And some devs have the idea that they are Better Than You, no matter what your skill level or expertise. I'm a web dev and worked on a project recently with a lead who had just enough experience with web dev of the 90's to be dangerous. For example, he fought with me repeatedly about md5 being good enough for password hashing, while I wanted to use bcrypt (or at the very least, SHA1, even though it's almost as bad as md5). It took weeks before he relented, and only after I sent him several articles about how broken md5 is. In the end we wound up removing encryption entirely because it made his deployment process harder.
This is definitely not geared toward techies. The closeup of the mouse and keyboard in the first few seconds is meant to make average people think "Oooh, this is high tech."
I remember when I was this dramatic. I have no doubt that the emotions he experiences are very real, but he has no frame of reference to see all this for what it is: not really a big deal. If he fails, it sounds like he has a safety net and support to get on his feet and try again. There's no shame in being "mediocre" and having a 9-5 as long as he doesn't get complacent and lose his drive.
Any decent entrepreneur, however, is not going to lose that drive and desire. I know I haven't, and I've yet to achieve what this kid has. Even if he fails, he tried. He'll learn a ton and will be better-equipped for the next go-round.
We are at an interesting juncture of history. It seems like Snowden has accomplished what he set out do to: raise awareness of government abuse and bring about positive change. Initial fears after the NSA leaks seemed to be that the public would become outraged and then forget about it. Clearly, this is not happening. A more secure Internet is needed, and instances like this highlight that necessity.
It's very easy to fall into this mental trap. Developers are creative people by definition; we of all people have no excuse to pass the blame for our lack of success to another. It's a way of avoiding responsibility and completely counterproductive to success. Great post.
This is the kind of posts I'd like to see more of on HN. So many of the posts here are titled "How I did X" or "Why Z matters" and then neglect to go very in-depth at all with how X was accomplished or the importance of Z.
This is why transparency is essential to the processes of government. Without it, the powers that be can increase their authority unchecked. Concerns over national security should come second to whether or not government is truly acting in the best interests of the public. There are tradeoffs for security, but privacy should not be the price we pay to remain "free."
That's not the point of the article. The point is to give men a guide on a woman's perspective when he approaches her. Yes, the entire game should be changed, but that is beside the point.
It is a valid assumption that men are the initiators because in most cases this is how the world works. If you want to change it, feel free.
Because if you are trying to reach a mass audience, you have to go where the audience is. If no one sees your message, you are wasting the time and effort used to communicate that message.
I've got a new job.