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Paul Graham: Hiring is Obsolete

Posted by samzenpus on from the listen-up dept.

jazznjava writes "Paul Graham has a new essay covering what the influences of declining operating costs will have on startup companies, and the undervaluation of undergraduates."

2 of 638 comments (clear)

  1. Paul's recurring theme... by MarkEst1973 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Have you noticed the essays he's written? They all trend in the direction of this most recent essay. I say he's rather encouraging.

    His points over many essays are nearly always the same, but looked at from different angles:

    • do hard work (and work hard)
    • hang around with smart people
    • don't follow trends, blaze your own trail
    • start with good ideas
    • spend as little as possible
    • the internet leverages your investment
    • your biggest investment is time
    • Tech matters (as do languages and platforms)
    • He did it (started a successful company and sold out). All of his essays encourage you to as well.
    I cannot understand why anyone on this site does not like what he has to say. He's saying the time has never been better to start a business, keep your costs low and make better technology your advantage, and he's entirely encouraging with his style of presentation.

    I, for one, thank Paul Graham for his insight into something I want to do.

    Oh, and if you didn't know this nugget of wisdom: Find and listen to someone who has done what you want to do. Don't listen to the masses. Listen to someone's who's done it.

  2. What Paul Really Does... by quark101 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It seems to me that while, as several users have pointed out, Paul doesn't really present anything new; what he does do is to point out things that most people don't see. While some people already know in detail what he is talking about, many do not, and he is opening the eyes of these people.

    Having read about 2/3 of his articles, I have realized that most of what he talks about, I already, at some level, know. The article helps to see a topic in a new light though. Yes, some of his articles aren't all that great, and are stuff that is generally know, but very few writers are always successful.

    It is the same reason that we have books on science or programming or how to use Windows, or any other number of topics. A subset of the population already intimately understands these ideas. However, to the rest of us, it lets us understand and explore the ideas in ways that never would have occurred to us/been possible.

    If you really don't like Paul's articles, then don't read them. They only come up every few weeks. It's not like he posts a new one every other day.