Ugh. I'm at work and can't spend all day replying. The only artistic liberty I took with the story is setting the initial conversation. There were 2 founders at the table in the restaurant with me, but only one was grilling me. Your comment seems reasonable, unlike most of the drivel I've seen here. I list myself as a writer and a performer because that's what I WANT, so that's what I am. That's sort of the point of the story. Keep your real aspirations in mind even when doing other things. If you're super-curious, send me an email (it's at the end of the story on Salon), and I'll indulge you with a resume. Also, check out Ari Feldman's posts on the WWWAC list. He was a co-worker of mine and was more offended than I when people questioned the veracity of the story.
You wrote -- in a positive context -- "The quality of his writing speaks for itself." Thanks.;-) Since I want to write, that is high praise whether or not you question the authenticity of my work. I'm interested in hearing about the "lacunae" (good use of Latin) in my piece. I suppose the old cliche, "Strange, but true," is appropriate here.
-David
PS If you include 1 year at college, I've been coding for 6 years. So, when I write, "I prefer passing by pointer," I know that means that I am using a memory address and not a copy of the data. Granted, you need to dereference said pointer, but it makes for faster code and I'm just used to it. Now, I'll probably be accused of stealing that from some obscure website. I can't reason with the unreasonable, so I'll cut my losses and leave Slashdot on its own.
Incidentally, I wonder how many so-called "technical people" are in on the joke/. Probably a bunch or windows users who are confused: "Why is there no backslash?"
I never wrote that. I didn't even intimate that working hard without cementing your business plan (i.e. how are we going to make money?) is a stupid endeavor. In fact, I never said that working hard is a waste of time - that's just stupid. MOST businesses fail. The story is about making sure you're aware of what you're doing and what you want to/should be doing. Time for a re-read and perhaps an introductory course on The Interpretive Arts: Understanding What You Read.
Hi All,
I've been enjoying some of the posts - even the flames. However, I'd like to clarify some things that didn't fit into the published story.
Yes, the thought of making an obscene amount of money was most definitely appealing to me. I had my first dotcom start-up in 1994. I assume you are all familiar with HotJobs? Same premise - just a few years earlier. At the time, however, nobody was sure whether the Internet was a viable medium for making money. Additionally, I was a full-time college student.
The opportunity to be one of the first people -- and a high level person at that -- at a company with established industry veterans was extremely compelling. The job sounded perfect on paper, based on what I thought I wanted to do. I was going to have significant input into technical and strategic decisions for the company. Basically, my upside was limited because I wasn't a founder, but I thought the idea was great and knew that 3 MS Vets had deep pockets and good connections.
I wanted to kick ass during my first few weeks on the job. I guess I was convincing because the work started to pile up. The expression, "You can't see the forest for the trees," comes to mind. I was so immersed in what I was doing -- the immediacy, the urgency -- that I could no longer see the bigger picture. My girlfriend, friends, and parents were all right, but I figured (at the time) that they were so far removed, that they weren't in a position to accurately gauge what was happening.
I think that many of you are victims of the same crap and haven't yet let go of the bitterness and anger. It's easy to pin my decision-making process on greed or stupidity. It's also easy to think that the story is for pity. In retrospect, I absolutely made stupid decisions. That's not up for debate; I'm culpable. But the focus of the story isn't a plea for sympathy or well-wishing. Frankly, it's about losing the ability to be objectively introspective inasmuch as one can be objective about one's self..
Another thing that I'd like to point out is that I did call my CEO "a fucking asshole," and wasn't the meek techie in the corner. I stood up for myself verbally, but always delivered my work. I was made promises with regards to salary increases, bonuses, health insurance, etc. I accepted these promises at face value. Stupid? Probably, though I do think my situation was a bit extreme.
I have other things to do, but I hope that if you re-read the article with all of these points in mind, you'll take away something very different than you might have initially. I don't want your pity - the upshot of this experience is that I am increasingly convinced that I am now doing the right thing.
Illegitimi Non Carborundum.
-David Wadler
PS I think it's pretty disgusting that some of you revel in the misfortune of others. Walk a mile in their shoes and then decide if it's funny.
Re:New economy (clarification from the author)
on
Coder on the Cross
·
· Score: 2
OK, I can't read all of the posts, so I'll respond broadly. First off, thanks for thinking that I'm a writer who "faked" the software stuff. Since writing is my real passion, the fact that I have an ability to convey ideas with the written word should be extremely helpful.
I don't mention the company because I don't want to risk a libel suit. As for my technical abilities, I'm happy to get into a pissing contest with any one of you. Until you've passed a function as a void* and casted it, don't even think about it.:-) I designed the entire middle tier of the architecture. I also wrote many thousands of lines of C++. In a prior job, I wrote SNMP agents in C that do enterprise network monitoring. I also co-wrote some of the software (C++ again, but this time for Windows) that you can download at http://www.allenresources.com. For those of you who didn't seem to catch on, the reason I am "a writer, performer, and techie" is because I DON'T WANT to sit in the corner writing endless lines of code. I don't want to re-configure sendmail. I don't want to work with Samba, DNS, BIND, or any of that crap. I'll continue to code for fun (currently, I'm working on a nifty MP3 tagging tool, but there is no scheduled release date as I'm doing a lot of writing).
Yes, I made a bad decision. Ultimately though, I came out of the job with a clearer picture of what I want to do. If my foresight were 20/20, I could have avoided this and concentrated on my REAL goals from the get-go. If any of you is blessed with prescience, please help us all.
-David Wadler
Slashdot Mirror
Ugh. I'm at work and can't spend all day replying. The only artistic liberty I took with the story is setting the initial conversation. There were 2 founders at the table in the restaurant with me, but only one was grilling me. Your comment seems reasonable, unlike most of the drivel I've seen here. I list myself as a writer and a performer because that's what I WANT, so that's what I am. That's sort of the point of the story. Keep your real aspirations in mind even when doing other things. If you're super-curious, send me an email (it's at the end of the story on Salon), and I'll indulge you with a resume. Also, check out Ari Feldman's posts on the WWWAC list. He was a co-worker of mine and was more offended than I when people questioned the veracity of the story.
;-) Since I want to write, that is high praise whether or not you question the authenticity of my work. I'm interested in hearing about the "lacunae" (good use of Latin) in my piece. I suppose the old cliche, "Strange, but true," is appropriate here.
/. Probably a bunch or windows users who are confused: "Why is there no backslash?"
You wrote -- in a positive context -- "The quality of his writing speaks for itself." Thanks.
-David
PS If you include 1 year at college, I've been coding for 6 years. So, when I write, "I prefer passing by pointer," I know that means that I am using a memory address and not a copy of the data. Granted, you need to dereference said pointer, but it makes for faster code and I'm just used to it. Now, I'll probably be accused of stealing that from some obscure website. I can't reason with the unreasonable, so I'll cut my losses and leave Slashdot on its own.
Incidentally, I wonder how many so-called "technical people" are in on the joke
Hey Genius,
I never wrote that. I didn't even intimate that working hard without cementing your business plan (i.e. how are we going to make money?) is a stupid endeavor. In fact, I never said that working hard is a waste of time - that's just stupid. MOST businesses fail. The story is about making sure you're aware of what you're doing and what you want to/should be doing. Time for a re-read and perhaps an introductory course on The Interpretive Arts: Understanding What You Read.
Hi All,
I've been enjoying some of the posts - even the flames. However, I'd like to clarify some things that didn't fit into the published story.
Yes, the thought of making an obscene amount of money was most definitely appealing to me. I had my first dotcom start-up in 1994. I assume you are all familiar with HotJobs? Same premise - just a few years earlier. At the time, however, nobody was sure whether the Internet was a viable medium for making money. Additionally, I was a full-time college student.
The opportunity to be one of the first people -- and a high level person at that -- at a company with established industry veterans was extremely compelling. The job sounded perfect on paper, based on what I thought I wanted to do. I was going to have significant input into technical and strategic decisions for the company. Basically, my upside was limited because I wasn't a founder, but I thought the idea was great and knew that 3 MS Vets had deep pockets and good connections.
I wanted to kick ass during my first few weeks on the job. I guess I was convincing because the work started to pile up. The expression, "You can't see the forest for the trees," comes to mind. I was so immersed in what I was doing -- the immediacy, the urgency -- that I could no longer see the bigger picture. My girlfriend, friends, and parents were all right, but I figured (at the time) that they were so far removed, that they weren't in a position to accurately gauge what was happening.
I think that many of you are victims of the same crap and haven't yet let go of the bitterness and anger. It's easy to pin my decision-making process on greed or stupidity. It's also easy to think that the story is for pity. In retrospect, I absolutely made stupid decisions. That's not up for debate; I'm culpable. But the focus of the story isn't a plea for sympathy or well-wishing. Frankly, it's about losing the ability to be objectively introspective inasmuch as one can be objective about one's self..
Another thing that I'd like to point out is that I did call my CEO "a fucking asshole," and wasn't the meek techie in the corner. I stood up for myself verbally, but always delivered my work. I was made promises with regards to salary increases, bonuses, health insurance, etc. I accepted these promises at face value. Stupid? Probably, though I do think my situation was a bit extreme.
I have other things to do, but I hope that if you re-read the article with all of these points in mind, you'll take away something very different than you might have initially. I don't want your pity - the upshot of this experience is that I am increasingly convinced that I am now doing the right thing.
Illegitimi Non Carborundum.
-David Wadler
PS I think it's pretty disgusting that some of you revel in the misfortune of others. Walk a mile in their shoes and then decide if it's funny.
OK, I can't read all of the posts, so I'll respond broadly. First off, thanks for thinking that I'm a writer who "faked" the software stuff. Since writing is my real passion, the fact that I have an ability to convey ideas with the written word should be extremely helpful. I don't mention the company because I don't want to risk a libel suit. As for my technical abilities, I'm happy to get into a pissing contest with any one of you. Until you've passed a function as a void* and casted it, don't even think about it. :-) I designed the entire middle tier of the architecture. I also wrote many thousands of lines of C++. In a prior job, I wrote SNMP agents in C that do enterprise network monitoring. I also co-wrote some of the software (C++ again, but this time for Windows) that you can download at http://www.allenresources.com. For those of you who didn't seem to catch on, the reason I am "a writer, performer, and techie" is because I DON'T WANT to sit in the corner writing endless lines of code. I don't want to re-configure sendmail. I don't want to work with Samba, DNS, BIND, or any of that crap. I'll continue to code for fun (currently, I'm working on a nifty MP3 tagging tool, but there is no scheduled release date as I'm doing a lot of writing).
Yes, I made a bad decision. Ultimately though, I came out of the job with a clearer picture of what I want to do. If my foresight were 20/20, I could have avoided this and concentrated on my REAL goals from the get-go. If any of you is blessed with prescience, please help us all.
-David Wadler