Cat litter is a commodity product, and there are huge brands that know how to manufacture, distribute, advertise, and market it at massive scale. There are already other color-changing cat litter products. Your team has zero expertise, IP, or competitive advantages in manufacturing, chemistry, consumer products, animal health, diagnostics, or distribution. Cat litter is not an industry that needs disruption.”
While there is some truth to this depending on the context, for the most part, especially in software engineering world, you don't know everything. Don't be afraid to say if you need to research something or do POC or investigation. No one will be mad at you and if they are, you don't need to be working with that person. I spent many nights frantically trying to figure out things, to make it seemed like I was up to par, when I should have been more chill about it.
- Do what you love, and the money will follow.
My parents, my high school guidance, society, everyone told me this thing in 2002. Many of my friends went into music education and I can say only one or two got a job in this field. Then 2008 hit. This view, it is the survivors bias, what you should do instead is what will make you money, then figure out how to use that skill to do or add to what you love.
- you don’t need to go to a good university, this one (low tier uni in my country) is fine.
- don’t fight bullies back.
But the worst is not receiving bad advice, but receiving no advice at all, and staying in a dead-end job and city for too many years. Having no emotional support early in life leaves yourself “damaged” and gives you a cynical view of the world.
So I became a plumber instead. Don't have to worry about someone from India flying here to crawl under a house to snake out a line.
I share this not to garner sympathy. I am more than 30 years over it, but it did impact more than I understood at the time. If you are still hung up on historic lies I would recommend you find a way through or you they will dent you, even if part of you knows they aren't true.
My view of myself was later shaped by christian faith. The Bible tells me I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I have an attractive wife and good looking children but even that was not even enough to fix the dent. As humans we do not have all truth inside our own heads. We need a second opinion on much of our internal thoughts and processes.
"The Bank of Canada won't raise rates, they can't, it'll tank the market."
I knew even then that was unhinged financial advice. This was a man who had a radio show about finances in Montreal.
He also tried to saddle me with a real estate broker who only showed properties to me that she was selling (and outside my price range/location).
If I followed his advice, I'd have had to sell the house the same year I bought it.
The story ends happily, I bought a great place that was affordable and a mortgage that I've never struggled to pay.
Keep a wide birth of Terry Kilakos if you are in Montreal folks.
You can follow a good advice and end up with a bad outcome. Similarly, you can follow a bad advice and end up with a good outcome. This is more obvious in poker (Annie Duke wrote a few books on the topic), but I think the same principle also applies to life in general.
Sure, "I went against this sensible advice and look at what I accomplished!!" makes for good storytelling. But that does not help us decide which advice to follow now and in the future.
"Don't go into programming, you're not in Silicon Valley and life isn't like what you see on the internet, you have a good thing with your grandpa, just become a Mechanic like him"
My biggest passion in life have always been with computers, and I know (Now even with empirical experience) that I'm a horrible fit for a mechanic
But lets say I wasn't, and take it that it wasn't said in bad faith; It still enraged me that he didn't thought I'd be capable, I managed to learn and earn enough, escape my birthplace and (Sadly) The good thing my grandpa had going on went down in flames (Due to external circumstances)
It's been years and it still pisses me off, but I'm confident that he doesn't even remember that we ever talked about it
Or something like that. I do think that working on your own thing (like a company you start or a project you created) is a precious thing. Working for others is not; it’s a simple exchange of time for money.
I had no idea what that meant, for decades.
i think this advice is a bit too vague and it's just something people say to sound smart to trick people into thinking there's a shortcut to mastery
i genuinely believe that if you work hard to hone your skill on something, it will do you good. if you want to get good at something, you gotta put in the hours, the grind. e.g. to learn how to play a tennis, you gotta, you know, actually get down to the court and play tennis instead of watching tutorial on how to play tennis. Same goes with programming, music, etc.
now pair working hard with the ability to retrospect -- you'll master a lot of skills in life