Raul Popadineți

Creator, investor, and part-time programmer at Gumroad.

Building inconsistently Econub—a recycling map for my hometown.
Worked for 10+ years remotely and writing about my journey.

Pinned post from April 14, 2021

My Journey of Becoming a Gumroadian

In October 2020, I went on a sabbatical after working full-time for eight years straight. No more managers. No more renting my time to others. I just wanted to take one year off and work on my own stuff. I’m a programmer at heart, but I did not touch a single line of code during the first three months of my sabbatical. Instead, I focus...

April 26, 2023

The Misconception About Async Work

It’s no longer uncommon that remote work is becoming the norm. Some people in our industry want to replace the time wasted commuting with something more meaningful. The most common misconception is that people think working asynchronously is the same as working remotely with a strict schedule and daily/weekly meetings. When I usually t...

November 12, 2022

The 8-Hour Workday Century

It’s been over a century since the Hours of Work Convention occurred when several countries instituted and adopted the so-called 8-hour work day. Until 2013, 52 countries ratified the pact, and New Zealand denounced it 32 years ago. Today, there are places on earth where it can be worse. Some companies in China still go by the 996 work...

December 31, 2021

On My New Year's Resolution

As with any other year, I fell into the trap of making a New Year's resolution on the first day of 2021. At that time, I imitated what I saw in my social bubbles. It felt worth pursuing a handful of achievements with numbers in them, right? I was wrong. James Clear's Atomic Habits book is probably "guilty" for changing my mindset about...

March 30, 2021

On Feedback and Criticism

There are two types of people in the world. The ones that know how to offer constructive feedback when something goes wrong, and the ones that don’t. The latter seems to happen to people having stressful jobs and tend to unload that pressure on someone who barely deserves it. Some people developed very thick skin over the years and don...

March 27, 2021

The Beauty of Writing

Writing is one of our oldest forms of content that’s been preserved and perfected by humanity over thousands of years. It involves a creative process that untangles our minds and puts our thoughts in order. We can imagine that words in a book are like brushstrokes on a canvas. They are so similar it’s fascinating. Both create art, but ...

March 11, 2021

Time, Our Greatest Wealth

We’re born with it. We spend it quickly in our early years, yet, the older we grow, the more aware we become of its finiteness. Time is the human’s greatest wealth because we can’t buy more, and everyone is born a billionaire (I borrowed this from Naval). There’s no time bank we can go to for a loan, no person who can lend us more. We’...

March 6, 2021

Find Your Passion

Everybody wants to do something they love. If you can make a living off of that, even better. But most of us have a hard time finding that one thing that goes beyond the initial excitement, and brings us joy even after years of learning, practice, and improvement. So how do you find what you’re passionate about? For starters, take a br...

March 4, 2021

New Beginnings

Starting something new is never easy. It feels like every time it happens, frustration, impatience, or disappointment crawl into our minds, and we question if it’s worth moving forward. If I had a dollar for every time I abandoned writing, draw in pencil, create a wood sculpture, or start my own business just because impostor syndrome ...