
Our Newest Developer Is Ten Years Old - squirrel
http://tech.osper.io/post/95466827667/our-newest-developer-is-ten-years-old
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wwwwwwwwww
I'm stuck here trying to figure out if this is a satire article promoting that
silicon valley show.

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twic
I used to work for the Squirrel who Max mentions. This seems like a 100%
plausible Squirrel move.

Whether Squirrel is a satire on Silicon Valley is, i believe, an open
question.

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squirrel
Nice to hear from you @twic. I can assure you I am not a satire (at least
consciously) [smile].

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twic
Well of course you would say that, wouldn't you?

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beachstartup
our newest developer is 45 years old.

i'm not sure which one is more rare these days.

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squirrel
I imagine both are. At TIM Group I regularly hired grey beards and they made a
huge contribution - but it was definitely bucking a trend.

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smacktoward
Child Labor: It's Not Just For the Garment Industry Anymore!™

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eglover
It's a shame children can't work more often. I think people are smart enough
to tell the difference between abuse and an awesome opportunity for
experience.

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hawkice
So, this is a bit off topic on a super click-bait-y story, but I think the
notion of child labor laws is that we specifically include child labor as
statutory abuse, in the same way the basic speed limit law ("don't drive too
fast to be safe") is augmented by the more specific and easily enforceable
speed limit signs. It'd be great if we had the throughput to actually make
wise decisions about such a broad range of potential disputes -- that way, we
wouldn't discourage non-traditional calls that might suck up a lot of time --
but I think this is a fair compromise.

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KC8ZKF
And just like nobody actually thinks they are driving to fast to be safe,
nobody would think that the jobs they provide would be abusive. Even long
hours in a sweatshop would be randized as providing opportunities in a free
market.

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eglover
No. You're turning a fallacy into a bumper sticker. First of all, speed limits
are way below the capabilities of how safely cars can move today. Hence, the
original federal law that said limits should represent the top 80th percentile
of drivers. (That's obviously not used anymore.) Slow can mean dangerous,
don't depend on obvious quips for all your thinking.

Second, "sweatshops" in the derogatory sense only exist in socialist countries
where families are starving to death trying to support the government. If kids
didn't work, they wouldn't have food. You know very well they and their
parents would prefer that school be an option.

Third, the work that these companies provide are NOT inherently wrong. Making
clothes? Sounds like a good skill to me. Don't base your "opinions" on some
dark imagery you've developed in your head.

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couchand
_speed limits are way below the capabilities of how safely cars can move
today_

Speed limits are for people, not cars.

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eglover
I can't tell if you're joking or not. Please say yes.

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tombot
It's a bit of a clickbait headline, bit of backstory. Osper is a product which
allows kids to use a debt card, funds are controlled via parents and kids can
see the balance via a smartphone.

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squirrel
Fair cop on the headline, I was mostly just excited to share the story of Max
who I think is incredible. He really did contribute to our code and is better
than at least half the developers I interview, so we plan to have him back
regularly to continue coding with us.

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bleakcabal
Shouldn't he rather be playing with his friends doing normal stuff 10 years
old do.

He's gonna be able to do this kind of work for decades starting in his
twenties. What he won't be able to do his reclaim his lost childhood years.

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ephemeralgomi
Shouldn't he do whatever he likes?

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bleakcabal
You don't have kids do you?

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EGreg
Yay!

Actually this is only legal if the child is voluntarily contributing. Which
means, of course, than instead of child labor you should let the kids
contribute to open source projects and run their own business.

If the kid is running their own business then I don't think it's considered
child labor. Although IANAL. So, you see, lemonade stands may still be legal
in this country :-P

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ceejayoz
A number of kids' lemonade stands have wound up closed by police/health
inspectors in the US for lack of permitting. Heh.

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ceejayoz
So, uh, child labor laws?

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atom-morgan
As a child, I used to voluntarily go around my neighborhood asking people if I
could mow their lawn during the summer. In the fall, I'd offer to rake their
leaves. Should I have been stopped?

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ceejayoz
"Should" is a value judgement. Legally, if it's not an agricultural job, age
14 is the lower bound.

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atom-morgan
Which makes child labor issues almost entirely subjective and driven by
emotion.

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ceejayoz
Kids losing limbs/lives in sweatshops certainly gives rise to emotions, yes.

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atom-morgan
I thought we were talking about a 10 year old developer?

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ceejayoz
We are, as well as the fairly strict rules in place on employing said 10 year
old because of extensive historical abuses of child labor.

I'm sure there are plenty of situations where children can conceivably work in
a positive, safe manner. This looks to be one of them. It is generally
illegal, though, because leaving it as a judgement call between employer and
child opens a _lot_ of holes in the system.

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kelukelugames
We hired a 17 year old intern and she was smarter than me. I felt bad. :(

