Pretty excited about some video scripts I'm working on but nothing to share right now. My video editor has traded off with me and is currently under the weather. I want to build a buffer eventually but that's not where we are right now :)

Similarly, if you listen to Regular Programming. It hasn't been retired. It has been tired, slightly ill, swamped with child-care, other work and such. We have a bunch of episodes recorded but we haven't had a good chance to get the editing work done. Figured I'd mention it if anyone was concerned. I have one episode in the hopper now so I should find time to release it.

If you are going to Code BEAM in Stockholm next week and can arrive one full day before I have something for you. We still have a few, 2 or 3, seats left. I'm very excited. Absolutely vibrating. First email to participants has gone out, if you haven't got yours, check spam or reach out.

I'm technically not on the hook for mentioning my sponsors during this month as I'm on leave and so is billing but I'm happy to, since they are supporting my work, which more companies should. The current ones, West Arete and Bzzt can be found on the Jobs page of the Underjord site.

Actually, I might as well report a bit on the outcomes so far.

I don't do a ton of volume, I'm not a bulk recruitment funnel for these companies. What I have been able to offer is candidates that would never have seen the open market or that look at my sponsored postings way before they start looking more widely. I've sent about a dozen candidates to the companies I have agreements with and all of them have been relevant, some absolutely outstanding. Not all of them have been a good fit of course. I've seen candidates with between solid and golden experience that I know from experience is incredibly hard to reach with a job ad. Most aren't even really looking yet, just starting to wiggle in their current job and they take a chance on something because I put it out there as an option.

Many highly capable developers move between jobs via their networks. I've never needed to pass an interview for employment in my life and I'm not unique in that. Some light interviews for consulting work, sure, but no code tests, no homework, no algorithms. Doing what I do in writing, videos and podcasts builds an extended network around me. And now it is clear that I can use that to connect companies that make sense to the network and make them an early option to consider. Some candidates have been almost incidental headhunting while others are considering their options. Very few of them are actively looking.

I'm thrilled that this has been the response because I don't want to do your average recruitment. I like my readers and it has been great fun to talk to more of y'all and to figure out what companies you should talk to.

The Easy Part of Wisdom

If you follow any of the topics of Startups, Marketing, Indie Hacking, Productivity, Creativity or Writing there is a certain type of advice or supposed wisdom you will run into. The counter-intuitive. The no-but-really. The overrule.

Let me try and pin it down. We can take a common suggestion such as "No, don't do any more development. Set a price and ship it." or "You don't know who your writing is interesting to. Publish it." and endless variations on the theme.

Half of any good startup-bro podcast is saying "but what if you don't do that?" or "but what if you do that to the nth degree?". It's an important part of mastermind groups. It's often a valued function of advisors. And it has been a place where I've often started with mentorship conversations.

Give me your envelope and I'll give it a push, first in one direction, if that doesn't do anything interesting. How about we push it in the other? Oh, do you want to build a product. Okay, have you put time on the calendar to work on it? How about we do that? Oh, that doesn't work for you? Would your life be more at peace if you decide, actively, that you are not doing this?

I find I learn the most when I'm pressed or pressing myself outside of my comfort zone but typically not when I feel unsafe. In a mentorship conversation I'm typically quite transparent about why I'm pushing any particular piece of stationery (see also, the envelope). I'm not having these conversations to show off my exceptional bro-hood and how much I can disrupt thinking or whatever. Doing whatever it is the person is doing right now is typically not producing the desired results or there is some lack of clarity. This is trying to push things into a different track and see where it takes us. The specific track isn't too important.

Sometimes it feels like a one-trick pony kind of thing. Because a lot of people respond well to having a relative stranger kindly but firmly push them on the things where they really want to get pushed. The responses or outcomes often tell us interesting things but that's really where the value of that push typically ends for me and the easy part stops.

Then we get into the messy parts of people. If the push gave the desired outcome quickly and everything worked out it was probably not a hard situation to change. I've seen that in less personal things like pricing something or finding the path to a slightly uncomfortable conversation that needs to be had.

In most cases the response will either be that the person feel they can't do the thing. Or they try and fail to do the thing because it ties into life and habits that are hard to change. Or one of the trickier things, they don't know what they want to do and whatever we attempt just fails to spawn that drive in someone.

For some people I think I've managed to support a change longer term by listening a lot and pushing here and there to the point where it feels like I'm rocking them back and forth. I guess that's a decent metaphor for getting someone out of a rut. Suddenly they spring loose and do the thing and afterwards I hear I helped. Typically when I feel like I've achieved nothing up until that point.

Pithy expressions and catchy advice is easy to give. And I think it's a useful tool for probing and it can be amazing for shifting a small problem. Wielding the tech-bro wisdom of our ancestors is just the first step. The hard part of supporting or helping anyone lies in the complicated morass of human emotion and motivations. Or if you can shift your perception enough, in the beautiful interplay of human emotion, body and brain.

I really appreciate that people ask me for mentorship. Right now I don't typically offer it. Part of that is an uncertainty about what I can actually offer people, what I can help people achieve. I've only really gotten positive responses to my approach but it irks me that I can't really tell if I'm just a decent brain-masseur that can make someone feel better for a bit or if I support lasting impactful improvement. In some ways it might not matter. But it matters to me.

The biggest reason I don't offer it is time, which is more pressing.

Almost everything starts easy at the shallow end and the deeper you go the more you need to tackle the complexity of the humans involved. I don't recommend staying on the shallow end though. I'm not sure we get anything  important done there.

How did the most important mentors, teachers and influences you've had help you? I'd love to hear it at lars@underjord.io or on Twitter where I'm @lawik.

I appreciate you. Thanks.

- Lars Wikman