jmilinion

There's Airbnb and Uber. Add spotty cellphone service, higher cost of living, higher cost of supplies, crumbling infrastructure, substandard internet as well as JFK/LAX/ORD airport.

From the hype I've been hearing about, big American cities should be the innovative beacons of the world but they aren't. The most relevant example of this? Silicon Valley (Hint: Apple is named Apple for a reason).

Why are big American cities so conservative in thinking and seem to detest change so much? When it starts taking years to build a simple cellphone tower compared to a few months elsewhere, you know something is going on.

Compare these cities to Seoul, Taipei, etc.

Bill Gates is now doing his best to eradicate diseases around the world. Before Steve Jobs died, he revolutionized mobile technology for the common people.

Now the technical co-founders. Paul Allen. Last time I heard, he's collecting rich kid toys. Steve Wozniak? I'm not sure what he's doing. Neither, I believe, seem to be working on anything technical anymore.

I'll define traditional hiring as getting a job via the "Career" or "Jobs" section of a company's website or going through a staffing firm (except for small startups which is a completely different category).

Personally, as one data point, I've never found a good job by this system. To be fair, I've been offered jobs but the jobs offered have been less than stellar. Often times, I'm told I'm highly unqualified by the staffing firm except for the most basic of jobs.

I'm curious, has anyone here found a good job via the traditional hiring system? If not, does anyone have a clue why so much resources is spent on this system? What does this system actually accomplish?

Asking jobs from acquaintances I've met throughout my life feels like supporting the "Good ol' Boys" and could be unfair to others who might be better than me but so far it's the one that worked best for me :(

If so, how did you do it? Was the old team still there or did it need new people?

There's the Google Bus, the Apple Bus, the Facebook Bus, etc. How about startups?

For the old timers here, what was is it like in the suit and tie culture of the past? Do you know or have you been fired for choosing not to wear one?

Any stories of employees firing their best employees or passing over a really great candidate because they refused to follow dress code?

Quite frankly, I'd say more than 70% of the stuff customers want end in a product up being worthless and useless to their core business yet they DEMAND IT to the point it's eating up their business.

So, what's someone to do when they know more about their customer's business then their customers do?

Example: Selling your awesome open-ended music and video distribution platform to records and movie companies vs the stuff the they have been buying?

I'm used to knocking at a lot of doors and hearing the word "no" or "your idea needs major work". I'm a nobody - that's expected. I use the information they give me to self-improve and figure out what's wrong with the world.

For those successful people out here, what's it like hearing the word "yes" or "your idea is brilliant" all time? Even when you tell them your worst idea, they tell you how great your idea is. What's it like when everyone opens their door for you? How do you self-improve and figure out what's wrong with the world when everyone is saying yes?

Let's try this example.

Think about navigation websites before Google Maps. Think about it after Google Maps.

Look at Node.js. Build a time machine, go back to the past before Google Maps. Tell people about Node.JS. Now go think what their response would have been.

Javascript has pretty much existed for a while. People knew about the language. They had a chance to test it. The major specification of Javascript was there for all to see.

So why did people change their opinion on Javascript? How did people who previously hated Javascript and all it stood for all of a sudden change their minds to the language when everything about the language was there for all to see?

No, not the companies in Silicon Valley but the region itself. I'm reading articles about how CalTrain almost ran out of money, how VTA is underfunded, and articles upon articles about how the region can't build any new public projects anymore.

What's going on over there?

From what I've read, the standard way for a startup to cash out is to sell it to a bigger company.

Here's the problem, I've watched many my favorite startups slowly die after they were sold. Except for a few rare ones, the service they provided was never the same again - if it still exists.

You want to cash out because you would like to do other things but you still care a lot about the quality of your previous product.

What other options are there?

I'm in hardware. I like hardware. I like Apple. I'm in awe in what they do. I like Steve Jobs philosophy on hardware and design. I look at the designs. I like what I see. I want to create something like that.

The problem? I'm in hardware.

It might be my bad luck but let's just say that the highest priority in many hardware companies is NOT BEING APPLE. Whatever philosophy Apple shows, they want to do the opposite - in the worst way possible.

I see a lot of software companies out there similar to Apple and are creating wonderful things. Where is this happening in the hardware world? What options are there?

I don't know if it's me getting wiser or if the Internet is just becoming worse. A decade ago, I could find good, somewhat reliable advice from the Internet. It wasn't always true but it was easy to separate good from junk. A quick search would find the hardcore enthusiasts of whatever I was looking for. Sometimes I couldn't find anything and that was fine.

Today is a different story. What took me 15 minutes to find several years ago now takes me hours upon hours. While I can find anything, what I end up finding is mostly Junk beyond Junk! I literally have to filter bad advice upon bad advice upon just plain dangerous advice. Finding the hardcore enthusiast who spend hours testing each stuff is a nightmare now replaced by people who say "from my experience, this is the absolute best" when you later find out their experience is nothing more than Uncle John's 4th friend told them it was great.

I would rather have no results then awful results which pretend it's the best results.

What's happening here?