I think these are engineering-wise fantastic. Though, I do worry that they look a little too non-local. When you take care of someone, sure you start at the base of Maslow's law of hierarchy, but it is important to take cultural, personal, etc. issues into consideration as well. This hold especially true when dealing with prolonged displacement where identity and self-worth can be challenged.
I disagree. The condescension that western people show to the rest of the world is very grating, as a non-westerner.
People don't care about "culture" when it comes to basic needs and survival. A roof, any roof, over my head is worth infinitely more than no roof when it's raining outside or -10 degrees.
It can very easily turn into mockery when you don't understand a culture and then try to emulate it. Think parents trying to act hip, it just doesn't work. Why try to falsely disguise what it is and where it's from?
I'm bothered by the out-sized number of negative attacks on this comment. Not because they are negative, but because they are personal. I wholeheartedly believe in constructive criticism, but discounting someones viewpoint based on another subjective viewpoint is not constructive criticism.
I was considering the same. The best advise I got was: Never pay for a Masters. Get into a doctoral program, get the MS for free. If you stay for the PhD, awesome. If not, at least your not out the cost of a down-payment for a nice home.
dear god. run for the exits. the day is finally here.
i left the world of finance and headed toward software engineering. side benefit, no fantasy football. nobody pretending that they understood "the market". those who commented regarding "shorts" etc. why not options? or swaptions? or futures? or future options? you should totally start a risk-neutral team. wait, weren't we talking about software engineering.
here is the thing. by and large, you all have zero clue what you're talking about. tell me that's not true all day long, but, whatever. you've read a book. you've worked on some algorithm. but chances are you've never been wined and dined by a bulge bracket investment bank attempting to win the brokerage business of the hedge fund you work at. you've likely never spoken with bankers about upcoming offerings. you've likely never been given a tour of the manufacturing plant floor by management, because you're thinking of investing a hundred or so million.
and here is the thing that makes me really sad. at least bankers, a horrible bunch of humans, by and large studied the humanities and admit that they are generally selling crap. this new breed of programmers sorta study computer science and then walk around like they have "the answer" for every human problem. and now i have to deal with "Fantasy Angel Investing".
So some guy lists a side project of putting a fantasy spin on startup valuations(which i guess is fun for some people?) and thats the straw that breaks the camels back for you?
the exit is to your left, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
i wasn't taking issue with exchangel.co, per se. i was taking issue with the responses to it on HN. "Best idea ever!" "You should be able to short!" "How about an 'Index Fund' version!" "I wan't to make money and pretend I know investing!"
"Bankers" may not be the most likeable lot, or even the smartest, but telling folks who have perfected the art of siphoning small percentages from vast pools of other people's money over long periods of time, often with room for meaningful upside and limited downside, that they have no idea what they're doing is kind of silly.
Note: I'm assuming that your use of the word "bankers" refers broadly to those who work in finance (investment bankers, fund managers, etc.).
Of course there are plenty of clueful angels/vcs/analysts/bankers/traders/hedge fund operators. Just like there are programmers that are qualified to pick good startups. The stereotypes and generalities are a bit ridiculous, which I was trying to (and I think you helped) illustrate.
so, this is my point. your assumption is wrong. very, very, obviously wrong. that isn't at all the meaning of the word "banker" in finance. and it's not "my" use of the word. it's the broadly used / accepted / understood meaning. and they aren't small percentages. the percentage they receive for making deals is published, look it up. banker != trader != portfolio manager, etc.
also, i didn't say they weren't likable. generally they are very likable. and i didn't say they don't know what they are doing. they know very well what they're doing.
You do realize that what I wrote was in reply to somebody else's comment, not yours, right? I guess it's time to run for the exits when folks who don't understand how a discussion forum works are leaving finance for software engineering. I mean, if you can't figure out how to read a hierarchical comments structure, how in the world are you going to get your head around recursion?
yet more downvotes, with no reasoning, on a relevant comment. hacker news is like that significant other that abuses you and you keep going back to. i can't keep making excuses for you hacker news.
I believe you don't know what you're talking about. Forbe's thought it was an open source issue. I don't think many would say Forbe's has a radical open source "agenda". http://www.forbes.com/sites/benkepes/2015/03/25/a-cautionary...
EDIT: just to clarify, i'm not saying Forbe's said FDB is open source. i'm pointing to the fact that someone that writes for a national business magazine about open source issues thought it was an open source "issue". if persons working in open source can hope to make a living, counting business as a stakeholder is a good idea.
Are you for real? Are you telling me that a someone's blog on a business magazine has a larger knowledge of technology than someone who's actively involved in it? If you have a medical condition do you also read health industry section in Wall Street Journal?
By the way, if you did not see it there was an update posted that states that FDB was closed source. It also doesn't matter that some components were open source or not, because without FDB they are useless either way.
no doubt. much respect for the police, except when it comes to the "drug war" (i.e. war on poverty / race / ...). in the case of the drug war, eff the police.
