Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#141

Post by balfirevic » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:09 PM UTC

mcv wrote: post #116

maayank wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they though? Haven’t seen many companies with graph problems at such scale that require a new solution integrated, leaving aside the social network trope

You don't need scale to make graph databases useful. As soon as relationships between items are more important than the data within a table, graph databases make your data easier to navigate than joins upon joins.

Is it so substantially easier to justify keeping (and maintaining) another copy of your data in the second database? Or, alternatively, to keep your data split between several different databases and invest all the required effort to keep them consistent?

Sometimes it is, of course. But not often.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#142

Post by kthejoker2 » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:10 PM UTC

AstralStorm wrote: post #24

kerkeslager wrote: post #9

Starting conversations with strangers. Squat and deadlift. Eating healthier. Doing something kind for someone else every day. Honesty. Listening to people you disagree with. Driving safer (this is the most dangerous thing we do on a regular basis). Meditation.

Honesty is not a skill, lying successfully is. Neither is kindness. (And forced kindness can be patronizing.)

Maybe "radical candor" instead.of honesty?

Or maybe specifically giving honest feedback to others.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#143

Post by maayank » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:10 PM UTC

mcv wrote: post #116

maayank wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they though? Haven’t seen many companies with graph problems at such scale that require a new solution integrated, leaving aside the social network trope

You don't need scale to make graph databases useful. As soon as relationships between items are more important than the data within a table, graph databases make your data easier to navigate than joins upon joins.

I feel like I’m taking imagination-b-gone pills. The only potential uses off the top of my head that I’ve witnessed are credentials management and financial instruments arbitrage, and in both cases it was solved well by other measures.

I’m sure there are projects where it’s useful, but not “every company” useful like SQL or even a server supervisor framework. I would be happy to be proven wrong.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#144

Post by agumonkey » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:11 PM UTC

hluska wrote: post #80

phowat wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From this list, the thing I struggle most with is conversations with strangers. Any suggestions on how to improve that?

Here’s a neat trick. When you’re at a party, meetup or other social event, don’t approach people standing alone. Instead, approach people in groups of two, say hello (or give a quick little glass tink ‘cheers’) and introduce yourself. A large large amount of the time, one of those two people want OUT of the conversation and you’ll be that out. That’s a great low risk drill to get started. It’s low risk because it wor…

I find the whole social scene like a weird challenge. Maybe I'm just out of muscle but it seems too many people are struggling and everybody is resorting to tips and tricks to live by. How come it's an easy process on average.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#145

Post by agentultra » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:11 PM UTC

Keep a journal.

If you are in a technical role and you lead or design systems consider learning a model checker like TLA+ or Alloy; or a proof checker like Agda, Coq, or Lean. The extra clarity is worth it on its own and you might end up finding and fixing vulnerabilities or performance problems that save people a bunch of money and headaches.

Learn strategies for improving your emotional intelligence.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#146

Post by collyw » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:11 PM UTC

bitexploder wrote: post #35

I will share one that has served me well for over 20 years: learn RDBMS and SQL. Learn normal forms, good schema design, and how to write complex queries. NoSQL adopters often avoided schemas like the plague and ended up with unmaintainable messes after a few years. I have seen more than a few NoSQL -> SQL conversions by now. Data is the most important thing in your app. Give it a great design. Plus databases like Po…

Agreed, though interviews seem to focus on trendy framework of the month plus some random algorithm that I learned 20 years ago then forgot as I never needed it.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#147

Post by personlurking » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:12 PM UTC

Dumblydorr wrote: post #44

yaman12 wrote: post #19

Learn a another human language. You don’t have to be good at it or even able to converse. Languages are systems of thinking as much as they are systems of communication. Some thoughts only make sense in a given language! The process of learning a language builds cognitive skills and perhaps fights cognitive decline. If you have absolutely no “ear” for human language start with Esperanto and work your way to additiona…

I was thinking of learning French, can anyone recommend which tool to use?

I tried a single lesson of the trial version of Frantastique, and enjoyed it, however their monthly subscription is too expensive ($20-50 range). Can't say much else since I didn't finish the trial.

https://www.gymglish.com/en/frantastique

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#148

Post by billfruit » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:12 PM UTC

yaman12 wrote: post #19

Learn a another human language. You don’t have to be good at it or even able to converse. Languages are systems of thinking as much as they are systems of communication. Some thoughts only make sense in a given language! The process of learning a language builds cognitive skills and perhaps fights cognitive decline. If you have absolutely no “ear” for human language start with Esperanto and work your way to additiona…

I would perhaps recommend Latin, because it has a huge and rich literature, and uses essentially the same script as English.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#149

Post by ptero » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:12 PM UTC

Interpersonal skills. Those are usually in very short supply at tech companies.

This wide spectrum with many sweet spots. For example, if you can learn what a developer is doing without pissing them off or boring them out of their minds and translate from techno-babble to humanspeak and back you can quickly make yourself appreciated in many tech companies.

Time management skills. Learn to rest, really rest so that you feel good, curious and re-energized after it (probably means turning your phone off as a first step). My 2c.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#150

Post by mamcx » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 3:13 PM UTC

vasco wrote: post #59

Some less usual things people do that I think are very high value but boring (hence why they're not usually done): - Understanding taxes, the importance of savings and baseline personal finance literacy. - Reading the political programs of a few parties running for elections in you country - Reading a few yearly report / financial statements for a public company, an NGO/non-profit/state agency/local government and tr…

> Understanding taxes, the importance of savings and baseline personal finance literacy.

Ok, what could be a good resource for this? The problem with finances is alike eating: You get so much talk from shaddy "experts" that is hard to see where the good info is.