Donald Knuth interviews are so interesting, but would like to particularly highlight this little piece of advice, out of this great playlist:

"Donald Knuth - My advice to young people": https://youtu.be/75Ju0eM5T2c

Complete Playlist - "Donald Knuth (Computer scientist)" [97 videos]:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV0r6CmEsFzeNLngr1Jq...

Also the "Oral History of Donald Knuth" from the Computer History Museum is great.

"Oral History of Donald Knuth Part 1": https://youtu.be/Wp7GAKLSGnI

"Oral History of Donald Knuth Part 2": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqPPll3uDa0

Plus..

"Donald Knuth Interview 2006": https://github.com/kragen/knuth-interview-2006

"An Interview with Donald Knuth": https://www.ntg.nl/maps/16/14.pdf

"Interview with Donald Knuth": https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1193856

This somewhat "colourful" page also tracks a few: http://www.softpanorama.org/People/Knuth/donald_knuth_interv...

PS: The story that he told Steve Jobs he was "Full of shit" is not true.

"Donald Knuth never told Steve Jobs that he was full of shit"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2634635

Sounds like a bank, a government agency, or any business over a certain size.

I tell people you only call it politics when you are losing. More accurately, it's a layer of literal stupidity above the competent to shield the money side of the company from the leverage that operations people would have if they had any information about how the money side worked.

Instead of a hierarchy, rethink a company as a hub and spoke model with concentric rings. The main differences are the implication in a hierarchy that there is "gravity," keeping people down and that they need energy and leverage to climb "up," which further implies there is a place to "fall," and that there is only one way "up," instead of many possible paths to the centre from all directions. There is no gravity, only gates and barriers, and even these are just information. Politics is how a middle manager runs interference and creates distractions to make sure you can't see over, around, or through them, and that the people behind them closer to the money can't see you. Tech is usually outside the main perimeter, mediated by contracting companies or middle managers whose job is to compartmentalize the value people create, and be sure it is replaceable.

Viewed this way, of course this demented political farce is how Apple works, because it's how everything seems to work when you have internalized the precise and specific mental model someone uses to take advantage of you.

Sorry if you can't unsee it now, but hopefully it will be funny and we can get good, competent people who value tangible skills into positions of power.