fd2ac.html

<comment><AUTHOR> this is also an interesting article in terms of how it compares the European culture and attitude with the American one</comment>


Walgreens Tests Digital Cooler Doors with Cameras to Target You with Ads - <AUTHOR> https://www.wsj.com/articles/walgreens-tests-digital-cooler-doors-with-cameras-to-target-you-with-ads-11547206200 <comment><USER2> We want our 401k's to continue to grow, we like investing in the stock market (for those who can), but we don't like the intrusion of privacy.

We want opposite things that can't co-exist, or can they? I'm certainly not for this, not one bit.

<comment><USER3> > We want our 401k's to continue to grow

No, we want more _wealth_ , as measured by food, housing, healthcare, leisure, art, etc.

These ads produce none of that. They are a waste of human time and resources, and even if they make _some_ stocks grow, they don't contribute to well-being, and make us poorer overall.

The stock market is a very poor measure of quality of life.</comment></comment>


LA businessman hires 100 homeless people to buy iPhones, scheme backfires - <AUTHOR> http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/20/homeless-recruited-to-buy-iphones/2844979/

<comment><USER2> Where does Apple get off deciding not to sell to the guys he was paying? Are they also trying to identify the people just planning to sell it on ebay five minutes later? ([http://www.businessinsider.com/gold- iphone-5s-ebay-2013-9](http://www.businessinsider.com/gold- iphone-5s-ebay-2013-9)). Maybe only people with a tattoo of Jobs should get one? Or maybe the Apple store employees should stick to their job as retailers and just sell it to anyone who waited in line and gives them the cash, and if the company really objects to people flipping their consumer toys for cash, they can make enough of them available to meet demand.</comment>


Need user data for a project - <AUTHOR>

Hello! My name is Adam and I am a student at a coding bootcamp.  For our final project we are creating our own song recommendation algorithm.  Users on our app can sign up and sync their Spotify playlists to begin generating playlists based on our algorithm.  We are still working on the site (some parts don't look/work the way they should), but for the purposes of testing the algorithm we need a lot of users to sign up and sync their playlists.  Does not matter if you have a premium Spotify account or a free one.  Once a user signs up they will be asked to sync their playlist immediately.  The whole process should only take a minute or two.  So, if you've got a moment, please head to the url, sign up, sync, and be forever appreciated!!<p>moneyteam.servebeer.com <comment><USER2> You need to do a "Show HN" submission to let people know that you want feedback on your project or startup. The "Show HN" submissions get listed under the "show" link in the top menu and the rules for doing a "Show HN" submissions are here:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)

If you can avoid requiring "yet another site signup" you'll most likely get more participation and feedback. If you cannot avoid requiring users to have spotify account (i.e. submit other playlists), then you should make that clear on your home page.

Text submissions without a URL (like this one) are lightly penalized in rankings, so when you do your "Show HN" submission, use the URL field to have your submission link to your site. [http://moneyteam.servebeer.com/](http://moneyteam.servebeer.com/)

Lastly, calling your site "moneyteam" and "MoneyMusic" is might be unwise; many people will mistake it for a pay-service of some kind.

Good Luck!</comment>


Todoed for Chrome - <AUTHOR> http://www.producthunt.com/posts/todoed-for-chrome

<comment><USER2> It is amazing to get on Product Hunt.</comment>


Bing censors sexual & LGBT content in Arab nations - <AUTHOR> http://opennet.net/sex-social-mores-and-keyword-filtering-microsoft-bing-arabian-countries

<comment><USER3> Different default safe-search settings per region makes total sense as moral sensibilities vary significantly (for example, in parts of Europe, nudity is commonly used in normal advertising, which wouldn't fly in the US), however, what seems offensive with this is that it seems you are not _allowed_ to switch safe search off.

I wonder if disabling such is as simple as switching the region setting or if it's region coded when accessed from those countries.

</comment><comment><USER4> What content is censored in USA and other "free" countries?

I mean, it's not that we just get the full firehose here, and other countries are variously prudish. In America we do filter things especially for child porn, and also for various other illegal topics (especially intellectual property).

Before you jump on me and say that we're just protecting children (or whoever the victims of other censored crimes are), please consider how well the actual legalities map to actual objective harms, or even to community-accepted morals.

I assert that we're still subject to a non-trivial degree of censorship in America, and the boundaries of that censorship map very poorly to an objective harms, and only approximately to any morality that's pervasive through our culture.

So any argument against filtering for the laws and culture in other parts of the world can't just be "censorship is wrong", because then you indict our own rules as well. It's a much more complex question.

</comment><comment><USER5> In all these countries as soon as you try to connect to a website where nudity or other banned content is displayed the mighty filter will divert you to a screen telling you that the website displays prohibited material - <USER2> settings or no Bing settings. The actual search engine you use is immaterial and this is just a gimmick by Microsoft. Most people find this very annoying and would use https vtunnel or something similar :)

 _disclosure_ : Currently in Qatar

<comment><USER6> True.

I live in Lebanon, and we have no such filter. It is the most liberal of Arab nations(some even say it isn't an Arab nation). Nudity in media is frowned upon, but we have a crazy night life that even I think is extreme sometimes. Go figure...

Anyway, for the people it matters to, they quickly learn how to avoid such filters. Otherwise, you can get whatever you want from the bittorrent trackers which aren't banned.

<comment><USER7> I couldn't agree more. Lebanon, specially Beirut, is utterly sleazy and one vacation I will happily take back. There isn't much "organic" nightlife there; if you want to rub shoulders with juiced up muscle heads and trafficked prostitutes, Beirut is the place to be. For casual middle-eastern night life you're probably better off in Damascus, Cairo, Tunis, or Amman.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> What google leaves on the table due to principles, a marketshare-only oriented competitor will definitely jump at. What's best in the long term remains to be seen. While I personally prefer companies with a personality because it gives me a feeling of a longer term vision, it could be considered condescending to enforce your morals on a market that in majority is averse to specific content.

<comment><USER9> How is it condescending to choose to not censor content? If someone is averse to specific content, then they shouldn't search for it. Easy as that. They're able to make decisions for themselves.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Shouldn't come as a surprise really. Most Arab nations oppress expressions of sexuality, and freedom of speech as a basic right is nonexistent.

<comment><USER11> Can't you have multiple wives in some Arab nations?

<comment><USER12> How is this related to the above comment?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Actually it does not matter if Bing filters the content or not. All (almost) of users' traffic goes through a ISP's proxy server. They have semi- intelligent method to filter the content. At least it used to work like this 5 years back.

Sure times have changed but I assume they are still using same/similar methods to filter. As kids, we coded our proxy servers running on servers like Geocities using open-source perl scripts but they ended up blocking it every now and then. Times have changed, they still maintain their ........

</comment><comment><USER13> What did anyone expect from "Bing"? They claim to be a "decision engine", and at least in the commercials I've seen, they don't say that the users get to make the decisions.

Disclaimer: I've only used "Bing" twice myself.</comment>