
Greybeard Stories: The Black Team - RiderOfGiraffes
http://www.penzba.co.uk/GreybeardStories/TheBlackTeam.html
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RiderOfGiraffes
This item : <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=985965> : brought home
forcefully not only that not every hacker is as old as I am, but actually that
very few hackers are as old as I am. The result is that there are stories I
take for granted, but which the hackers of today don't know.

So I've started to write them up.

I'm commenting here because this introduction doesn't belong in the generic
item - it's really specific to Hack News.

I hope you like the account - there will be more as fast as I can get the time
to write them.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
This is also actually a great book idea -- collecting war stories from older
hackers that the younger ones might never hear otherwise.

~~~
RiderOfGiraffes
Clearly not such a good idea. I thought HN was the perfect audience. Apart
from your comment and one up-mod each, both stories have sunk wthout trace.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
Yeah I did an eight-part "tips on effective one-person startup teams" today
that I thought was awesome. Lots of practical tips and stuff people probably
haven't read elsewhere, startup-centered, easy-to-read.

It sunk quickly with only 3 votes.

So perhaps I'm not the best one to judge, eh? (grin)

I'd buy the book. And a couple other folks, including you. So that's 3.
Another ten thousand or so and you've got a best-seller.

~~~
gommm
I think it's mostly a question of luck and time of the day when it comes to
traction on HN. There are so many stories and the page is only this big....

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lisper
I have a very hard time believing this. I can certainly believe the bit about
finding the failure mode, but not the bit about deliberately sabotaging a
public demo. That would be beyond stupid.

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hippee-lee
I liked your story, though i am not really a hacker.

Regarding your story, it illustrates an issue I have been thinking about
lately. Some background on myself so you know where i am coming from. I
started in biotechnology running mass specs in a small molecule analytical
lab. Later, when i moved to an area with very little small molcule r&d I took
a job doing web development.

Here is my observation. In highly technical fields there are a lot of people
like those on the 'Black' team who would rather make someone look bad by
knocking over a box because they can than patting them on the back and telling
them, hey nice code - we can't find anything wrong with it. I saw similar
behavior in Amgens R&D department time and time again where the people tearing
each other down were very smart and passionate about thier jobs but unwilling
or unable to be civil to the competition.

