Mean Girls at Work

If you’re buying a car, do you check Facebook? Or do you read up on Kelley Blue Book values and scour the company website for every spec, from horsepower to miles per gallon? What about music — do you check Top 40 radio charts or scope out what your Facebook friends are actually listening to on …

andrewdumont:

Should “business people” learn how to write code?

It’s a question that you hear all the time in the startup world. For the most part, the sides are split pretty evenly — some say that putting up the blinders and focusing on your specialty is the way to go, while others say it’s important to comprehend the basic concepts. 

             

I too agree with the idea of focus. It’s unbelievably important to find your niche, and perfect your craft. But in the startup and software world, it’s a massive disadvantage to not know your way around a terminal, and it’s taken me over 5 years and 4 startups to really comprehend that. Here’s why.

Read More

(via andrewdumont-deactivated2012050)

parislemon:

The reaction to my post on the game of tech blogging the other day was fascinating. About half of you found it to be an honest, insightful account. The other half seemed to think I was an arrogant prick. Fair enough. Obviously, I was going for the former.

But the latter reaction honestly did surprise me. It’s not like I was saying anything crazy. If you’re close enough to anyone in that industry, they’ll tell you the same thing. If they don’t, they’re either lying or they simply don’t have what it takes to be the best at their job. Harsh, but that’s what it comes down to. 

I didn’t mean to suggest that all of tech blogging is a trivial and can be easily gamed. But based on dozens of discussions I’ve had throughout the years, I’ve found that the best in this space channel one or more “games” to keep them going. It’s all about the drive.

Read More

parislemon:

Speaking of the Steve Jobs biography, its author, Walter Isaacson, has written a piece for Time on Jobs’ passing, titled simply: American Icon. 

Writes Isaacson of his last meeting with Jobs for the book, just weeks ago:

As a writer, I was used to being detached, but I was hit by a wave of sadness as I tried to say goodbye. In order to mask my emotion, I asked the one question that was still puzzling me: Why had he been so eager, during close to 50 interviews and conversations over the course of two years, to open up so much for a book when he was usually so private? “I wanted my kids to know me,” he said. “I wasn’t always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did.”

You can find the article online here, but it’s only for Time subscribers right now. Otherwise, it will be available in a special commemorative issue with one last Steve Jobs cover (above).

And here’s the story behind the cover.

itsjaredc:

If you want to learn to code and build stuff and you’re starting by asking someone else what you should do, you’re already thinking about it the wrong way. Immediately, right now, with no preparation, in the blink of an eye, you can take a huge step toward your goal by realizing that you don’t…