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> Were you in a coma until a couple of hours ago and just read this thread without any prior context?

lol whats with you and personal insults. maybe step away from the screen, take a breather, drink some tea or something.


I agree there's no need for personal insults here, it's not nice to see especially on HN where one comes to expect better, but I think you can understand the place of exasperation it was coming from. The American government has become vociferously hostile in a very pronounced way recently and for the people on the receiving end of the hostility it feels like an attack in itself to hear "what's the problem, why are you worried?"

I was actually concerned with your health man. Being in a coma can't be easy.

too mental to see who you are responding to ? maybe worry about your own health first.

> shield you from politics beyond your level.

ppl here always say "politics" is just learning to work with other people. So your manager is shieding you from working with other ppl ?


There are orgs where you ask another team for help unconditionally with your problem affecting the company and there are orgs where no one will help you, huge problems be damned and you can't even get your coworkers to cooperate without going to your (and their) boss.

That's not "working with other people" - that's office politics.


Good call. I am not referring to that though :) I mean scenarios like:

- Other director comes and says: why should we work with your team instead of rolling out the same product ourselves (and getting your team laid off)?

- Our director comes and says: your team is too slow, why? You should do X instead of Y. Z Is super urgent: cancel your plans and do it.

- Other manager: my team is better than your team! My people deserve a raise/promo/whatever more than yours.


At the same time, they also tend to start interfering in the solutions proposed by their team. It hard to stave off that temptation.

First: it's not "interference" if they are also part of the team.

Second: If their ass is on the line, then they DO get a bigger say. They are paid for seeing potential problems, guiding the team, among other things.


Man, I wish the manager's ass was ever on the line. The amount of times I've seen a manager's whole team get laid off and the manager get moved to a different team to fuck everything up again is too many times.

I think I've seen a manager get laid off never. And often seen half their team laid off because they were terrible at their job, but the management class takes care of their own.


Yeah if I implemented my manager's ideas, I'd be the one fixing them too. No thanks - if I have to deal with the problems, I'll decide the solutions too.

How is manager's ass more on the line compared to an IC ?

Managers always have a higher job security compared to an IC from my experience.

Poor managers always use this dumb excuse of 'ass on line' to override good decisions by ICs with their own shitty decisions.


In practice, many act as an intermediary who can take the credit for the wins while passing down blame for the misses.

It's not a good leadership trait but it's an effective career advancing move.

The entire list on the post reeks of aspirational intermediary that doesn't actually do any of those things as effectively as empowered project/team leads who do contribute to the product. It's fluff and very easy fluff to remove without feeling pain. Of course, mediocre teams will have mediocre developers who won't want responsabilty and will benefit from intermediary "bossy" managers.


just curious what's your ssn, dob and mother's maiden name.

nope. ppl only care about price. remember all the DEI stuff after flyod. its all died down.

when i was young i used to think that employers want smart, creative and innovative person because of capitalism.

I found out pretty quick that they want a yes man who always says yes to their superiors ideas and makes their superior look like a hero at every opportunity. There is literally no other secret to working in a corporate.


Start your own business. Then you will learn that your subordinates who are "smart, creative, and innovative" that aren't helping you get done what you need to have done are more hassle than they're worth. Alignment isn't just a concept that applies to AI.

Telling everyone to "start" their own business is hilariously out of touch. This is something the vast majority of people cannot do.

You're better off telling people to feel solidarity with their fellow workers, collectively organize, and collectively bargain through unions.

That is something more easily done.


That was more true before AI. In this day and age of AI, developing a business is easier than ever thanks to AI assistance at almost every step.

I have a family member that is 70 years old, social security is enough to barely pay for their mortgage. They have been trying to get any job for the last 5 years but haven't been able to, most likely due to age discrimination.

They're alive but I wouldn't call it a life worth living, more like subsisting. If they didn't know me they would likely be homeless but since I can help with a few bills they aren't losing their home and can get 3 meals a day.

How can this person start a company with AI? Honestly. Your suggestion is devoid from reality for tens of millions of people. It feels like a troll because it's devoid of any empathy.


You seem to have no concept of a retirement age. A person of 70 years old is not supposed to be working at all, although light part time work can be okay.

Starting a company using AI still requires significant innovative skills, and is not even for the random 20 or 30 or 40 year old. It requires offering a competitive service or product that no one else offers. AI is never a substitute for putting your brain and body to work in clever ways that others don't.

The only troll here is you for letting working age people rot in jobs that they will bring them to their knees in their retirement age.


This is what I mean, your experience is drastically not the norm for millions of people and I very much wish they didn't have to work but they need to if they don't want to subsist. The economy hasn't exactly been favorable toward the working class for the last 50 years.

20% of people in the "retirement age" still work dude.

If you also read my comments, this person isn't actually working and they have zero savings and while they get social security and medicare they still need to pay a mortgage, insurance, utility bills, and food. They want to work but can't.

According to you they should simply start a business with AI, what business who the fuck knows but apparently AI is enough to make him whole.

If the idea of his age bothers you, it wouldn't really be different if he was 55 or 45 or 35.

The issue I take with your comment is you don't really know what struggle is or how people live below the federal poverty line. Telling them to simply create jobs is akin to "let them eat cake."

A baffling statement made with no compassion.


Using AI to start a business is not for everyone. It is implied that one has to be talented, intellectually curious, and passionate, well above average. If you pick random people from the street, which is essentially what you are doing, of course it's not a game for them to play.

If the person has no savings, they should be pressing the local government, social services, and local politicians for more assistance. They might get lucky.

I have compassion which is exactly why I ask deserving people to take the route away from wage slavery toward doing something where they feel a greater sense of freedom and autonomy.


> Using AI to start a business is not for everyone.

is it for anyone? I don't know even one business that was started 'using AI'.

do you know any that actually make money?


A small business doesn't need subordinates anymore in this age of AI. It can still have contractors, with the contract deliverable clearly communicated.

i am not going to start a sweatshop lol to know that employees with enthusiasm are "more hassle than they're worth".

Well you’re sort of right, in that yeah, duh, you need your boss to like you to get promoted. If you are a very capable person, it won’t take long before you are looked up to for answers, which is where this attitude of “only doing what the boss wants to hear” falls apart, because, boss is depending on YOUR voice now. It’s not the end of the world if you plateau here, plenty of people do. Personally, while I too think corporate world is rife with idiocy, I’ve learned to largely detach from it. Constant negativity is mildly cathartic at best, and yet, it will burn you out very quickly.

You are not on to some “secret” here, all who participate in corporate work know it’s ridiculous. Seriously, open up a bit, and get to know some of these “terrible bosses” outside of work— they will shit talk with you like anyone else.

This falls apart around the VP layer, as from there up it’s actually insane people living in a different wealth reality than ours.


I read this book about a defector from the GRU

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquarium_(Suvorov)

I can't remember the exact quote but his suggestion was that everyone needed a "sponsor" or patron above them and that patrons chose people who would otherwise not be successful. This way the patron had a number of junior protogees who owed them everything. When your patron rose up you would rise up.

I noticed this in at least one company that got into trouble eventually.

In others the yes man culture is very potent. Where I am now nothing is that bad.



Yeah, no. That attitude is just giving up.

There are companies and bosses that know how to value employees contributions. I have heard it referred to as herding cats.

There are situations that are not good. Sometimes it is intentional when they have decided they want someone out. Sometimes the boss as you say only wants as yes man. Sometimes there are good intentions and without the needed skill.


There are realities to contend with, though. In corporate, unless someone directs a budget, the organization hasn't really issued any endorsement. Most companies are just churning rather than breaking new ground, so they value consistency.

giving up what?

I've made progress in my career being a suck up. I never contradict my superiors. Even the stuff i come up with i make it look like it was originally their "vision" that led to it. I always convince someone above to put their name as primary author on my proposals at work. This extremely simple "trick" has always led to me getting more money and promotions at work.

Its not a joke.


running on code claude built

i guess you converted all your investments to cash then?

Heh, I just checked and my portfolio peaked on Jan 23 and has been on a downward slope since then. Down about 6%. Wouldn’t have been a bad return if not for a bunch of tax implications.

I haven't had anything resembling cash or investments in years!

yea its great at toy projects

In my experience, a tool like Windsurf or Cursor (w/ Sonnet) is great at building a real project, as long the guardrails are clearly defined.

For example, starting a SaaS project from something like Refine.dev + Ant Design, instead of just a blank slate.

Of course, none of what I build is even close to novel code, which helps.


does it mean we get a reprieve from "this is just the beginning" comments.

Maybe if it takes many years before the next major architectural advancement.

I wouldn't count on it.

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