Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#11

Post by imron » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 1:47 PM UTC

_RPM wrote: post #4

Programming. Started at 19. Wish I would have started at 10.

It quite possibly might have held you back.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#12

Post by akcreek » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 1:47 PM UTC

About a year ago I started moving towards not selling my time. It has taken a while to wind down all of those relationships, etc. but it has been the best and most lucrative decision I've made in my professional life. I now have just a single commitment where I sell my time and I've got it down to 2-3 hours per week. It will soon be zero as well.

I definitely wish I would have started this sooner or actually never started selling my time at all. I worked only for myself for the first 5 years out of school then the last 5 mostly for others (as a contractor - never an employee).

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#13

Post by willempienaar » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 1:48 PM UTC

Actually learning how JavaScript works.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#14

Post by pbnjay » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 1:48 PM UTC

Freelancing. Had I started just 2 years earlier (when I started grad school) I would have been able to knock out my debt much faster by the time I graduated.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#15

Post by jraines » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 1:48 PM UTC

Using source control, specifically git. Programmed for a couple years before I got on board.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#16

Post by corecoder » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 1:52 PM UTC

imron wrote: post #11

_RPM wrote: post #4

Programming. Started at 19. Wish I would have started at 10.

It quite possibly might have held you back.

Why so?

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#17

Post by _iyrr » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 1:53 PM UTC

Using screen in daemon mode.

    screen -dmS myservice /blah/start.sh

Fit that line somewhere in a properly constructed init.d file and you're good to go. And if you need to execute a safe stop from that program through some interactivity:

    screen -S myservice -X stuff "stop\n"

And voila. It sends a line of text over followed by an enter key. Elegant, useful. You can reattach session to see what's happening at any time. Love me some screen.

When the process exits in that screen session, screen session is closed so that you can rely on screen -list.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#18

Post by CaRDiaK » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 1:54 PM UTC

Learning how to learn. Could have saved myself years..

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#19

Post by bemmu » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 1:54 PM UTC

Learning the Sublime Text keyboard shortcut for commenting out the current line and other timesavers.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#20

Post by Sukotto » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 1:55 PM UTC

Declining to reveal my previous salary when negotiating a new job.

I ended up with a significantly better salary than they originally offered and never even said a number. Just built a good rapport with the hiring HR rep and agreed that the offered amount would be totally reasonable for [someone else with good experience]. Then I pointed out that I also bring to the role [additional, relevant, and desired experience] and gently asked what they could do to make the number better?. (Then I kept my mouth shut and let them think out loud for a few minutes)