Been a while since I've posted but here is what I know:
Gold & Silver. A lot of people who trade commodities are actually moving portions of their investments into Bitcoins. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if there are a lot of Chinese buying Bitcoins but the few people I know around the world are from the commodities market.
For IP address or locations? No clue. Wish I could help you there but I'm not sure.
I would say we have a bit of a ways to go before the big boys come into play from the stock market. They're going to be looking for more stability which Bitcoin doesn't offer yet. I think we'll see a progressive transition of portfolio diversification to account for newer currencies. So we might see something like:
-10% Cryptocurrency
-25% Commodity
-10% Bonds
-55% Stocks/Money Market
^very rough example.
Disclaimer: I'm not in Bitcoins but watch the charts throughout the day. Just my speculation of what is happening based on the grape vine.
Payments: Run a small web firm (among other activities that I do) and I can sympathize with some of your pain points. Recently had client have a month late bill. Nearly put our company under because of the size of the contract and it took the threat of taking the website down to get the payment "expedited". Working with a large $400mil company, they do have excessive hoops to jump through.
Vacation: I can never take a vacation (or that's what it feels like). I think this is fairly typical of most startup/contractors since you don't get paid if you don't work, but I wish it were different. This is probably due to lack of experience which will change over time.
Networking: I have some legacy clients that get my team through the months but 100% of our business is repeat or legacy. This is extremely problematic and even though I do a lot of networking, it seems to all for a loss. Finding new clients is definitely the hardest part for me.
Hiring/Contracting: Finding good talent in local towns is tough. Always have to do coding review on developers to ensure correct methodology, look at past project experience, etc. The hardest thing to determine (in my opinion) is how hard someone works.
As others have stated... finding work = hardest problem. It is a bitch to say the least.
Nice work - really like it. I'm definitely digging the clean layout and presentation of everything.
Only small gripe I had with it was that the navigation was a little small which could be somewhat cumbersome for some users but overall, you guys did great!
One note that you have probably already thought of is make sure to have multiple options. In the working world, it seems to me that the hardest thing to do is find time for cooking good meals. So having a few options for quick, medium prep, and longer prep would be insanely helpful. Looking forward to it!
I've had a theory for a while. Can you use technical stock indicators (such as bollinger bands/SMAs) on natural data sets such as crime?
The theory would say yes since the formulas used aren't specific to the market - they're just data. Its riddled me for quite a time and I think it could be valuable if true.
This would test your coding, API, mathematics, and economics skills for sure! Let me know if you're more interested in the idea.
Are you looking for a programming challenge or something? I've got an idea off the top of my head that I'd love to share but don't know what kind of experience you have/looking for.
Second this as well. In previous positions I've held, I first looked for track record, projects, or work experience that helped me gauge competency.
Grades was something I actually looked at last. Might be my hiring methodology but if you're going into an interview, be sure to try and focus on projects/work you've done to help compensate lower grades.
Probably my biggest advice is be prepared for lots of changes. Startups are extremely dynamic and have lots of shifts with direction of the company, product builds, and much more. Learn to be adaptable.
Other big advice is don't be afraid to speak up. If you don't feel right about something, don't understand something, or think you have a better idea - say something. It could change a lot about the company.
I'll throw my hat in the ring on this one. Just applied to a job and got a response saying:
"Thank you for your interest in the ! Your resume appears to have many of the relevant skills we are looking for in our open * position. Please tell us more information about yourself and attach your resume. We look forward to scheduling an interview."
I reply back and this is what I get:
"...We have had an impressive response to our ad for our open position. At this time, candidates with backgrounds closer matching our job description are being considered."
So, got approved by one HR rep, then rejected by the next. It really frustrates me knowing that I have the qualifications and yet, for whatever "undisclosed" reason, I can't even just get an interview. The world of getting hired....
Edit - blanked out company name so that is why it reads odd.
- Workout
- If you run into a problem, fight for it. If you can't figure it out, take a break and go for a walk.
- Disengage when it is personal time
- Get PLENTY of sleep (cannot stress this enough)
and... biggest thing I've learned:
- Draw. This helped me a lot. Drawing engages other parts of the brain so if you run into problems, try drawing them out to solve the problem instead of working it out in your head.
I guess it depends on what the data is. I've got a couple ideas on what I could use it for but that is just off of assumptions of data they use. Maybe have some more info on the homepage when you get it?
Great advice. Its all in my head at this point so this seems like the logical next step. I think this will also help me refine the pitch as well. Thanks a bunch!
Cheers, thanks for the advice. Learning to program is definitely a barrier since much of the formulas I'm looking at using would require bit of power (makes me lean towards Python or Javascript - depending on end use).
I'm pretty leery about outsourcing. Back when I managed a web division, it always seemed that when we outsourced, things would go horribly wrong. I'll have to reach out to friends and find some good outsource recommendations.
Great idea, thanks a ton. Thinking on it, it may be that my pitch to them is too complicated or convoluted. Its not their realm to know stocks (typically) so creating the pitch to peak their interest is a good starting point. Thanks again!
Possibly. What would deter me is having to convince the people I communicate often to use it as well.
If it was something as simple as adding an extension to a text messaging system (much like an extension for Chrome) then I would be extremely likely to use it but I have a feeling that it would be really complicated to do that. Hope this helps!
Not too much but one thing it really did for me was force me to research more about data collection and who knows what.
I downloaded a couple tools such as Tor for specific things that I don't really want connected to me in the future. Additionally, I added the Collusion extension for Chrome to see who is tracking what about me.
In terms of behavior, I've started reducing my activity on Facebook/Twitter.
TL;DR - Became more educated on how the stuff works and changed behavior a bit, but nothing extreme.
Good question. What I've done in the past is picked 5 companies that are widely traded (V, TSLA, AAPL, GOOG, etc.) in markets that you know.
From there, develop out a few different strategies of what you want to test (formulas, graphing, etc.)
Google, Yahoo!, and other allow for direct pricing feed downloads - check out http://goo.gl/KGWqpo
From there, you can apply your formulas to raw data and see how it stacks up. Remember, you want to test the hell out of this with a broad range of data. Start with companies/markets you know first, then go out from there. As others have suggested, use historical data.
As a tid bit, for testing trading strategies, I use ThinkorSwim since it offers an obscene amount of tools on live market data for mock trades. Cheers!
I would say we have a bit of a ways to go before the big boys come into play from the stock market. They're going to be looking for more stability which Bitcoin doesn't offer yet. I think we'll see a progressive transition of portfolio diversification to account for newer currencies. So we might see something like: -10% Cryptocurrency -25% Commodity -10% Bonds -55% Stocks/Money Market ^very rough example.
Disclaimer: I'm not in Bitcoins but watch the charts throughout the day. Just my speculation of what is happening based on the grape vine.