Archives for April 2017

You can’t “develop” good judgment. Not really.

You can certainly choose the outcome of all decisions you make, and ensure that they align with your values.

You can achieve a semblance of this by analyzing behavior patterns in yourself and others that you perceive as good, determining how those decisions were made, and then acting accordingly.

Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-develop-good-judgment

Originally Posted On: 2016-05-01

Unless you are a conjoined twin, no one is ever “stuck” with anyone else.

People make choices all the time about who they keep in their company, and who they don’t. If someone is with you, accept that they have made that choice, and embrace that feeling for as long as it lasts.

Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/Are-you-sure-you-want-to-be-stuck-with-me

Originally Posted On: 2015-10-03

You can not change anyone except yourself.

However, perhaps if you change yourself enough you will lead by example for the rest of your family to want to change.

Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-change-bad-behaviors-in-my-family-members

Originally Posted On: 2015-04-27

You cannot “make” people do anything.

You need to give people a reason to want to do something. For example, on my company’s blog at http://Roceteer.com/blog , I created a compelling framework for people to want to share their experiences and gave them an outlet for it.

It took time to get that started (lots of work finding suitable people, editing, etc) but now people are finding it and contributing similar stories on their own because they have found something they want to share.

Reddit famously posted most of their original content themselves to show people what the point of the whole thing was.

Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-make-people-post-their-experiences-on-my-content-website

Originally Posted On: 2015-08-06

This would entirely depend on what you mean by “appreciation.”

Often, salary for IT positions in non-startup companies is higher, and the benefits overall can be better – but that generally is because companies who are not in the startup phase have more money to pay better salaries.

As for whether or not IT people are highly regarded, in a non-tech company they are often treated as outsiders, relegated to distant or unsavory office locations (often the basement, or an annexed building), and looked at with a bit of fear/disdain. These people worry because you after all, know “things” about “stuff.”

In a tech company, they’re often treated similarly, but for opposite reasons. IT guys are the ones who do the “grunt” work. They may be in charge of the company’s infrastructure, but for some reason people often seem to see the IT guys as “little more than a glorified Geek Squad.”

So, it really depends on which you prefer – be surrounded by people who will treat you terribly because they have no idea what you do and want you to go away, or be surrounded by people who will treat you terribly because they know exactly what you do, and question your very existence.

Honestly, I’d take the one that pays more.

Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-working-as-an-IT-in-non-tech-companies-get-better-appreciation-than-working-in-tech-companies

Originally Posted On: 2016-03-07

If you are fired, you don “t generally *get* a notice period (at least in the US). That “s what it means (and why it is different from a layoff, redundancy, etc)

Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-prove-that-I-didnt-get-a-notice-period-when-I-was-fired-from-my-job

Originally Posted On: 2016-06-15

I don’t work for Quora, or know the specifics of this situation, but I am answering as a general business advisor and experienced hiring manager.

A VP of Engineering is a role that requires a very specific skillset, in both experience and personality. The person who steps into this role can’t just be a great engineer, they also need to be an amazing people manager, great at product development and also very task oriented (among many other things.)

Quora either may have felt that they didn’t have anyone who fit all their job requirements out of the gate, or they felt they had multiple potential politically motivated candidates and the culture would be better served by a neutral third party to lead them.

I recommend that companies use tests such as Caliper Hiring Assessment
or The iWAM Assessment when hiring for any key roles so they can ensure they are getting the right candidates for their open position and their existing team.

Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Quora-hire-its-VP-of-engineering-externally-instead-of-promoting-from-within

Originally Posted On: 2015-01-30

Having worked in startups most of my career, I can honestly say that the hardest part is that you sacrifice relationships for your unrealistic goals.

Only around 4% of companies make it to 10 years, and most of those won’t be unicorns, so you will toil for low pay and long hours with little to show, even if you are part of the successful few.

Finding work-life balance is hard.

Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-hardest-part-of-a-startup

Originally Posted On: 2015-04-27

Thanks for the A2A!

What you will need to do is get a list of the people you would like to target – if you have a specific niche you’re targeting, like London Moms who are into tech, they are probably hanging out together in a Meetup group or two. (A quick search pulled up the hashtag “#techmums”)

Find where they are hanging out and go offer to volunteer for them, speak at their group, give them something of value.

Then, ask them if they’d help you out with your app. Odds are they will.

Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-invite-London-tech-leaders-mothers-in-particular-to-become-advisors-to-my-parenting-app

Originally Posted On: 2015-06-30

As there are only a small handful of Top Writers among the nearly 100 million users of Quora worldwide, my personal view on non-Top Writers is:

Thank you thank you thank you thank you!

Without you, the site wouldn’t exist.

You may have shone a spotlight on us as some of your consistent favorites out of those millions, but without your upvotes, questions, and other content there wouldn’t be anything for us to write about in the first place.

So, yay team!

Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/What-do-Quora-Top-Writers-actually-think-of-other-users

Originally Posted On: 2016-06-07