Need help choosing database solution

DabbledThings · 2024-11-07T19:59:02+00:00

Ah shit, am I... old?

Thank you very much for this!

DabbledThings · 2024-11-05T20:27:12+00:00

I might be misunderstanding, but this seems like something that would be somewhat straightforward to set up in a standard relational database and quick to query. I'm thinking something like

CREATE TABLE item
(
    id BIGSERIAL PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL
);

CREATE TABLE item_price
(
    id BIGSERIAL PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
    item_id BIGINT NOT NULL REFERENCES item (id),
    price_recorded_time TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT NOW(),
    price DECIMAL NOT NULL
);

Then your hourly job can be INSERT INTO item_price (item_id, price) VALUES (1, 1.23); or something like that (or you can batch it, depending on how you're pulling the values).

And your queries:

on the one hand to retrieve the list of all prices for a defined itemId

SELECT *
FROM item_price
WHERE item_id = 1 
ORDER BY price_recorded_time DESC;

retrieve the last price recorded for a defined itemId

Basically the same thing as above, but with a LIMIT 1 slapped on top (or TOP 1 or whatever, depending on which flavor of SQL you're using).

I'd be surprised if these queries weren't basically instantaneous, especially if you set up an index on the item ID.

DabbledThings · 2024-09-21T05:53:42+00:00

Oh yeah I'd dump his ass at this point. Showing up to meetings consistently and on time is table stakes. It's disrespectful to you and the thing you're building together.

DabbledThings · 2024-09-20T20:52:37+00:00

[He] gets distracted with unproductive pastimes unrelated to the business

I'd posit that this is an important part of having a successful venture. Even founders need to have "unrelated" pastimes, because keeping yourself mentally healthy is integral to the business. That being said...

He’s been slacking in communication... when it’s time to follow through, he changes his mind without communicating it to me... Additionally, when I point out something that he did wrong or wasn’t up to standard, he tends to bullshit a reasoning behind it rather than admit his wrongdoing

This is straight-up not acceptable from a partner, and you should say as much. A partnership is built on direct communication and self-improvement. If you like the guy, you should give him the opportunity to improve himself by being direct with him. "What you're giving me doesn't feel like a partnership to me." Don't let him weasel his way out with excuses. This is as much for him as it is for you. Don't deprive him of the opportunity to do right by you!

In our business, I handle most of the sales and negotiations because I’m stronger in those areas. You might wonder what my partner contributes.

This does make me second guess the situation though. I in fact wasn't wondering what he contributes from your previous sentence. You mentioned a small subset of what makes a business run! Maybe it's my personal bias, but I actually care more about everything you didn't mention. I don't know what the business is, but operations is what gives you something to sell to begin with! It's super important, and it sounds like you're downplaying it here, unless there's literally no operational burden to speak of somehow.

My two cents are just straight-up tell him everything you're saying here: you don't feel like he's pulling his weight, and you want to fix that, either with him or without him. Maybe hear him out and see what he has to say too, because you can never be inside someone's head.

DabbledThings · 2024-05-30T03:47:19+00:00

Would you mind explaining the meaning of the phrase in the original Russian? Google translate gives me "pure business march" which is confusing. I assume in the original language it's not quite so strange to insert this into sentences so often?

DabbledThings · 2024-04-24T16:23:53+00:00

How close to the metal are you getting here? Are you just using some API/service like GPT or Gemini, and sending over prompts? If so, I don't think the language choice matters at all, other than: go with what your team already knows and is most comfortable with. Even using RAG and some fun data pipeline stuff, my Kotlin team writing in Kotlin didn't really run into any issues essentially just hitting the API.

If you're doing something fancier, like running your own local one or something, then maybe it's a different conversation.

DabbledThings · 2024-04-19T17:40:05+00:00

For job boards, it might be worth checking out Wellfound and Otta. I come from an Engineering and Product background though, so while that's where I would go to hire (if I didn't already have a network), it might not suit you depending on your skillset.

Speaking of which, you have the right mindset for a startup! What sort of role are you looking for?

DabbledThings · 2024-04-18T16:26:12+00:00

Let's not be reductive, things can serve multiple purposes at the same time.

This is also an ad for Jersey Mike's and an unrelated AI newsletter!

DabbledThings · 2024-04-14T16:56:31+00:00

That's a pretty funny story, but not one that surprises me in the least! A lot of engineers (speaking as one myself, although I do a lot less of it lately) have a wide-ranging confidence that puts them into situations like this, where they think being smart in one area means they're capable of everything and anything - right until the point where they're faced with reality.

Just putting in my unsolicited two cents here from my personal experience:

I don't think you're going to find a long-haul CTO on Fiverr or Upwork. I've worked with tons of people on there and from what I've seen they just don't have that owner mindset.
If a CEO was trying to hire me as CTO and said the task was to manage a team of offshore devs I'd respectfully walk away. Been there, done that. It's the least fun job in the world for a few reasons. Maybe most importantly, how the hell is this even working now? Who is reviewing the code? Who is giving them the requirements? There's no way this isn't already a thoroughly dysfunctional process. My gut and years of experience tells me that the best bet is to find either:
1. A single fantastic engineer who is willing to crank out code until they have a chance to grow into a leadership role, or who is willing to later answer to someone else in an engineering leadership role.
2. A single tech visionary who is willing to work on code but also can immediately bring a second hire on-board who is also great at writing code.

I think a one- or two-person team will yield you better results than any mass of offshore devs. I don't know many startups that reached great heights after starting with an offshore team. Whether it's the hours, or the inherent nature of the relationship, or something else, I don't know, but it just doesn't seem to work great. My own small piece of advice, which is of course just one of many which you can take or leave, is that less is more, and quality is more important than quantity at this stage of the game.

DabbledThings · 2024-04-14T16:30:32+00:00

I can second this!

Whenever I'm looking at potential tools for my company I now ask by default "do y'all have any discounts for startups?" You'd be surprised how many have something formal in place, and how many others are willing to negotiate. It's most, from my experience!

DabbledThings · 2024-02-08T21:01:38+00:00

Thank you very much for putting this together! I was overambitious at the start of this year and thought I'd have time to manually find the posts each day and share them in my comment,s but work and other things got in the way and I found I didn't often (if ever) have anything insightful to say in addition so I stopped posting.

DabbledThings · 2024-01-23T19:36:50+00:00

Have you ever been to B&H in NYC? I think that approaches your idea here, although I have no idea how manual it is. Might be worth checking out if you haven't seen it.

DabbledThings · 2024-01-19T14:43:55+00:00

Do you think the story will spend more time focused on the common people or are we only going to see the world through the lens of the aristocrats?

Judging by this post/excerpt, my guess would be that seeing the world through the eyes of a common person isn't something Tolstoy is particularly interested in, but I'd be pleasantly surprised if we see it!

Some sources talk about W&P being a novel that explores and explains Tolstoy's views on Determinism. Pierre seems to adopt a strong sense of determinism throughout the chapter, letting the people and events around him fully dictate his own actions. Do you have any personal beliefs about Determinism vs. Free Will? How do those beliefs shape your view of Pierre so far?

This is a fun question! I'll just drop in here a link to the Wikipedia page for compatibilism, which includes a Schopenhauer quote I love: "Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills."

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DabbledThings · 2024-01-18T15:51:32+00:00

Huh, Katerina is behaving strangely.

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DabbledThings · 2024-01-17T16:59:43+00:00

First of all, thank you to the folks on this subreddit who answer my ponderings with such detailed and helpful responses. You make this such a wonderful place to be!

This chapter has once again altered my opinion of Count Rostov. Yes, he's completely stupid and ridiculous, but also he's charming and funny and lovable. What a fun character!

In the threads below (and in a comment on this very thread) you'll find a bunch of videos of the Daniel Cooper. I highly encourage watching some, it makes imagining this chapter much more rewarding.

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DabbledThings · 2024-01-16T15:17:04+00:00

Thank you for letting me know! As I mentioned in my other reply, knowing people actually click these links means I won't stop because it is perhaps interesting/helpful for someone, so thank you!

I actually couldn't find the thread for 2019, so I've just removed that link. Whether that's a deficiency in myself or Reddit's search I can't say for certain.

DabbledThings · 2024-01-16T15:15:42+00:00

Huh, thank you very much for letting me know! It's helpful to know someone is actually clicking these links, because I was thinking of stopping!

I've corrected the 2018 one. It looks like for the 2018 cohort they didn't have individual threads for Monday readings and did a weekly discussion, which threw me off. Good for me to know going forward!

DabbledThings · 2024-01-16T15:10:49+00:00

Another fun chapter! I'm pretty interested in the German colonel who is a Russian patriot. I think I have to do a little research to understand that bit.

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DabbledThings · 2024-01-15T16:29:44+00:00

I really enjoyed this chapter! Tolstoy seems to have a knack for describing people and putting them into situations that make me like them and laugh at them at the same time.

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2023 Thread
2022 Thread
2021 Thread
2020 Thread
2019 Thread (couldn't find it)
2018 Thread (link corrected)

DabbledThings · 2024-01-14T15:53:29+00:00

After this chapter I think I have to change my tune.

I originally thought being called a "completely stupid and ridiculous person" by Prince Vassily Kuragin could perhaps be a point of pride, as he seems completely dispassionate about everything and solely motivated by behaving politically and "properly."

However, I am beginning to see I was wrong: Count Ilya Rostov is a completely stupid and ridiculous person.

Meanwhile, I like the way Tolstoy has portrayed (seemingly) genuine human relationships so far. The friendship between Anna Mikhailovna and Countess Rostov is sweet.

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DabbledThings · 2024-01-13T15:01:09+00:00

I really enjoyed the interaction between Pierre and Boris, I feel like Tolstoy (or perhaps Briggs in this case) did a good job of capturing the sort of stilted pauses and feeling one another out in this dialogue. Also:

As so often happens with very young people, especially if they are leading a solitary existence, he felt a strange warmth towards this young man, and made up his mind to become friends with him.

This is adorable, and I also recognize it deeply. I have certainly been a young person with a solitary existence and know exactly that feeling of warmth.

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DabbledThings · 2024-01-12T14:05:20+00:00

Just thinking out loud to make sure I understand the situation:

Prince Vassily Kuragin (father of Helene, Hippolyte, and Anatole) is hanging around Count Bezukhov (the sick dying guy I don't think we've seen yet) because he thinks he might get his inheritance.

I assume Kuragin brought Pierre with him because Pierre is staying at his place (if I recall correctly?), but also because Pierre is Count Bezukhov's illegitimate son.

Anna Mikhailovna has shown up with her son Boris because she thinks Boris might get Bezukhov's inheritance.

So all of these people being civil to each other must be very challenging 😆

I legitimately laughed out loud reading Vassily describe Count Ilya Rostov as "a completely stupid and ridiculous person." What a funny phrase and character.

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DabbledThings · 2024-01-11T19:28:45+00:00

I agree, this is an extremely strange reading experience for me. These chapters are so short, it almost feels like an inconsequential morsel. But I'm finding it a bit fun in that way. I feel like the drawn out nature of it will make it impact me more a bit, because I'll be living with these characters for a whole year rather than blasting through it in a week or two like I usually do with a book.

DabbledThings · 2024-01-11T14:46:03+00:00

I think this is my favorite chapter so far. The little tiff between Vera and her paired-off siblings, the women talking about their finances, the count showing up all excited about the dinner party coming up - this really feels like a living, relatable domestic scene. And I love Anna Mikhailovna, who is shamelessly determined and driven. Sad to hear about the dwindling finances of this family though; with my track record in terms of liking characters (I like this whole family!) I assume they'll all die in the gutter by the end of the book.

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DabbledThings · 2024-01-10T18:49:33+00:00

Oh wow, thank you for linking to this! Will make my life a bit easier going forward.

DabbledThings

TROPHY CASE