Throwawayh89

Hi folks,

About 8 years ago I got into tech sales. I was always a bit “nerdy” and interested in leveraging data/automation so a career in sales quickly transitioned into sales operations, but outside of some python and tad bit of SQL all my work has been on no code platforms (mostly Salesforce). The stuff that “real” engineers did seemed totally inaccessible to me, although that inaccessibility has diminished a little after observing the engineers at the startup I was working at.

That startup recently let me go in a round of layoffs. I saw it coming and dad been saving, so I’m entering unemployed with about 6-12 months of living expenses in the bank depending how deep into savings I dug. (Also have nobody depending on my salary as my wife just got a big promotion/raise).

Would it be a horrible idea to finally jump over the imaginary chasm I’ve built in my mind into the world of engineering and enroll in a coding bootcamp? I know in the best of times these programs were tenuous and full of questionable promises despite costing $10k+, what are they like now given the job market and impact of generative AI?

Thanks for the insight!

(For context, I’m 34 and based out of NYC. No kids.)

In previous tech boom/bust cycles how long has it taken between the two? Seems we must be getting close to the job market catching up.

Next thing that needs to happen I imagine is a major IPO of a tech startup, which will start the process of VC investing that leads to froth, which will generate demand for employees. Just not sure how long all that takes to trickle.

There seem to be two recurring themes in business news headlines in America:

      1. Markets are going up because investors anticipate growth ahead in 2024.

      2. Tech companies are laying people off.

I understand why they diverge, markets are forward-looking and there was a lot of excess that needed to be trimmed after 2020/21.

That said, broadly speaking, what do people think it's going to take for the prosperity markets anticipate to result in similar changes in daily life for those working in the tech industry?

Everyone I know who works in American medicine says how much they hate it. Be them a doctor, nurse, receptionist, etc., etc. Everyone seems to complain they are overworked to the max and are considering leaving the field. Issues that existed before COVID have gone into overdrive over the last 4 years.

Curious if folks working at the intersection of tech and medicine also feel this way?

I've been considering exploring ways to get into this space because I see so many ways tech can help increase access to quality medical care without having to live in a big city or be your own best advocate. I am a bit terrified though, because of what I hear from people working in the industry.

I'm starting to conclude the founder and CEO of the startup I work at doesn't feel very passionate about the problem the company is setting out to solve or end user who experiences it. It's just something he thinks might be profitable if built.

Have I taken for granted that you need to feel these things to succeed or even bother to embark on creating a startup?

Me and my coworkers are trying to launch a new SaaS platform that targets enterprise and MM. Our sales-cycle isn't short and the investment people need to make to use us isn't small.

Has anyone here successfully bootstrapped a company like this without having a personal network of folks that can be early [paying] adopters? If so how'd you do it?

Creating a repeatable GTM motion requires so much trial/error that it feels almost impossible to do it successfully with the runway we've cobbled together from our savings (about 6 months).

Are there any tricks for getting around the paywalls placed on medical journals?

I know a variety of ways to get around ones for regular journalism, but they don't seem to work on journals.

What was Doug Burgum like during his time in tech?

Some of the things he says about how to run a tech startup baffle me. Like, I just heard him say a CEO should never spend time dealing with customers, only sales should (just like a president has more important things to focus on than the “culture wars”).

I just sold three tickets on Stubhub for a concert I won't be able to make this weekend.

When I went to transfer them on Ticketmaster I noticed that the domain the email address was at for all of them appeared to be the names of businesses, but none of them had websites or any presence in google when I searched for them.

Being the curious person I am, I then went and looked up the WHOIS for the domain. They all were registered in the last six months, supposedly by Stubhub itself (nobody actually verifies the accuracy of WHOIS data though, its all an honor system)

It seems to me like there is probably a hustle going on, where someone is buying tickets under fake names and flipping them. Is this something Stubhub is known to do (SeatGeek pretty openly does it with their return program). Or is lying on the whois part of a larger scheme someone runs?

P.S.

If anyone is curious, the email domains were crimsonhillpartners.com , oneclassic.org , and ambercovecapital.com