"Looking at candy" is such a good description of Synapse games on the 1702. I had Zaxxon, Necromancer, and Blue Max. Many Access Software titles were beautiful too (Beach Head, Raid Over Moscow,etc). Fun times!
Can confirm this to be true. I was lucky enough to sell my tech startup a few years ago and become a multi-millionaire overnight. I did the usual newly-rich stuff like buy a sports car, take vacations, go to the beach a bunch, etc. It became boring, and I started sliding into bad behaviors such as drinking most days. I knew I had to change it up for my own health and sanity, so I started another company. This has given me something to do with my day and I'm much happier and healthier for it.
I'm not sure if the allure is necessarily the bohemian way of feeling poor. I think much of it has to do with the minimalism of the experience. The ability to pack up and move on at a moments notice has 'starting over' feel to it, which can be quite nice. Kind of like refactoring crufty code.
A guy I know recently bought a van, and you nailed it. It has nothing to do with patio11's comment, and everything to do with the 'minimalist' experience you describe. He says it's an experiment - maybe he'll get tired of it, but it's something he wanted to try, and has the cash to spend on it (the van was not cheap). I can't say I would be interested in that variety of experiment myself, but "to each his own".
I think you mean "deleting code and starting from scratch". Refactoring code involves making changes to existing code in order to optimize it - I don't think it's analogous to packing up and moving on.
Refactoring code can also include making the code comply with "Don't Repeat Yourself", which would include removing a large amount of code and replacing it with references to a single function, etc. It also includes removing deleting dead code, another thing relateable to minimalism.
I'm somewhat curious as to how much ageism is prevalent in these opportunities. From what I've seen, a large percentage of the staff/lifestyle pics associated with these companies show an endless sea of smiling employees in their late 20s & early 30s. Is there room for devs beyond that age?
How shall I put this - just as A people hire other A people, twenty-somethins hire other twenty-somethigs.
One of the things as a guy starting up in his 40s
I know how much even a brilliant graduate must be taught and trained and mentored. Whereas a person with 15 or more years under thier belt just needs to be inspired
this is not to say there are not exceptions, but the younger the founder the younger the median age under him/her tends to be, based at least on personal experience.
I am pleased HN has opened up entrepreneurship to people otherwise would have taken the corporate path. Now let's see if we can push the only glass ceiling that lies behind us
I haven't feel any of that among the companies I've contacted. I've been pretty selective about whom I've contacted, so there may be some selection bias there. But my choice has always been based on product/position fit, not on employee age. And HN has by far been the best source for things I'm interested in.
I'll admit I often consciously choose to wear my XKCD hoodie when I meet people for the first time. Not that I don't wear it a lot anyway, but ...
I kind of feel like Steve was sort of an existence proof that age no longer represents the cultural divide it might have at another time.
I am 25, so there's not much information for you to work with from me getting hired. At my previous startup, I was the youngest (straight out of uni); three other employees had children approaching my age. At Romotive, I look to be just about middle of the pack. A fair number of the people know each other from school, which contributes to a narrow spread.
