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Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

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Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#161

Post by DanBC »

Fishman343 wrote: post #150
badpenny wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are probably a number of causes, but coffee may be one of them. Don't be radical, but if you're having too much coffee, I'd suggest cutting down to just one coffee in the morning. It will take a bit of effort but may help you concentrate. I'd suggest gradually cutting down to none. Apparently the alertness and general cognitive enhancing properties of caffeine don't really exist and all that people are noticing…

This is clearly unsubstantiated - the benefits of coffee are very clearly outlined. Maybe some people who drinks too much are experiencing the withdrawal, but if you do not over-do it, there is a 90% chance of feeling more alert when you drink coffee.

> the benefits of coffee are very clearly outlined

No, what we know about benefits of caffeine is quite weak.

http://www.evidentlycochrane.net/caffeine-and-health-evidenc...

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#162

Post by atemerev »

y0y wrote: post #157
icoder wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused, you ask a question like this (which is already hard to answer without knowing your full background) and you leave out the fact that you were diagnosed with ADHD recently (and are on treatment), only to mention it in a reply-comment? Do you think these are unrelated?

Based on his other replies, it seems he's given up on adhd treatments and probably didn't want all the replies focusing on that (oops!). I guess he was hoping there were some strategies others use that weren't related to treating an underlying neurological condition. /shrug

I currently take Elvanse (the long-action form of Adderall). It works for some issues (like forgetfullness and occasionally focus-related things), but it does nothing for novelty cravings. Before recently, I considered it to be a good thing, but when I understood that it is a primary driver of everything I do in life, I had doubts. Hence the post.

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#163

Post by mercer »

mindcrime wrote: post #36

I can relate. I get bored really quickly as well, and I am one of those people who usually kicks ass at a new job for about the first year, and then starts to tail off after that because I'm bored out of my mind. I've found two things that seem to help: 1. Start a startup. I started Fogbeam at least in part because it gives me an outlet to pursue things that are interesting to me, and a place to work on really cool n…

Any tips on how to get clients as consultant?

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#164

Post by atemerev »

mercer wrote: post #163
mindcrime wrote: post #36

I can relate. I get bored really quickly as well, and I am one of those people who usually kicks ass at a new job for about the first year, and then starts to tail off after that because I'm bored out of my mind. I've found two things that seem to help: 1. Start a startup. I started Fogbeam at least in part because it gives me an outlet to pursue things that are interesting to me, and a place to work on really cool n…

Any tips on how to get clients as consultant?

OP: LinkedIn worked the best for me.

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#165

Post by [deleted] »

brandonmenc wrote: post #34

> Is there a cure from novelty-seeking behavior? Start a project, commit to the technologies beforehand, and deviate under no circumstances. Facebook was built with PHP. AdWords was built with MySQL. Instagram was built with Django. GitHub was built with Rails. Stack Overflow was built with Microsoft technologies. It seems there are few instances where a "boring" tech stack prevents the product from being built. If t…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#166

Post by kazinator »

duncanawoods wrote: post #108

I have found people like you really useful to know because you have had contact with such a broad range of techs that when I have a problem, I can quiz you and get some killer pointers for where to look next. I wouldn't want you to change, just to find your place in the world and satisfaction in being naturally you. Its like you have pockets full of keys and really good at finding new keys just no locks to use them w…

> I can quiz you and get some killer pointers for where to look next.

Sure, as long as the quiz doesn't involve how to use something in ways not spelled out in its README. Or issues and limitations in applying it --- also not in the README which is more of brochure from a fanboy perspective.

In other words, don't ask, "How did you use that to solve a similar problem? What problems did you encounter, and what were the solutions and workarounds? Would you use that again?"

Someone who knows about alternatives isn't nearly as useful as someone who has the inside knowledge to evaluate them in a relevant way (that is bang on).

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#167

Post by Const-me »

jharohit wrote: post #142

I would suggest create a profile on Upwork.com (or some other active freelancing website) and list down your areas of knowledge. Price yourself competitively - slightly below average rates so as not be considered cheap and low quality but not overpriced as well. This will help in 2 ways: 1) Slowly bring in cash which will tackle your $50k debt in definite time period. Remember "compounding" is the biggest weapon! 2)…

Second that, also from personal experience.

Well, I sometimes worked longer, but never longer than 3 years at one place. In addition, I don’t remember being fired, my employers were generally happy with my performance, instead I got bored and quit myself.

For me, freelancing is working OK. Today I’m working on some Windows Store SDK, yesterday I’ve worked on an industrial-grade WinCE embedded software, tomorrow I gonna work on a cross-platform OSX+Windows 3D authoring software, and in my spare time, when I’m bored, I learn CUDA.

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#168

Post by atemerev »

kazinator wrote: post #166
duncanawoods wrote: post #108

I have found people like you really useful to know because you have had contact with such a broad range of techs that when I have a problem, I can quiz you and get some killer pointers for where to look next. I wouldn't want you to change, just to find your place in the world and satisfaction in being naturally you. Its like you have pockets full of keys and really good at finding new keys just no locks to use them w…

> I can quiz you and get some killer pointers for where to look next. Sure, as long as the quiz doesn't involve how to use something in ways not spelled out in its README. Or issues and limitations in applying it --- also not in the README which is more of brochure from a fanboy perspective. In other words, don't ask, "How did you use that to solve a similar problem? What problems did you encounter, and what were the…

Of course, I am actually using most of tech stacks I evaluate.

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#170

Post by kazinator »

atemerev wrote: post #168
kazinator wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can quiz you and get some killer pointers for where to look next. Sure, as long as the quiz doesn't involve how to use something in ways not spelled out in its README. Or issues and limitations in applying it --- also not in the README which is more of brochure from a fanboy perspective. In other words, don't ask, "How did you use that to solve a similar problem? What problems did you encounter, and what were the…

Of course, I am actually using most of tech stacks I evaluate.

But, by your admission, not for very long and to get anything actually done, right? Though, to be fair, probably long enough to have something to say as far as an evaluation of the tool.
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