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by jakequade 1793 days ago
> Knowing nothing about software.

A few lines in:

> I created a horse-racing simulation game in Applesoft BASIC in Manhattan Beach Middle School’s computer classroom and ran a small gambling operation.

... Ok.

4 comments

Yeah that was hilarious. Also:

> Many of my friends who are founders of their own companies tell me how they exhibited the entrepreneurial spirit as a kid… But that wasn’t me.

Literally next sentence:

> I ran a small gambling operation

I see nothing conflicting.

"Software" is much more than just ability to write a small BASIC program.

I have "been in software" for quarter of century and I am still constantly learning as if I was beginner.

Though having been able to write even a small BASIC program may have had an effect of you appreciating the work of a developer just a tiny little bit. And this is not given -- I have seen in the past many CEOs having no appreciation whatsoever and this leads typically to disrupting developer work and underutilizing their abilities. Then when everything starts to fall apart management blames problems on developers rather than try to understand what caused these developers to fail.

> And this is not given -- I have seen in the past many CEOs having no appreciation whatsoever and this leads typically to disrupting developer work and underutilizing their abilities.

That was one of the reasons Microsoft, Google and Facebook grew so fast in the early days.

Compared to the engineers, it does sound accurate. I couldn't claim to know anything serious about medicine by reading Wikipedia compared to a practicing doctor.

Disingenuous title? Well yeah. The author does sales.

No, but you could claim it if you'd worked as a volunteer EMT for a year.
> I couldn't claim to know anything serious about medicine by reading Wikipedia compared to a practicing doctor.

A basic understanding of biology beyond high school level will get you further than you think. Keep in mind the medical industry has a lot of artificial barriers and gatekeeping.

The more you know the more you realize how little you know.