If God Is Watching, The Least We Can Do Is Be Entertaining
There are a lot of people still processing how LLMs are going to affect the future of work and generally the sentiment I am getting is somewhat negative. People are worried about their jobs - which I totally get. With new things it can be hard to see where things are going, and the speed of change is thus far unprecedented. I've gone deep before on this but I'm going to stay concise for this one.…
Theres an old joke in business: So a manager shows up to work in a Ferrari. The engineer asks him how he was able to get a Ferrari. The manager says: "You know Steve, if you work hard, put in the hours, stay focused... next year I might get another one." Jokes like that run deep in American Business culture, but reality doesn't really work that way. If a manager takes credit for everyone's work…
Circa the Spring of 2023 (yeah, I forgot to write up this article for a while) I popped into a garage sale while I was driving through midtown Reno. The garage sale was a multi-house garage sale on a weird lot close to a old recording studio. The lot was deeply overgrown with lots of unmanaged bushes, untrimmed elm trees, and landscaping that hadn't been touched probably since before I was born.…
I had a conversation with an executive who was trying to guide a full time Entrepreneur through some business nuances. He was asking this entrepreneur about their sales cycle time, funnel management, prospect/account attribution... he was calling out a bunch of important indicators that professional sales teams always have on lock down, and he was right to ask about that stuff... its useful. But I…
I had always expected to be an Entrepreneur. As an American, we are born into a world where your safety and health depends on having deep pockets when ( not if ) an emergency occurs. Around the turn of the century the safest road was being a "company man." Stay on the rails: Work hard in school, go to a good university, work at a big company ... and 10-15 years later after 60 hours a week of…
There is no budget for books at my house or at my company . Now this may be a confusing statement to read so here is what I mean: "There is no budget for books" does not mean that we have not allocated money for books. It means that as long as you are reading the books you can buy whatever the hell you want, whenever you want. There is no budget or no restriction on how much you can spend on…
Take care of yourself first. Life's most important moments, the ones who shape us and determine our success or failure by our own definitions largely occur when individuals are under pressure and stress. While life is full of second chances if you can't perform what you need to in spite of outside forces it will be hard to succeed. Therefore, the first and most important thing you can do is take…
We've been teaching my kids about "the continents" and to the credit of my kid he asked me "what makes a continent?" Off the top of my head I didn't know precisely where the definition came from. I did however love the fact that my 5 year old has enough sense to ask why this thing is a thing. So I looked it up. Turns out the whole thing makes as much sense as a football bat. Even after reading up…
I've watched a couple of interviews/ podcasts where JJ Reddick has talked about what makes a great athlete/ great basketball player. Here's his model: Strength Vertical jump Speed Stamina Flexibility/ mobility Balance Coordination Change of pace Plyability Reflexes Change of direction Anticipation Spacial awareness Pattern recognition Cognitive load Without over-analyzing the list, I feel the list…
Author's Note: In November 2024, I was researching fascism, and how that could present itself in the United States. I was unable to finish this article, but wanted to publish the content that was written up in November 2024. As things have unfolded, much of what I thought was going to happen has started to happen. With that said, the Trump/MAGA administration has actually, surprisingly, kept…
Went down a rabbithole on the old web and I learned that "Bloodletting" was a common medical procedure for the better part of 3000 years. I'm kind of spellbound by the duration- it was one hell of a lindy effect. Our first evidence of its use appeared in Egypt, as indicated by the Ebers papyrus, an Egyptian medical papyrus dating to circa 1550 BC ( link ). If you are hip in the academic world you…
I used to live in one of the cheapest apartments on the Newport Beach Peninsula. 450 square feet of beautiful shitty beach hut. My upstairs neighbor was a former rock star. The house behind me sold for $3.1M. Across the street was the Lovell Beach House ($6M). If we want to be generous, Kobe Bryant was one of my neighbors (~1 mile away). No clue who most of the people living there were but we were…
Note: I generally try to stay away from software engineering topics. They often don't generalize well, and can be quite pedantic. Plus there's the trap of finding yourself complaining about your day-to-day. Making an exception here... Some Thoughts About Tech Debt... When I see people complaining about tech debt, I'm always curious to understand if they are actually talking about "tech debt" as…
The question was asked "What makes you not give up on life". This is something I feel strongly about so here is my answer: Humans are a bunch of talking communal apes hurling through the galaxy on an organic space ship that as far as we know there is nothing else like it in the known universe. Any time before 100 years ago by the age of 25 you and/or half your friends would have died or been…
Did a corporate dinner with the team in Monterrey last year and it was a pretty standard event till about 3/4 through. Two of our executives were having a conversation and inadvertently drew the attention of the rest of of the group. Our CTO decided to open up to everyone what they were discussing and it turned out to be a nice little nugget of wisdom so I thought I would share it here. The…
I've been writing this blog since ~2009, and the reason I write has both changed and stayed the same over that period. As I understand it, there are just certain things in my life that I can't stop doing. I've been writing in some fashion since I was 12. Writing seems to be an experience that is growing richer and I appear to be improving. There are other things in my life though which follow the…
I originally wrote this stuff up for my wife's company which was struggling with it but then ended up giving a talk about it. And since I basically post all of my important talks as articles here it is for your reading pleasure. TLDR; Communication can be made more or less effective by working with or against Human biological limitations. To put it another way, the way you organize and provide…
Though it's fading recently, a major pursuit of the front half of my life was trying to become prematurely wise. I did the "work": I studied great humans, read all of the classics (minus the Brothers Karamazov), read books acclaimed for their wisdom, searched out wise people to be around, et cetera, et cetera. But it didn't have the effect that I thought it would. I don't think my time was…
Adulting A moment is all look around and see beauty no time anymore... The Buddha Walk through the forest do not disturb a grass blade don't seek what you want
Making a resume? Here are the only 2 things you need to do on your resume to be a finalist for whatever job you are after: Don't suck. Provide context and results. This article is about #2. (Maybe someday I'll do a follow up about #1) Let's compare the following 2 hypothetical snippets that could be found on a resume: Experienced manager and leader in the accounting and accounts receivables space.…
Let's get weird... here are some questions. These questions aren't special questions or specifically meant as only this set of questions... they are just questions that capture the spirit of "pause and think on some stuff that you don't". Fill in your own questions if you have better ones. Does your office/company have a library? Why or why not? Would it be okay to sit and read a book at your job?…
I've mentioned this before ( e.g. Lowest Common Denominator ) but between the years of 2009 and 2013, I talked to something like 13,000 to 15,000 people while I was doing retail and SMB sales for Verizon. I learned a lot from that period, but one of the things I learned that I did not expect was what I now call my "5% rule." No matter how kind, warm, thoughtful, amazing, cheerful, consistent, and…
Note: This article is a little less coherent than a lot of my other pieces, and still really a draft. I decided to publish knowing I plan on making a lot of changes in the future. I just felt like getting it out and hopefully it will be useful to people. There's a joke I say sometimes: "I know my advice is good because no one ever takes it." Although it's a joke I realized there's a lot of truth…
Belts in Karate are ordered from white to black. This is of course a new invention. Originally, new colored belts were not given upon arbitrary levels of attainment, a white belt was given at the beginning of one's training and you just never washed it. Over the years the belt would gradually turn from white to yellow, to orange, to red. And if you trained hard enough eventually you'd go black.…
Way back when I was attending the University of Kansas, my roommate's Uncle Kenny had one drink too many at a hunting auction and came home with an adorable Labrador retriever puppy. I wrote his stories here if you're interested. A week after the fact Uncle Kenny realized that a puppy probably wasn't the best idea at that point in his life. One thing led to another and the next thing you know I…
I never interview anymore, but the handful of times I have miraculously produced some funny stories. So here you go: Career transition I transitioned to development/engineering from a successful telecom sales career. The process was a little rocky, but after I had my feet under me (but before I knew what I was doing) I got offered an interview for a frontend gig at a large auto manufacturer…
May 2022. For the last few weeks the stock market, bond market, VC markets, crypto-currencies, and anything else related to money has been taking an absolute nose dive. Tech stocks have in some cases lost upwards of 80% of their value. Inflation has been cranking at 7%-10% for the last year. Things are bad. The "financial gurus" have started chiming in saying that this is all a normal part of the…
(Note: Written mostly in 2018 as notes, Published in 2022 as an article) I lost my best friend yesterday. The poor little guy stopped being able to breath after he responded badly to a surgery. I already miss him a lot. I'm hurting pretty bad on this one... I figure I'd let everyone to know why, and to tell his story. The Start I got Chester in College Softmore/ Junior year (probably '06). My…
Give us a quick intro to yourself, your blog, and why someone should read your blog . Yo. I'm Zach. I work as a software developer. Kylynn and I have 2 little kiddos. Hmm... why should someone read my blog? They probably shouldn't. There's much better content out there. How long have you been writing, and when did you become "serious" about writing? I started this blog ( zwbetz.com ) in 2018. I'd…
I was hanging out in Dallas with my buddy Joe Venuto ( who is a badass photographer btw ) before a flight, and a massive thunderstorm came rolling through Dallas. Joe and I figured we'd get off the street, so we popped into a taco joint for a bite and a margarita. Just as we got to the bar, the power was knocked out and a huge gust of wind smashed the glass out of the front door. The whole series…
I worked at a tap house in college serving and bartending. It was a great job and I learned a lot of life lessons from the place. At one point, the management team made a decision to bring in 23oz glasses that we could sell as an upcharge to customers (bigger than a normal pint). The glasses were a big hit on both sides of the bar. The customers saved a little money, the restaurant made a little…
One of the dumbest things a person can ever say is: "People are dumb." No doubt you've heard it out there in a wild. I used to hear it all the time from sales reps, managers, ops people, etc. Now I hear it from software devs, PMs, technical writers, etc. They even have little cartoons for it, that they send around: Everyone seems to think that these humans that they are working on behalf of are…
My favorite Professor at KU, John Younger, was at Duke for about 25 years before coming to KU. He was their expert in classical studies (Greece, Rome, etc) and was considered a world expert. He left when they gave him a little clock to say thank you for the 25 years. For whatever reason he moved to Kansas. One time I was hanging out during office hours and he explained to me the difference between…
This is my response to Morgan Housel's Top 10 Money Rules and Barry Ritholtz's Top 10 Money Rules . Earn More. Spend less. "A penny saved is 1.4 pennies earned if you consider taxes" -from the internet This sounds like a "duh" rule but it's not. The two concepts work against each other and require different soft skills. To increase your earning potential you need to free your time for activities…
"Predictions are hard. Especially when they're about the future." -Yogi Berra A hobby of mine is to try to understand where things are going. I love knowing ahead of time what's going to happen - aka "the future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed." Inherently I think we all know that there is an advantage to being ahead of the curve, but I like to challenge myself to take it…
In September 1928 a bacteriologist name Alexander Fleming came back from a "holiday" (vacation) to find a set of petri dishes which had been "necessarily exposed to the air" had become contaminated by various micro-organisms. One of those petri dishes had grown a mold that appeared to be inhibiting the growth of a colony of Staphylococcus aureus. (You can read the original paper here ) To quote…
Over the last few years I've randomly run into articles and/or posts ( example , example , example , example , and others ) that assert definitively that software developers/ engineers are paid too much for the work that they do. The "TLDR;" is that the jobs are considerably easier than many technical jobs (Doctor, Electrical Engineer, Lawyer, etc), and often so is the training, so it seems almost…
Preface (2021) Over the last few years I've come to realize that like most other things in life hiring or recruiting excellence is more readily achieved if you play the long game. Meaning, you should try to be strategic- aka proactive rather than reactive. Don't look to make a hire when you need someone, look before you need someone. Don't interview someone for 3 hours to decide if they are a good…
It is better to have some of the questions rather than all of the answers Here are some questions that I've been pondering related to income inequality, prices, and modernity in the U.S. Why has the price of a college degree skyrocketed in the last 30 years, and yet tenured professors don't get paid any more than they used to? Why do we want people to own homes so badly? Why are mortgagues are…
In between the years of 1991 and 2003, I went through the public school system in the United States. It was an atrocious, frustrating, failure of an experience for myself and has caused me to spend a decent amount of time thinking about "the system." Here are some of my thoughts for strategies that might help fix U.S. public schools. I believe these fixes if instituted correctly would lead to…
One of the more beautiful aspects (and under-appreciated) about becoming an adult is that "the gray areas" in life become more pronounced. The moral high grounds of innocence recede to leave in there wake all of the most tangible and real aspects of being a person. It's beautiful in a sense because people's choices have real implications. We are defined by our choices, and typically as an adult,…
Some Tricks And Tips for Those of You Tying the Knot. IMPORTANT: If you remember nothing else: "the quality of the marriage is inversely proportional to the money spent on the wedding" Do some cocktail napkin math before you decide to go all in on a wedding, a quick ceremony, a trip to the bar with friends, and then an amazing vacation might be more of what you want to do. For the invitee list:…
Quick story. A friend comes to me with a problem. The problem is this: A student that comes from a semi-wealthy family is choosing to skip college because they think its unfair that they should be allowed to go to college (Mom and Dad are paying), when this student's friends cannot afford to go to college. The student is basically feeling a level of guilt about their privilege- Which in a sense I…
I just got through the bulk of the marriage zone (ages 27-32) and (not as though I want this but) realistically there are probably going to be a couple of divorces coming up. All things considered there is a proper way to get divorced and a wrong way. The proper way is respectful to the people involved, the families, and the children (if there are any). The wrong way is a disgusting mess making…
This template is designed to help create a better process surrounding your code review. Every company/project is different so don't take this as God's word... it's just meant to help Git Repository: ____ Pull Request Number: ____ Code Author: ____ Code Reviewer: ____ Pull Request Type: ____ An overall score for this review: ____ Functional Upon testing, does the code work? Does it accomplish what…
One of the most disturbing aspects of design trends over the last decade or two is the cult of Apple, and the various sound bytes that they use to be able to convert people into their design aesthetic => my specific issue is with this hyperbolic “minimalism” mantra that they have been spoon feeding Americans for the better part of 20 years now. Now its important to note I am not against…
I’m celebrating my 30th birthday November 4th. I am completely flabbergasted that I have lived this long. So in honor of my 30th I’d like to put out to the world a list of things that could have killed me, or could have led to situations that could have killed me. Fell off a cliff at a rock quarry into a foot and a half of water Broke my back snowboarding (later broke my clavicle snowboarding)…
Clearly I have an avid fascination with weird celebrity business stories. One of my all time favorites is MC Hammer. This one is a quick read too… MC Hammer is actually known best for his series of poor business decisions (example basically blowing all of his money keeping an large entourage 200+, and a touring staff of something like 50 dancers… the entertainment industry equivalent of magic…
So I was reading this esquire article … and I stumbled onto a particularly good little nugget: Mr. Ahmir Khalib Thompson (a.k.a. ?uestlove) believes that a human being can really only do 4 things a day (possibly as many as 6, but 4 is the reality). As an example here is what was going on the day that he did that interview with esquire (the numbers were post quote): Today I worked out. I had to…