hotmail is the most popular web based email in the world, internet explorer is the most popular browser in the world, bing wich also powers yahoo accounts for about a quarter of searches in the US, and ten there is windows live, azure, skydrive, etc. Much bigger than most significant web operations imo
Consider a smaller company that develops a couple of established products. Or one-person consulting shops. Or contract developers, etc. In short - just add "Other" :)
I put it under non-web company, though now that you mention it, a university isn't really a "company." Seems better than "other", though, since it falls under the same general area.
But I think the distinction of relevance is web vs non-web, so what did one do at the university?
My university experience would be non-web, but I used all kinds of languages (PHP, Ruby, Python, Racket, Java, C) many of which are commonly used on the web. Plus everyone uses the web these days, so HN content is often quite interesting.
Interesting poll, but at first I thought you meant "where" as in what location. That's a very interesting question that I'd like to hear answered. Especially if you're freelance, on your own, remote, or otherwise don't have an office to go to.
What I've noticed is that I can't seem to work in the same physical spot for more than 2 months in a row or so. After that all my creativity seems to drain out and I can't get anything done. As soon as I move to another spot, I'm back in business.
So I find myself hopping every 2-3 months between different coffee shops, tea shops, restaurants and coworking spaces in my area. I always wondered if anybody else has the same thing.
Sorry, this is kinda off-topic. Maybe I should make a work-location poll.
I have a similar experience. I work full time for a BigCo, so I have to work at finding spots off campus where I can go and comfortably code for an hour or so during lunch. It has been a non-trivial venture, living in a not-so-tech-friendly area.
After a while, I become apathetic to the place I am working at over lunch and need to move to keep interest... else I will just decide to skip the offsite work and sit at my BigCo desk and vegitate.
I've noticed the same thing, but found that I can get around it by simply moving to a different room in the same house. When I was doing my startup, I tended to move my primary workspace between living room floor, chair & makeshift desk, bed, and outside every month or two. And even working in a big company now, I've moved desks about 10 times since joining a year ago, and the longest I spent in any one location was about 7 months (and I felt pretty drained by the end of that).
My experience has been the same, though I'm only working from these locations few hours a week on my side project.
Your comment made me wonder though about the the state of affairs at most workplaces. How we spend 8-9 hours chained to one desk and one office/location for months and years on end is to me, puzzling. I wonder what the results would be like if employees had the flexibility to work from wherever, for extended periods of time, back to their desk for a few months, and off again.
Long term contractor for a vc backed company, I think? I guess I'm not sure if that would count as working like an employee, or just being a normal contractor? Didn't vote, don't think any fit me :-(
Wow, I didn't expect so many (max right now) votes for Non-web company. It'd be nice to hear more about these companies for a change. Who are you guys and what companies are you running?
I fall into that category: I work for a medium size company earning a fairly high wage, and simply enjoy the huge amount of knowledge that can be gained from here.
Well I for example am doing third round of consulting (several months each) to fund my thing and not become crazy or bankrupt. I'd say - it teaches patience over other things.
My strategy is get $ at a good company first while ideas gel since my nerves just aren't good enough to try the consulting + start company thing. (I did consider it though!)
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 244 ms ] threadAlso why is Microsoft in with the web companies?
How are they significant: by the profit they bring, by the market share or by the investment made by the company?
Personally I never associate Microsoft with the web. It's either desktop OS or Xbox.
Ten years ago, sure. Bit now? Really? Microsoft?
Consider a smaller company that develops a couple of established products. Or one-person consulting shops. Or contract developers, etc. In short - just add "Other" :)
My university experience would be non-web, but I used all kinds of languages (PHP, Ruby, Python, Racket, Java, C) many of which are commonly used on the web. Plus everyone uses the web these days, so HN content is often quite interesting.
Interesting poll, but at first I thought you meant "where" as in what location. That's a very interesting question that I'd like to hear answered. Especially if you're freelance, on your own, remote, or otherwise don't have an office to go to.
What I've noticed is that I can't seem to work in the same physical spot for more than 2 months in a row or so. After that all my creativity seems to drain out and I can't get anything done. As soon as I move to another spot, I'm back in business.
So I find myself hopping every 2-3 months between different coffee shops, tea shops, restaurants and coworking spaces in my area. I always wondered if anybody else has the same thing.
Sorry, this is kinda off-topic. Maybe I should make a work-location poll.
After a while, I become apathetic to the place I am working at over lunch and need to move to keep interest... else I will just decide to skip the offsite work and sit at my BigCo desk and vegitate.
Your comment made me wonder though about the the state of affairs at most workplaces. How we spend 8-9 hours chained to one desk and one office/location for months and years on end is to me, puzzling. I wonder what the results would be like if employees had the flexibility to work from wherever, for extended periods of time, back to their desk for a few months, and off again.
Pun intended, I assume.
And my side businesses, all of which are profitable because they're bootstrapped.
I used to work for Bug Labs during college, but actually graduated as a mechanical engineer and went into that industry for at least the time being.