Quite often I’m requested to help novice IT specialists with their employment strategy. Each time it's a challenge, but I feel that there's a chance for me to give back now for all the help I received before on this way.
At the very first steps of the career beginners' CVs are usually really poor: insignificant professional background, lack of teamwork experience, weak portfolio, etc.
For the majority of employers that means that they could lose a lot when hiring candidates like that. Small- or midsize companies are always interested in "ready-made solutions" - senior specialists.
Only best thing I could recommend in this case is to join a large corporation. They can provide beginners with more personal and professional development opportunities, as this is a part of their routine - they do it deliberately and systematically. They care about retention, while almost all the other companies are waiting for quick results.
In corporations there are strong career guidance procedures and skill scoring programs that could help to draw up training courses at the expense of the company and get support from experienced colleagues. "Buddies" like that can review the work done and give constant and useful feedback.
While working in the corp, there's always a possibility to gain the best practices from the corporate wiki as well as from the related teams in order to enhance your own skills.
At the very first steps of the career beginners' CVs are usually really poor: insignificant professional background, lack of teamwork experience, weak portfolio, etc.
For the majority of employers that means that they could lose a lot when hiring candidates like that. Small- or midsize companies are always interested in "ready-made solutions" - senior specialists.
Only best thing I could recommend in this case is to join a large corporation. They can provide beginners with more personal and professional development opportunities, as this is a part of their routine - they do it deliberately and systematically. They care about retention, while almost all the other companies are waiting for quick results.
In corporations there are strong career guidance procedures and skill scoring programs that could help to draw up training courses at the expense of the company and get support from experienced colleagues. "Buddies" like that can review the work done and give constant and useful feedback.
While working in the corp, there's always a possibility to gain the best practices from the corporate wiki as well as from the related teams in order to enhance your own skills.
You can feel yourself really uncomfortable when working with someone qualified in the specific area — it is hard to outline your actual requirements. You might feel the qualification gap between you and the potential employee as far as the knowledge of the subject dramatically differs.
How could you even know what kind of a fireplace you need if you saw just a couple of those in my whole life? And, what is even worse, both of them didn’t work at the time I saw them! Or how can I know what clothes suits me better if not trying each piece one by one?
It is worth asking a specialist: “What should I want?”. And then just listen to his lesson as long as possible. There are no hacks or shortcuts. The only way is to become a qualified customer by gaining all the experience from your advisor. Only with that knowledge you could start setting the correct tasks.
“What should I want?”. Some specialists getting confused with such a question. And that’s OK, because most likely sales is not their primary skill. Try a coach analogy: “Imagine that I am an athlete, and you are a coach: you have already gone through everything and know everything, and I am a beginner. Tell me what I want 😊, explain what is good and what is bad…”
Mostly it works. Of course you will have to trust this person. But, on the other hand, why to hire someone you don't trust?
#managment
How could you even know what kind of a fireplace you need if you saw just a couple of those in my whole life? And, what is even worse, both of them didn’t work at the time I saw them! Or how can I know what clothes suits me better if not trying each piece one by one?
It is worth asking a specialist: “What should I want?”. And then just listen to his lesson as long as possible. There are no hacks or shortcuts. The only way is to become a qualified customer by gaining all the experience from your advisor. Only with that knowledge you could start setting the correct tasks.
“What should I want?”. Some specialists getting confused with such a question. And that’s OK, because most likely sales is not their primary skill. Try a coach analogy: “Imagine that I am an athlete, and you are a coach: you have already gone through everything and know everything, and I am a beginner. Tell me what I want 😊, explain what is good and what is bad…”
Mostly it works. Of course you will have to trust this person. But, on the other hand, why to hire someone you don't trust?
#managment
What job would I have if not an IT specialist?
My second passion is biotechnology. It feels that we are about to go through a great biotech shift covering food supply, processing industry, energy and, for sure, healthcare. I want to believe that our generation (or at least our children) would have a chance to live eternally with improved quality of life. And I feel that I have a passion to be a part of this future.
If not biotechnology, then probably something more down-to-earth?
Then I would have joined Rosatom to promote Russian floating, modular and safe, nuclear power plants. The idea is so cool, useful and important for all of humanity that I want to help this topic move forward as soon as possible.
What alternative career path would you like to have? Why?
Please, share your ideas in the comment section!
#management
My second passion is biotechnology. It feels that we are about to go through a great biotech shift covering food supply, processing industry, energy and, for sure, healthcare. I want to believe that our generation (or at least our children) would have a chance to live eternally with improved quality of life. And I feel that I have a passion to be a part of this future.
If not biotechnology, then probably something more down-to-earth?
Then I would have joined Rosatom to promote Russian floating, modular and safe, nuclear power plants. The idea is so cool, useful and important for all of humanity that I want to help this topic move forward as soon as possible.
What alternative career path would you like to have? Why?
Please, share your ideas in the comment section!
#management
The other day I was asked for advice in which Russian large corporations developer should go to get the first experience, to help develop and instill good skills.
This is the list that came up:
1. Ozon
2. Yandex
3. Epam
4. Luxoft
5. CROC
6. IBS
7. 1C
8. X5
9. Tinkoff
Many of them have courses, after the successful completion of which you can light up in front of HR. If I were shy and young, I would go down this path.
#management
This is the list that came up:
1. Ozon
2. Yandex
3. Epam
4. Luxoft
5. CROC
6. IBS
7. 1C
8. X5
9. Tinkoff
Many of them have courses, after the successful completion of which you can light up in front of HR. If I were shy and young, I would go down this path.
#management
The results of regularly attracting startups began to appear, every week receive a request from 2-3 founders.
We usually we end up with a 15 minute conversation and a couple of tips from me. Some startups move on to the next stage and prepare documents for more detailed communication, describing what the startup does and how to evaluate the prospects.
For the first contact with investors, the founder will prepare exactly the same package of documents. It's always better to prepare in advance.
Gentleman's set of documents for an early stage startup is:
1. Pitch deck (presentation)
2. P&L (where and how money goes, where it comes from, what forecasts)
3. Captable (who owns the company, how to evaluate the growth of capitalization, how the ownership structure will change)
If everything is clear with the first one and almost everyone does it, then the second and third are perceived as attributes of a mature startup and are not done at the initial stage. Here's an easy way to get started:
P&L - just start recording all expenses and group them at the end of the month. Make predictions later
Captable - record everyone who has received or will receive a share. Build capitalization forecasts later.
If any questions, I'm ready to help
#startup
We usually we end up with a 15 minute conversation and a couple of tips from me. Some startups move on to the next stage and prepare documents for more detailed communication, describing what the startup does and how to evaluate the prospects.
For the first contact with investors, the founder will prepare exactly the same package of documents. It's always better to prepare in advance.
Gentleman's set of documents for an early stage startup is:
1. Pitch deck (presentation)
2. P&L (where and how money goes, where it comes from, what forecasts)
3. Captable (who owns the company, how to evaluate the growth of capitalization, how the ownership structure will change)
If everything is clear with the first one and almost everyone does it, then the second and third are perceived as attributes of a mature startup and are not done at the initial stage. Here's an easy way to get started:
P&L - just start recording all expenses and group them at the end of the month. Make predictions later
Captable - record everyone who has received or will receive a share. Build capitalization forecasts later.
If any questions, I'm ready to help
#startup
Vasil Zakiev: Hyperlocal community and devices
The results of regularly attracting startups began to appear, every week receive a request from 2-3 founders. We usually we end up with a 15 minute conversation and a couple of tips from me. Some startups move on to the next stage and prepare documents for…
Gentleman's Set Part Two
Startup Founder Documents: Captable
After the Pitch Deck we move on to the captable, which can also be called as a plan to attract investments.
It is important to keep in mind that the product of the founder's work is the company. It is the company that he will sell or will receive dividends from. What product the company makes is important, but secondary from the point of view of the founder's interests.
The table shows how the company will grow and what share the founders will have after investment rounds. It is worth using it as a tool in negotiations with co-founders about shares, with investors about their potential exit, and just for your own understanding of what all this is for.
This table is essential.
My template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tynmtXjmOdyqm5xGpqpefaqdVCb260kcwvGv8gEZB6o/edit#gid=390472207
Another template if you don't like mine: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-sNGHFHoL7gLqitTQPNz-cAn2gTgq6rUvBeFSCpnb5k/edit#gid=0
Startup Founder Documents: Captable
After the Pitch Deck we move on to the captable, which can also be called as a plan to attract investments.
It is important to keep in mind that the product of the founder's work is the company. It is the company that he will sell or will receive dividends from. What product the company makes is important, but secondary from the point of view of the founder's interests.
The table shows how the company will grow and what share the founders will have after investment rounds. It is worth using it as a tool in negotiations with co-founders about shares, with investors about their potential exit, and just for your own understanding of what all this is for.
This table is essential.
My template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tynmtXjmOdyqm5xGpqpefaqdVCb260kcwvGv8gEZB6o/edit#gid=390472207
Another template if you don't like mine: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-sNGHFHoL7gLqitTQPNz-cAn2gTgq6rUvBeFSCpnb5k/edit#gid=0
Google Docs
Pre-seed round capitalization table example by @zvasilchannel
At university we studied strategic management.
It was expressed in the main enumeration of STEP / PEST / SWOT analyzes and other techniques. This framework consistently analyzes the situation in the company and determines the main strategic directions in the market.
In real life, in analytical analysis, these frameworks are used at best "for show", guided by faith and intuition.
Kahneman in his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” describes that intuition works effectively if the system gives a fast communication speed. Aesthetically, the system crashes when running with long communication delay cycles. Therefore, it works well in driving or in b2c sales, but it works worse in medicine or b2b sales.
We suggest that in strategic planning it is worth forbidding yourself to rely on faith and intuition. Not "pay less attention" or "take into account that we can make mistakes", but simply prohibit it.
It will be hard. #management
It was expressed in the main enumeration of STEP / PEST / SWOT analyzes and other techniques. This framework consistently analyzes the situation in the company and determines the main strategic directions in the market.
In real life, in analytical analysis, these frameworks are used at best "for show", guided by faith and intuition.
Kahneman in his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” describes that intuition works effectively if the system gives a fast communication speed. Aesthetically, the system crashes when running with long communication delay cycles. Therefore, it works well in driving or in b2c sales, but it works worse in medicine or b2b sales.
We suggest that in strategic planning it is worth forbidding yourself to rely on faith and intuition. Not "pay less attention" or "take into account that we can make mistakes", but simply prohibit it.
It will be hard. #management
How do investors choose startups to invest in?
Common factors include:
- market size
- team
- traction
- product
Just kidding, they usually choose according to their “likes/dislikes”. They invest worse before lunch than after lunch.
And this is also half-truth) All investors are different and invest in different ways.
If you need an advice, write @zvasilpublic
#startups
Common factors include:
- market size
- team
- traction
- product
Just kidding, they usually choose according to their “likes/dislikes”. They invest worse before lunch than after lunch.
And this is also half-truth) All investors are different and invest in different ways.
If you need an advice, write @zvasilpublic
#startups
I taught my M1 laptop to help scientists look for Prime numbers. All found primes are recorded in the open database here: https://www.primegrid.com/pubresults.php.
The trick is that earlier it was possible to donate to science only CPU cores M1 Apple Silicon, but recently it has become possible to use the GPU cores as well.
Here is the details: https://www.reddit.com/r/BOINC/comments/10ej6po/m1_gpus_now_could_be_used_in_boinc_howto_guide/
In the screenshot the laptop is finishing a big task that it has been counting for four days.
#distributedcomputing
The trick is that earlier it was possible to donate to science only CPU cores M1 Apple Silicon, but recently it has become possible to use the GPU cores as well.
Here is the details: https://www.reddit.com/r/BOINC/comments/10ej6po/m1_gpus_now_could_be_used_in_boinc_howto_guide/
In the screenshot the laptop is finishing a big task that it has been counting for four days.
#distributedcomputing
An easy way to eat more vegetables:
1. Buy vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes.
2. Wash them and leave them on the table.
3. Coarsely chop them before eating.
4. Repeat with the next portion of vegetables.
You can put a regular purchase in your grocery delivery to make it easier to buy vegetables regularly.
Surprisingly, vegetables are just as popular as pizza when left on the table. Additionally, research has shown that people who eat more vegetables tend to be happier.
Good luck with your healthy eating!
# Rankingofthebestacquisitions
1. Buy vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes.
2. Wash them and leave them on the table.
3. Coarsely chop them before eating.
4. Repeat with the next portion of vegetables.
You can put a regular purchase in your grocery delivery to make it easier to buy vegetables regularly.
Surprisingly, vegetables are just as popular as pizza when left on the table. Additionally, research has shown that people who eat more vegetables tend to be happier.
Good luck with your healthy eating!
# Rankingofthebestacquisitions
👍1
GPT-4 is working for Plus clients, although it is not officially acknowledged.
In general, this is a good reason to subscribe - $20 per month. I couldn't buy it on my Kazakh card at first, Stripe rejected the payment, so I had to use VPN from the very beginning to make it work.
With the help of the Russian analogue of Zapier - Albato (http://albato.ru), I created a personal chatbot that sends requests to ChatGPT via API. You don't need to run VPN or even open a browser.
However, the API does not currently allow the use of the latest version of GPT, but it is sufficient for some tasks.
In general, this is a good reason to subscribe - $20 per month. I couldn't buy it on my Kazakh card at first, Stripe rejected the payment, so I had to use VPN from the very beginning to make it work.
With the help of the Russian analogue of Zapier - Albato (http://albato.ru), I created a personal chatbot that sends requests to ChatGPT via API. You don't need to run VPN or even open a browser.
However, the API does not currently allow the use of the latest version of GPT, but it is sufficient for some tasks.
👍3
Interesting case in the USA.
A driver got stuck in the snow without communication. He sent a message to a friend on his phone, attached the phone to a drone, flew it into the air, and headed towards the road where there was a signal.
Result: rescue services found the pilot and on the way found another unfortunate person who had been stuck in the snow with his car for several days.
In general, now you know why it's worth carrying a drone in your car. At least a mini3, it has a good camera and reliable communication. It's the simplest and cheapest. And it weighs only 249 gram, which is below the limit of most bans.
In the past, when there were fewer bans, I scouted the road with a drone. That's how I found a passage to the necessary cave through a gorge in the Crimean rocks. I couldn't have done it without air support.
A driver got stuck in the snow without communication. He sent a message to a friend on his phone, attached the phone to a drone, flew it into the air, and headed towards the road where there was a signal.
Result: rescue services found the pilot and on the way found another unfortunate person who had been stuck in the snow with his car for several days.
In general, now you know why it's worth carrying a drone in your car. At least a mini3, it has a good camera and reliable communication. It's the simplest and cheapest. And it weighs only 249 gram, which is below the limit of most bans.
In the past, when there were fewer bans, I scouted the road with a drone. That's how I found a passage to the necessary cave through a gorge in the Crimean rocks. I couldn't have done it without air support.
👍2
Friday philosophy from a non-specialist.
Are neural networks alive?
As alive as we consider viruses to be alive. A virus also does not have consciousness, memory. It does not even have an independent mechanism of development and replication. It is just pieces of DNA/RNA code in a shell that replicates with its code in the organism's cells. Are viruses alive? Yes, but not enough.
In the end, humans are also just a supercomplex shell for pieces of RNA/DNA. It turns out that the degree of liveliness is determined by complexity.
But not only that. Plants or ants are "less alive" than humans due to the flexibility of consciousness. We continue to learn constantly, and our experience is not only data about the past, but also changes in the way we make decisions.
Therefore, to make neural networks more alive, they need to become flexible, and their models can change on the fly based on the results of previous work. They need to learn not only to take the data of their previous work as "context" to produce a new result, but also to change the "processor". Re-learn. Currently, re-training a large neural network costs millions of dollars. The problem of retraining is solved by creating additional modules around the large neural network that extract the required result from it. But for now, retraining is still done by people, not the neural network itself.
Are neural networks alive?
As alive as we consider viruses to be alive. A virus also does not have consciousness, memory. It does not even have an independent mechanism of development and replication. It is just pieces of DNA/RNA code in a shell that replicates with its code in the organism's cells. Are viruses alive? Yes, but not enough.
In the end, humans are also just a supercomplex shell for pieces of RNA/DNA. It turns out that the degree of liveliness is determined by complexity.
But not only that. Plants or ants are "less alive" than humans due to the flexibility of consciousness. We continue to learn constantly, and our experience is not only data about the past, but also changes in the way we make decisions.
Therefore, to make neural networks more alive, they need to become flexible, and their models can change on the fly based on the results of previous work. They need to learn not only to take the data of their previous work as "context" to produce a new result, but also to change the "processor". Re-learn. Currently, re-training a large neural network costs millions of dollars. The problem of retraining is solved by creating additional modules around the large neural network that extract the required result from it. But for now, retraining is still done by people, not the neural network itself.
👍2
Friday opinion from a non-specialist.
Consciousness of neural networks.
Modern neural networks do not possess consciousness because they do not truly remember what they did before. If we take the result of a neural network's work and return it to it on the next move, then this is an imitation of a chatbot that maintains the context of the conversation. If we do this repeatedly, we can obtain consciousness that actually remembers who it is and what it does.
The way neural networks maintain context in chat now is an illusion. Technically, neural networks simply copy the history of previous messages and start from scratch each time. Currently, you can't put much input into a neural network. Hence, the limit of 4000 tokens per dialogue. I think for closed versions it could be 40000 or 400000. But not 4 million.
Existing neural networks are "carved in stone" during training and remain unchanged afterwards. Like ants or crocodiles - only hard-coded. Minimal memory.
If this feature is removed, then something that can be called a primitive consciousness will appear.
Consciousness of neural networks.
Modern neural networks do not possess consciousness because they do not truly remember what they did before. If we take the result of a neural network's work and return it to it on the next move, then this is an imitation of a chatbot that maintains the context of the conversation. If we do this repeatedly, we can obtain consciousness that actually remembers who it is and what it does.
The way neural networks maintain context in chat now is an illusion. Technically, neural networks simply copy the history of previous messages and start from scratch each time. Currently, you can't put much input into a neural network. Hence, the limit of 4000 tokens per dialogue. I think for closed versions it could be 40000 or 400000. But not 4 million.
Existing neural networks are "carved in stone" during training and remain unchanged afterwards. Like ants or crocodiles - only hard-coded. Minimal memory.
If this feature is removed, then something that can be called a primitive consciousness will appear.
Something happened with Apple, and yesterday's presentation was definitely not boring. Here are the important updates for me:
- Apple Studio has been updated to M2. It can be said that this is the fastest computer in the world, and it's a must-have.
- New ringtone, messaging (which I don't like), keyboard and T9, dictation. Apple shows everyone how it's done.
- The phone can now be placed on a stand and used as a clock. I will definitely do this on all my desktops.
- PDFs and photos can now be integrated into Notes. This is convenient for taking notes in class.
- Widgets on MacOS can now be placed on the desktop.
- Kojima (a genius) brings the director's cut of Death Stranding to Mac, in addition to last week's release of No Man's Sky and the new version of CrossOver, which allows to run many things that didn't work on Mac before.
- Safari has improved its Webapp. They added a "light" version of Safari from the Arc application.
- SharePlay is being added to CarPlay so that kids in the back seat can play music from their phone. I hope they’ll introduce me to new tunes.
- tvOS is becoming the center of the smart home. Another reason to add home cameras to Apple Home.
- FaceTime support is being added to tvOS so that you can call parents. The camera will be used from iPhone.
- In watchOS, for hiking, there will be an indication of the last point where was available cellular, there you can return for a call. The location of available SOS communication through other cellular providers is shown separately.
- A really good recommendation for reducing the risk of miopia from childhood is to spend more time outside (the most important thing is strong sunlight) and not to hold the iPad too close to your eyes. The child's iPad use will be monitored and they will be asked to move it away if they hold it too close to their eyes.
It’s Interesting, there wasn't much about AI.
- Apple Studio has been updated to M2. It can be said that this is the fastest computer in the world, and it's a must-have.
- New ringtone, messaging (which I don't like), keyboard and T9, dictation. Apple shows everyone how it's done.
- The phone can now be placed on a stand and used as a clock. I will definitely do this on all my desktops.
- PDFs and photos can now be integrated into Notes. This is convenient for taking notes in class.
- Widgets on MacOS can now be placed on the desktop.
- Kojima (a genius) brings the director's cut of Death Stranding to Mac, in addition to last week's release of No Man's Sky and the new version of CrossOver, which allows to run many things that didn't work on Mac before.
- Safari has improved its Webapp. They added a "light" version of Safari from the Arc application.
- SharePlay is being added to CarPlay so that kids in the back seat can play music from their phone. I hope they’ll introduce me to new tunes.
- tvOS is becoming the center of the smart home. Another reason to add home cameras to Apple Home.
- FaceTime support is being added to tvOS so that you can call parents. The camera will be used from iPhone.
- In watchOS, for hiking, there will be an indication of the last point where was available cellular, there you can return for a call. The location of available SOS communication through other cellular providers is shown separately.
- A really good recommendation for reducing the risk of miopia from childhood is to spend more time outside (the most important thing is strong sunlight) and not to hold the iPad too close to your eyes. The child's iPad use will be monitored and they will be asked to move it away if they hold it too close to their eyes.
It’s Interesting, there wasn't much about AI.
Amazon's success is not just because of their popular online store or having great suppliers with a lot of products. They succeed because of their human resources (HR) strategy. This strategy helps them save money by reducing staff during low sales periods and handle a lot (10х or more) of orders during busy times, like Christmas, without compromising quality.
In the movie "Nomadland," the main character works at an Amazon warehouse few month before Christmas. Employees are hired quickly, trained efficiently, and fired when the job is done.
At “Eggselent” Cafe, where I had breakfast, they lose many orders every morning, especially on weekends, because they can't serve everybody at once. If they could forecast demand and adjust staff accordingly, they could make more money and keep customers happy.
Courier services in Russia have already learned this lesson.
In short, HR is unexpectedly essential for many businesses to recruit and train the right people, and to adjust staffing levels as needed.
In the movie "Nomadland," the main character works at an Amazon warehouse few month before Christmas. Employees are hired quickly, trained efficiently, and fired when the job is done.
At “Eggselent” Cafe, where I had breakfast, they lose many orders every morning, especially on weekends, because they can't serve everybody at once. If they could forecast demand and adjust staff accordingly, they could make more money and keep customers happy.
Courier services in Russia have already learned this lesson.
In short, HR is unexpectedly essential for many businesses to recruit and train the right people, and to adjust staffing levels as needed.
👍1
The Apple Vision Pro (sorry, can't stop thinking about it) has a "Pro" in its name, indicating that it is not just a consumer device, but an extended version for professionals that is more expensive and better.
Although the Pro version showed integration with a MacBook, not everyone has a MacBook. However, most people have an iPhone. Therefore, in the next, cheaper consumer version, Apple will likely show integration with the phone or focus on stand-alone scenarios.
The set of functions and sensors will be reduced to a minimum, but what that minimum set will be – is still unknown – until they study user experience.
Currently, only basic applications were shown in the presentation, and even the App Store was not announced, similar to the first iPhone (which had no App Store).
Personally, I am interested in seeing, in addition to games and movies, of course, a 3D analogue of Miro for mind maps, panoramas on maps, applications for the effect of presence at lectures and events, and a service for joint creation of a three-dimensional map of your city.
Although the Pro version showed integration with a MacBook, not everyone has a MacBook. However, most people have an iPhone. Therefore, in the next, cheaper consumer version, Apple will likely show integration with the phone or focus on stand-alone scenarios.
The set of functions and sensors will be reduced to a minimum, but what that minimum set will be – is still unknown – until they study user experience.
Currently, only basic applications were shown in the presentation, and even the App Store was not announced, similar to the first iPhone (which had no App Store).
Personally, I am interested in seeing, in addition to games and movies, of course, a 3D analogue of Miro for mind maps, panoramas on maps, applications for the effect of presence at lectures and events, and a service for joint creation of a three-dimensional map of your city.
👍1