Ask HN: Have you found something you love to do? If yes how? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Have you found something you love to do? If yes how?

#11

Post by needSomeCoffee » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 6:06 PM UTC

dmoy wrote: post #4

knob wrote: post #2

Not sure it will "solve it"... yet following Adam's (Douglas?) suggestion to become top-25% in three fields. Then merge those fields. That has worked awesome for me. I merged technolgy (software dev/sys adm) with motor sports and with management. Love it so far. Good luck and Merry Christmas!!

Too bad there's no good payable intersection of software dev, video games, and three position bullseye rifle. Hah :(

Actually there is. When my daughters were on the Airgun 10 meter team (recent national champs), I spent some time investigating how to create a low-cost SCATT system using a relatively inexpensive laser with 3D-printed mount, USB connected cameras, and OpenCV. Something kids could use in a hallway at home vs. the range. The solution was very feasible as I got to the point of mocking it up and testing it. Daughters decided to drop shooting, and other side-dev projects took over. But you sound like you might love doing this. Cheers.

Re: Ask HN: Have you found something you love to do? If yes how?

#12

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 6:14 PM UTC

coffeefirst wrote: post #8

Love to do? No. But I’ve found some things I’m good at that are useful and I don’t seem to get sick of, and after that what seems to matter more is the people you work with. Ultimately even if you like a job it’s still a job, and the widely promoted notion of passion rarely holds up.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Have you found something you love to do? If yes how?

#13

Post by kradeelav » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 6:14 PM UTC

I'm a corporate design manager (happily so), so my industry is slightly different than yours, but I see this question pop up enough in my circles it felt relevant to say the below ...

One of the greatest mistakes I see fellow designers do is try to make their 'passion' into their job - expecting their moonshot webcomic idea to be the bread+butter income, artisanal print hobby to pay the same as a corporate career without a sizeable investment or insane time sunk into marketing, you get the picture.

Early on I made a point to do short contract/internship stints to find our what I "didn't" like to do corporate-wise (packaging, digital design, print design), and narrow down to the parts that left me vaguely looking forward to the next day (experiential design, a team that's enjoyable to work with, autonomy, management). Note that the happy bits are almost as much team dynamics is it is the work itself, if not moreso.

Re: Ask HN: Have you found something you love to do? If yes how?

#14

Post by derekp7 » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 6:14 PM UTC

For me, I started computers at around age 13. Didn't know at the time that most computer jobs were highly specialized, so I absorbed knowledge and developed skills in a wide variety of areas. Ended up as a SysAdmin simply because that was the majority of my responsibilities at my first computer related job. But I also program, design/architect solutions, do low level hardware, etc. That means I can have a job in one area, and use the other skills to make me more valuable in that role than I otherwise would be. So that is my passion, impressing others and being a highly prized asset due to bringing in multiple other skills into my primary role.

The other passion I have (that really is very similar to my primary skill) is woodworking. Anytime I need a particular furniture piece, I design it, buy the materials, cut it up / drill holes, and make my own flat-pack kits for final assembly. This hobby got a lot more fun when I finally realized that I could actually make straight cuts if I properly squared off the saw blade, and started using higher quality wood (instead of standard-grade construction lumber).

Re: Ask HN: Have you found something you love to do? If yes how?

#15

Post by derekp7 » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 6:16 PM UTC

errantmind wrote: post #3

First, be wary of general advice. That said, do you find yourself spending most your time making or consuming? At some point I just started making stuff for the majority of my time and this was a tipping point for starting to improve my skills in particular areas and narrow my focus.

Regarding Making vs Consuming, I realized why I never got consumed by gaming. I can only sit down and play a game for a short while, before my brain starts wandering and thinking how I could build something myself.

Re: Ask HN: Have you found something you love to do? If yes how?

#16

Post by laurent92 » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 6:17 PM UTC

I love building Web products. Being a Product Owner.

How: By quitting every company after doing my maximum. I’m deeply sour, because many people around me succeeded younger at being recognized, generally because of ethnic or gender reason, but I had to walk away and I have succeeded in establishing my company and I’m the PO. I’m also the laundry guy, the accountant and the principal engineer with my 2-5 employees, but I’m still making half a million dollars, so it does seem that I was discriminated in companies compared to my abilities.

I wish I hadn’t a million dollars a year and I had a sense of belonging instead, and wasn’t sour, but such is life. I feel like Donald Duck.

Re: Ask HN: Have you found something you love to do? If yes how?

#17

Post by jcun4128 » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 6:17 PM UTC

I did, when I was younger. It was from the environment (lived in Anchorage, lots of bush planes, got into model airplanes). I spent about 8+ years doing it... in 2008 or so would get lost in it. At that time I was in high school, didn't have much money but I built all my planes from scratch with foam. Those were times I felt truly happy/in the moment just being in the sun alone flying. I can do it now sure, have money now but I lost it that drive/happiness to do it. Finding real passion can be hard vs. external factors eg. money. It's like you could say you want to figure out GAI but if you're doing it for money/fame vs. truly pursing it out of personal passion, I don't know if it'll happen (aside from being hard).

I like writing code now, it's like a tool, can build things in that space. Don't think it's a passion though. I didn't come from it, I barely used a computer when I was younger. I say I want to pursue robotics but I'm not pouring myself into it either. Been spending a lot of time consuming as someone else mentioned (tv/social media). Anyway I hope I get it back, true drive vs. drive from sharing/points online. Generally I like creation though, solving things.

Part of the younger days probably just because no responsibility other than doing homework/passing tests.

Re: Ask HN: Have you found something you love to do? If yes how?

#18

Post by analog31 » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 6:18 PM UTC

I fell in love with developing measurement equipment. It started in grad school, realizing that I really wasn't cut out for a basic research career (in a massively overcrowded academic job market), but that I got a lot of satisfaction from being able to solve hard technical problems.

Today, measurement systems combine many of my hobbies, including electronics and programming. I would get bored with becoming a specialist in a narrow tech field. This is also an area where I feel that I can genuinely help people, not just with immediate business problems, but also where I can credibly justify a socially redeeming purpose.

I like the fact that the ultimate judge of my success is mother nature, who doesn't tolerate bullshit.

Advice: Can you work on something that you actually believe in? I read a lot of comments (HN and elsewhere) from people for whom "work" is just an empty cash transaction, and who respect no distinction between good and bad work. (For instance threads on doing little or no actual work without getting caught).

Or, can you completely detach yourself from your day job, satisfy yourself with the empty cash transaction, and get your personal satisfaction in some other way?

Re: Ask HN: Have you found something you love to do? If yes how?

#19

Post by liketochill » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 6:18 PM UTC

civilized wrote: post #10

adamcharnock wrote: post #5

After 15 years as a freelance developer I’ve started a rural wireless ISP. It hasn’t entirely displaced my freelance work, but allows me to help people in a way that being a developer didn’t (tangibly, at least). Now I install internet access for people, on infrastructure I have built, and I see how happy they are when they go from 2 to 100mbps (this is often in a field in the middle of nowhere). This means they can…

What an awesome and fascinating thing you're doing! Could you possibly explain at a high level what you had to do to start the ISP and make it accessible in these areas?

Check out http://dslreports.com/forum/wisp

It is a forum for wireless isps and they talk a lot about the equipment and business of it

Re: Ask HN: Have you found something you love to do? If yes how?

#20

Post by thatsamonad » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 6:19 PM UTC

I enjoy working on and solving technical problems, but the “core” thing that I’ve found I really love is working with other people to figure things out together (even though I’m fairly introverted). Once I realized that it shaped my perspective on a lot of work tasks and hobbies.

For example - a good friend and I regularly play battle royale and co-op games together after work in the evenings. The joy of those games, for me, is that we are communicating and working together to achieve something or win. I don’t get the same kind of enjoyment from single player games or games where I’m just grinding alone.

I think looking at “core values” and trying to extrapolate from there might be a good approach (or at least it has been for me). If you don’t have a sense of what those are, maybe take some time to reflect and see if you can find or create them.