Adys's recent activity
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Comment on With Vids, Google thinks it has the next big productivity tool for work in ~tech
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Comment on Jet Lag | Season 9 trailer : Hide and Seek across Switzerland in ~hobbies
Adys Link ParentI agree but I also think overall the seekers got overconfident over time, because they got that experience hiding.I agree but I also think overall the seekers got overconfident over time, because they got that experience hiding.
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Comment on Taskmaster Series 17, Episode 1 - 'Grappling with my life' | Full episode in ~tv
Adys Link ParentI’m in favour of posting first episode as well. Not that I personally needed you to — it popped on my feed just fine anyway, ha! Brilliant episode, excited for this new season.I’m in favour of posting first episode as well.
Not that I personally needed you to — it popped on my feed just fine anyway, ha! Brilliant episode, excited for this new season.
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The insane engineering of the Nintendo GameBoy
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Comment on Bank of Canada says the country faces a productivity 'emergency' in ~finance
Adys Link ParentOn the micro scale you’re right. On the macro scale (which is the only one a national bank cares about) it’s a true statement, because there is a gap that is created when companies get more...On the micro scale you’re right. On the macro scale (which is the only one a national bank cares about) it’s a true statement, because there is a gap that is created when companies get more revenue for something that demands less resources: it becomes more attractive to do this, thus more companies do it, thus there is more price competition. It naturally happens. It’s what happened to the IT sector by the way and why tech salaries are ridiculously high: because of the productivity gains of that particular sector over others and the massive demand created from that.
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Comment on Any friendly entrepreneurship communities that aren't rotten with the whole "grindset," hustle culture stuff? in ~life
Adys Link Parentshrug. There's no good reason. Bankruptcies do cost the state money but so does killing innovation so... ymmv.shrug. There's no good reason. Bankruptcies do cost the state money but so does killing innovation so... ymmv.
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Comment on Any friendly entrepreneurship communities that aren't rotten with the whole "grindset," hustle culture stuff? in ~life
Adys (edited )Link ParentI don't think so. I guess the SEO is a bit flooded by it but that's just what @RadDevon mentioned about people selling courses. "Entrepreneurship" in some circles is a dogwhistle for rich kids to...- Exemplary
the Venn diagram of "entrepreneurship" and "hustle culture" is a circle.
I don't think so. I guess the SEO is a bit flooded by it but that's just what @RadDevon mentioned about people selling courses. "Entrepreneurship" in some circles is a dogwhistle for rich kids to say "I'm a job creator, tax me less". If they had better SEO, this is what you'd see.
On hustle culture... yeah, as a whole, it grosses me out but I've come to understand it's the other extreme of what I've been calling "business apathy", which is very present here in Belgium.
The country, much as I love it, is filled with absolutely brilliant people, but the amount of "business apathy" makes it so that most of their innovation opportunities are sapped. It's filled with people who get used to working slowly, and who tend to bring others down with them.
Hustle culture on the other hand is a push to get you to do more; lift you up instead of bring you down. The execution can be gross, but in principle, it's about keeping you fighting even if you're beat down, not giving up, pushing you to work harder, etc.
Obviously the healthy mindset is somewhere in the middle, but "entrepreneurship" is a lot about responsibility. When the economy is shit and your work lays you off, you can blame unknown forces. When the economy is shit and your business does badly, you have to take responsibility, and those who give up do not succeed. "Not giving up" of course doesn't just mean "try harder", but can also mean "try smarter", "introspect", "understand the problem, fix it, and try again", etc.
By the way... for context, I'm creating a startup community in Belgium. I live this apathy people have. Sometimes I've given up on people I wanted to help because they just... brought me down with them. And it's everywhere. It's even government mandated: You want to start a business? The government immediately wants to know it's a safe one, and asks you to show a 3-year business plan... that they then don't read, because it's all pretend CYA anyway, nobody actually gives a shit and helps you if you fail; everyone just politely asks you not to take risks and looks at you funny if you do. There's no desire to make things better, in fact there's no vision that things CAN be better. People complain things aren't as good as they should be, but shrug their shoulders at the very thought of helping fix the system beyond "I guess I'll vote for someone else in five years".
I'm running my program with a lot of Ukrainians (with the goal of bringing ukrainian entrepreneurs to Belgium). They have a completely different mindset, much closer to hustle culture. It doesn't mean they sell each other bullshit books on how to be a 150% productive person and lifehack your way to success... but it means they get shit done. They have the default A->B->C mindset of "If I don't know how to do this, I'll research. If I can't do it alone, I'll ask for help. If I don't do a good job, I don't get paid."
I haven't fully cracked the code on what exactly makes Ukrainians so much more efficient/productive and so much better at getting shit done. I'm certainly working on it.
Okay, sorry, that went on. All this to say that hustle culture and entrepreneurship aren't a package deal, but it depends what you want to actually do. If you're looking to make your own startup, look for startup-minded communities. Anything under the flag of "entrepreneurship" will be closer to running your own lifestyle business. And @MimicSquid is quite right in recommending forums for your specific sector if you just want to turn a safe 9-5 job into running your own firm doing that.
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Comment on Amtrak adds more service throughout the US Northeast Corridor to meet growing demand in ~transport
Adys Link ParentCar and train are very different beasts. We’ve had two-way seats in trains forever in Europe. I’d never in my life do backwards facing ridership in a car. Trains are a non issue, as are they for...Car and train are very different beasts.
We’ve had two-way seats in trains forever in Europe. I’d never in my life do backwards facing ridership in a car. Trains are a non issue, as are they for most people, even close to windows.
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Comment on A mistake in a Tesla and a panicked final call: The death of Angela Chao in ~transport
Adys Link ParentBillionaires don’t need to make a fuss in the press when they want to change things.Billionaires don’t need to make a fuss in the press when they want to change things.
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Comment on Does anyone know a search engine for news articles only? in ~tech
Adys Link ParentI’m wondering if anyone tried to just do a search engine for news, instead of generic ones that have news tabs.I’m wondering if anyone tried to just do a search engine for news, instead of generic ones that have news tabs.
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Does anyone know a search engine for news articles only?
I’m looking for a search engine just for news; kind of a Google News competitor but something independent. Any ideas? I know of Ground News, it’s already pretty good though it’s less search engine...
I’m looking for a search engine just for news; kind of a Google News competitor but something independent. Any ideas?
I know of Ground News, it’s already pretty good though it’s less search engine and more aggregator. Open to hear more.
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Comment on I got paid $0.33 for confirming with Google that I got a haircut where I did and paid with a card in ~tech
Adys Link ParentYour comment is absolute fan fiction … Google isn’t buying information. 33c is an obscenely high price for this. Another poster got it right; they’re buying QA. And op installed Google rewards to...Your comment is absolute fan fiction …
Google isn’t buying information. 33c is an obscenely high price for this. Another poster got it right; they’re buying QA.
And op installed Google rewards to be asked this question, for financial compensation. This is akin to telling an eBay seller “Just remember you sold that thing to the buyer! They will not forget it!”
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The country that’s sinking itself
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Comment on Is anyone here a consultant? I have questions... in ~life
Adys Link ParentI don’t have much to add but: Most lawyers will not help with taxation questions. You need an accountant, one that knows your financial situation. Whether you get that equity through an email or a...I don’t have much to add but: Most lawyers will not help with taxation questions. You need an accountant, one that knows your financial situation. Whether you get that equity through an email or a very official looking contract won’t change anything about those implications, it’s the way the equity is delivered that will. And that … is a talk you should have with an accountant (though even a preliminary talk with ChatGPT will offer guidance).
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Comment on Is anyone here a consultant? I have questions... in ~life
Adys Link ParentHard disagree to all of this, especially when you're just starting out (and definitely in OP's case). For longer-term missions, sure, you want a robust contract because there's more chances of...You may be given a consulting agreement by your client. You definitely want a lawyer to review it. Do not assume you understand the agreement just because it all makes sense to you. Many words in a contract have a specific legal meaning that may not be what you think it is.
Hard disagree to all of this, especially when you're just starting out (and definitely in OP's case).
For longer-term missions, sure, you want a robust contract because there's more chances of something going wrong, so you want to clearly outline procedures. But the outlining is more important than the "fairness" of the contract in this case. Like "What happens if you pay late" -> "You get a $X surcharge per day" vs "Hey, you paid late so I'm just gonna randomly add numbers to the invoice and threaten you".
When you do the same thing a lot, also yes sure, have a lawyer draft you a standard contract to send out yourself. This is primarily so that YOU have consistency across your clients: Same payment terms, recovery procedures, arbitration rules, etc.
Here are a few facts of consulting:
- Having parties acting in good faith is more important than having a good contract. If the counterparty is acting in bad faith, the contract gives you ammunition, but you're still very fucked. Pick your clients more carefully than you review the terms.
- Reviewing contracts professionally is expensive for both parties and will severely cut into the margin of the job. You may end up doing the job at a loss because you spent the entire profit from it on the lawyer.
- You can spend your whole life redlining, you won't actually know what WILL go wrong. So you spent $3k redoing the whole contract only to get screwed by some other thing you completely overlooked and that wasn't even in the contract in the first place. The lesson to draw from that? "Well, I wasted time, money, and got fucked anyway. I should have spent that doing due-diligence on my client instead."
(seriously, before spending even $100 on a lawyer, spend half of that digging dirt on your prospect, especially from other contractors similar to you that have dealt with the client before)
Also, In most countries, this whole "this doesn't mean what you think it means" is kinda nonsense. Plain english is fine. Here's my favourite little factoid about this in fact:
The whole thing about "signing a contract" is bullshit in the first place. I'm sure you already knew you don't need to do the whole print-sign-scan song-and-dance and a digital signature is sufficient (people use docusign after all, right?). But really, even the signature is useless: It's all about intent, and being able to reliably say that the parties have read, understood and accepted a clear set of terms. In other words, an email is a contract: I have given out equity with zero PDFs/signatures, simply by stating the terms in clear plain english in an email and "If you accept these terms, please respond to this email with the words "I accept these terms". Yes it works. Don't need a lawyer. Intent matters. Saved thousands. -
Comment on Is anyone here a consultant? I have questions... in ~life
Adys Link ParentI don't have a good answer to this. I succeeded at it because of sheer luck, I think. I stayed extremely curious, and I get burned out if I do the same thing too many times, which has forced me to...how do you ensure you get to solve unique issues and that it stays that way?
I don't have a good answer to this. I succeeded at it because of sheer luck, I think. I stayed extremely curious, and I get burned out if I do the same thing too many times, which has forced me to simply quit jobs and clients I no longer enjoyed.
What formal education, if any, and what informal education did you acquire yourself to be equipped for these kinds of presumably challenging tasks?
Formal: None, I quit school at 14.
Informal: I started self-teaching programming and reverse engineering, then entrepreneurship -> starting my own startup with cofounders was a good way to speed-run the "wearing MANY hats" thing. I got burned out coding so after having done it for 17 years, I stopped being able to really code (I get seriously stressed and headachy if I start). I moved to management and got into it; the past few years I've been powering through a lot of new knowledge: VC world, politics, grant funding, financial planning, how money flows in the EU, etc etc... it's fascinating, to be honest, and I love that I'm still acquiring so many new skills after two decades in my career.
feel like I would severely lack practical experience and knowledge, were I to want to start consulting in “my” area right now.
Yeah I mean plenty of people call themselves consultants with a day of experience on their resume. I think it's the other reason why consultants are despised, there's a lot of people out there selling lukewarm air. I would say, a good consultant has skills which are very difficult to acquire in any way, be it either expensive, taking a long time, or requiring a particular network. I also personally expect the consultants I work with to be top-tier, and if you're not there yet, I would expect them to call themselves "freelancer". But yeah, it's just a title, and people interpret it however they want so at this point it's all very meaningless.
being able to experience work that’s not the same over and over in one’s job until retirement sure sounds appealing
If you can't do it passively, do it actively. Apply the google 20% rule to your own life: Budget a chunk of your work time to learning new work skills and applying them professionally. But like, radically different things, not just "Oh I know React so I'll learn Vue", more like "Oh I know React so I'll learn to read sheet music and make a sheet music react app".
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Comment on Is anyone here a consultant? I have questions... in ~life
Adys Link ParentAh, and since you asked about rates. I have in the past been able to sell my most niche / rarest skills at what I consider absolutely crazy rates (~$500 / hr). Despite having acquired much rarer...Ah, and since you asked about rates.
I have in the past been able to sell my most niche / rarest skills at what I consider absolutely crazy rates (~$500 / hr). Despite having acquired much rarer and nicher skills since, my prices have gone way down due to the current market, which has made consultants the first to go in cost-cutting measures.
What you might know as the "Big Four" are four consulting firms (Deloitte, KPMG, PwC and EY) which are able to charge these ridiculous rates (often with extra zeroes) for a large variety of mixed consulting services. If you work for them, however, you won't see much of the actual hourly; most of it goes into various management fees. This is a common reason why consultants are disliked: They are seen as highly inefficient machines whose output is platitudes, bullshit and reports nobody reads.
I personally like consulting quite a lot because I love solving unique issues for a large variety of people, more than I like solving the same problem over-and-over for the same employer. But that's since pushed me less into "consulting" and more into creating my own ventures.
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Comment on Is anyone here a consultant? I have questions... in ~life
Adys LinkThere are two types of consultants: Consultancy firms, and independent consultants. You're in the latter case in this situation, we'll skip the former. A consultant is, in short, somebody who is...There are two types of consultants: Consultancy firms, and independent consultants. You're in the latter case in this situation, we'll skip the former.
A consultant is, in short, somebody who is paid to advise on a matter of expertise. A lawyer will often be nothing more than a "Legal consultant", and an accountant is more often than not a "financial consultant". You pay for their time in giving their advice. That advice may be delivered over a simple phone call/zoom meeting, in-person directly, over an email, or in a 517 page report.
Without more details as to what your matter of expertise actually is, it's difficult to say what your rate should be or what you even will be doing. But the point is, the company has identified you as a subject-matter expert, and wants you to advise them.
Your price should probably simply start at what you are comfortable charging, for your own time, on an hourly basis. If the subject matter is highly niche, or locked behind expensive certifications, you can charge a high premium on that. There's plenty of ways to optimize this, but with zero prior experience as a consultant, it's going to be a waste of your time.
I would respond something like:
"Thank you for your offer. I am happy to make myself available on an advisory capacity on A, B and C. My hourly rate is $X."
Where $X is probably something between $65 - $150. If in doubt, make it 100; it's a very good hourly rate, and it's probably not crazy for something a company would explicitly ask for advice for.. and they might just ask for 1 hour of your time anyway. I'm making loads of assumptions here of course.
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Comment on Alexei Navalny, galvanizing opposition leader and Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died in prison, Russia says in ~news
Adys LinkA less reported part of this. Today was the Munich security conference where years ago Putin declared the west as his public enemy. Yulia Navalnaya was a speaker there. It’s not a coincidence he...A less reported part of this. Today was the Munich security conference where years ago Putin declared the west as his public enemy. Yulia Navalnaya was a speaker there. It’s not a coincidence he died today.
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Comment on NGOs allowed to seize €2.9 million from Belgian government for failure to shelter asylum seekers in ~news
Adys LinkContext for those unfamiliar:Context for those unfamiliar:
Fedasil (Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers) is a Belgian institution that is responsible for the reception of asylum seekers. It operates under the supervision of the State Secretary for Asylum Policy.
You're really misunderstanding what this product is, who it's for, and I'm not sure you have a real understanding of what "neurotypical" actually means.
First, this is just Google's latest attempt at doing shit a startup (Loom) is doing in the office productivity suite. It's likely to not go anywhere. I'm surprised they're even willing to integrate it into Workspace. But nobody uses Google's "startup-killing" features of Workspace (eg. their chat thing, I don't even know its name because it's changed like 7 times, and I'm a highly active Workspace user).
You'll note that it's complete and utter bullshit to say "Google’s latest Workspace app reflects the way people talk at work now" when this tool doesn't even exist today, with only a passing mention of the competition. So keep your worries at bay for a while at least, this isn't actually a thing, the author of the article is just paid to pretend it is.
Second: This trend that you're here participating in, of pointing the finger at "NT people" and blaming random shit on "them" is adversarial and just a different flavour of blaming random shit on immigrants/boomers/white men/millenials/[insert country here]. You're perpetuating the idea that a group of people is at fault for something most of that group has zero idea exists and doesn't actually care about. Really; if anyone's not neurotypical it's, like, a lot of Google's dev & design crew. Less nowadays but still a lot, because inertia.
I don't find "neurotypical" a particularly useful label. I have pretty severe ADHD but I make it work for me, and people can't tell until they get to really see how I operate for a while. And I occasionally find Looms useful, occasionally not. I guess I'm socially aware enough to know when you can convey information over text, and when a voice or a face can be reassuring. Is it really that crazy to you that different media are more adapted to different situations?
Put it this way: You can put the exact same information in a text message and an email. And yet, it's very inappropriate to fire someone over text, and really weird to ask someone on a date by email. So do you not think that, when the actual contents and format change, it'll have different use cases?