FounderQuest What Sparked Our Fascination With Computers?
Show notes:
Links:
Kathy Sierra
Seinfield – Vandalay Industries
Phrack
Honeybadger Developer Blog
Full Transcript:
Starr:
We are on uncharted ground. We usually record on Fridays, but I was out on Friday, so we're recording on a Monday now. We just had our all hands meeting. I had a meeting before that, which means this is my third Zoom call of the day. I've got another Zoom call after this one.
Josh:
Wow, that's a lot of meetings.
Ben:
That's impressive.
Starr:
I figure if I have enough meetings on Zoom, I'll become a Zoomer and I'll like have found the fountain of youth.
Josh:
Is that how that works?
Starr:
That's how it works.
Josh:
Cool, okay.
Starr:
That was a terrible joke I'm sorry.
Josh:
We're all Zoomers now.
Starr:
I apologize to our listeners.
Josh:
I think no, the joke proves that we're Zoomers, I think. They're funny, right?
Starr:
It's fine. I'm going to learn Snapchat this evening. I have an hour booked into my schedule.
Josh:
Very cool.
Ben:
Speaking of Snapchat, so I don't know if you heard the news over the weekend, by Microsoft is in acquisition talks for TikTok.
Josh:
Yeah, which is just like, I did not see that coming.
Ben:
No, no. Not at all. But someone made a funny joke on Twitter, and I just had to share it, and it was basically, "Now Microsoft is going to have a cradle to grave experience. Social networks from birth until death." And so they had TikTok, and then there's Xbox, and GitHub, and then LinkedIn. Right? So, it'd have you covered, right? From cradle to grave.
Josh:
See, I thought the cradle to grave experience with Microsoft was what happens to the social networks after they acquire them.
Ben:
Oh, oh.
Starr:
Oh.
Ben:
Sick burn.
Starr:
Sick burn, yeah.
Josh:
Thanks, thanks.
Starr:
Does anyone still used LinkedIn?
Ben:
No.
Starr:
It just seems like, I don't know, I had to go on or... I don't know. I was there for some reason, probably not a good one. And it was just like, "This just looks like..." All social networks end up looking like a... I don't know, like a strip mall eventually.
Josh:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). That definitely describes LinkedIn.
Ben:
Yeah, that's an apt description. Yeah.
Starr:
It's just like, what random crappy wares are you hawking? Is it shitty articles about synergy, or is it conspiracy theories about masks and mind control?
Josh:
Although, I don't know. We looked at people's LinkedIns when we were hiring, in past hiring sessions, so I guess HR departments obviously still use it.
Starr:
What if you had no LinkedIn? Would that be a detriment?
Josh:
I don't know.
Starr:
I can't imagine I would hold that against anyone.
Ben:
No, I wouldn't, but I would expect there to be something out there, right?
Starr:
Yeah.
Ben:
A personal website or a GitHub profile that has some stuff in it, or something. I would expect that if you were into tech, that you would be doing something online. Somewhere.
Josh:
Right, but as far as... I mean, LinkedIn, having an active LinkedIn or a Twitter account or something. I would understand why people would not have those for a variety of reasons. Yeah, I regret both regularly, so.
Starr:
I mean, because if you wanted to hire Kathy Sierra, she's not going to have a Twitter account. Right?
Josh:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sure there's plenty of people out there that would not want to put themselves into the environment that is Twitter.
Starr:
No doubt.
Josh:
Very similar reasons.
Starr:
Definitely.
Ben:
Exactly.
Starr:
That's me lately.
Josh:
Yeah, which is unfortunate, yeah. Really? Is it, Starr?
Starr:
Oh, yeah. I was just like, "This is just making my unhappy every time I look at this. Why am I looking at this?"
Josh:
Yeah, I stopped reading the newsfeed because that's the thing. If I stop with Twitter, it sucks you in and then it just makes you sad or mad or another negative emotion.
Ben:
Doomscrolling.
Starr:
Doomscrolling. Yeah, it's like, I know the world's ending. I don't need to be reminded of it every two minutes. Give me a couple hours in between. So, what should we talk about today?
Ben:
So, one of the topics on our list is a question Ben put together for us a while back was, "What sparked each of the founder's interest in computers?"
Starr:
Oh, a nostalgia episode.
Ben:
Yeah, yeah. And you talked about that person who was looking to get into tech, and I'm like, "Hey, we could do that. We could do some nostalgia.
Starr:
Yeah, cold, hard cash. In 25 years, I want to be making a typical engineer's salary.
Ben:
What I'm curious about though is what... Like Starr, you mentioned you had a non-traditional path, but I wanted to find out a little bit more about what y'all wanted to do when you were kids, before you ended up on the whole, "I'm going to be a developer/tech/person, whatever."
Starr:
Oh.
Ben:
Like for example, I wanted to be an architect. That's what I wanted to be.
Starr:
I can see that.
Ben:
At least one of the things when I was a kid. There were some other things in there, but one of the things I really wanted to do was to be an architect. I thought that was a super cool career.
Starr:
Wow.
Josh:
Yeah, I'm trying to remember. I know-
Josh:
journalist was always one for me.
Ben:
Well, that's cool. That's cool.
Starr:
You do value the truth.
Josh:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Fake news.
Starr:
My dad was an architect, so I can actually see that, Ben. I think you would make a pretty good architect if you ever want to go back to school. But-
Starr:
Ben I think you would think a pretty good architect if you ever wanted to go back to school. But let me tell you, architects make shit money. Of all the professions that people know about, architect's the least paying.
Ben:
It's like a beige collar... it's not a white collar job, it's a beige collar because they get paid a little.
Starr:
Yeah. And I think it's just because it's, I don't know, game development or something, so many people are like, "Oh, well I like art and stuff. So I'm going to be an architect." So it's this prestige thing. But you don't actually need that many architects.
Josh:
There's only so many buildings and so many unique buildings.
Starr:
Yeah. For a while I worked doing drafting in an architect's office and that was one of my many careers and you just need one architect in the office to sign off on the plans. Everything else has become very specialized. So it's like you need your HVAC engineers and you need your plumbing people and all that stuff. So in terms of architects, they don't make that much. The engineers on the other hand, seemed from my limited experience, seemed to make a little bit of money. Can I tell you a story?
Josh:
Please.
Starr:
Okay. So there's this engineer who I guess had a firm, and this was in Arkansas. This was not in a big city. He always acted like he was this high roller when he came into the office t...