aje404

Go show someone how to calculate a gradient vector (assuming they can calculate basic derivatives) and multiply two matrices, and then try to teach them how gradient descent works or the SVM derivation. That's not going to end even slightly well for your average person. There really is no silver bullet for this stuff. You either need some mathematical maturity, or you need to put in an exorbitant amount of time to understand things.

The same as I would when conversing with anyone else; it's generally obvious when someone you're talking to is putting on their political filter, no? I don't come out and ask things like "has either Uber or Lyft screwed you over?" (or any other inquiry of that nature), but plenty of peripherals come up in conversation.

Granted, neither company is a paradise for a would-be driver. I'm sure they all have their complaints. It's essentially a customer-service position, and their have been plenty of threads on here discussing the downsides of either company.

Regardless, again, many of them are content with their job, and the lifestyle it incurs. Most drivers I've spoken to are animated when talking about setting their own hours, "being their own boss", and many even are animated in discussing company politics or current events regarding them. Don't take my word for it, though, actually talk and get to know your drivers; an abstracted analysis or a news article isn't the best way to get an impression of the situation.

Forewarning: I don't have WSJ, so I can only really comment on the title and get a little context from the comments.

I've only used Lyft and Uber in NYC, but I use both frequently (or have; I was "scammed" by a Lyft driver and had a kafkaesque experience with Lyft's management trying to resolve the situation, since which I haven't used their services).

I almost always engage my drivers and try to get to know them. Frankly, I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever in their "friendliness". Topics range anyway to US politics, their home countries' politics, to their job, to their family, to whatever else. Almost all drivers will engage me (assuming their English is good). The only difference in engagement I've noticed is from Taxi drivers, who, of course, expect tips, and thus, I don't think there's much merit to the preconception that "they're nicer to me because they want my money!". Most people enjoy talking to others; when they're stuck in a car with someone for a half hour, they just might want to chat about life. I think it's that simple.

I've asked nearly every driver, with either Lyft or Uber, how they feel about either company, and they rarely have any complaints (and no, I don't think they suspect I'm auditing them or anything along those lines). At least in NYC, bear in mind that the vast majority of these guys are in some combination of: 1. Working for both Lyft and Uber (whenever they feel like it) 2. Driving as a part time gig 3. Coming from a Taxi gig, and thus, the grass is much greener regardless of whether either Lyft or Uber empirically "treats them better"

Just as well, I really can't imagine that customer treatment varies wildly between Lyft and Uber. All of these guys have horror stories about customers, just as us, as passengers, have horror stories about drivers.

So, I think, despite not reading the article, Lyft, via Logan, is likely just spewing marketing nonsense, and a lot of commenters leaning towards a particular company might want to rethink the bases for their conceptions.

I don't really think this article warrants a serious conversion.

He leads with "I’m not endorsing either side", then proceeds to denumerate every wrong that SO regulars have inflicted on poor, benign newbies, and intersperses it with quotes with hard-working, incipient programmers ( who are, naturally, all from Reddit) who've been abused by oppressed by this ill-tempered cadre of SO devs. Many of them decide to quit the dream they're working so hard at because an experienced developer didn't debug their while loop.

Naturally, he's peddling a book that teaches you how to install a text editor and run hello world. The only travesty here is that he's getting from free publicity for this troll-bait.