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Ask HN: What has the past 12 months taught you?

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Re: Ask HN: What has the past 12 months taught you?

#181

Post by CalRobert »

workinthehead wrote: post #171
alchemism wrote: post #145

* When the CEO dumps the CTO and folds the job into his own, the startup is dead, no matter for how long it continues to turn a profit. * Freecamping in Europe has shown me as an American that America is not nearly as free as we were taught to think. Great place to make money, though. * There are definitely better things to experience in life than playing with more money than one really _needs_.

> Freecamping in Europe has shown me as an American that America is not nearly as free as we were taught to think. Would you mind explaining further?

They may be referring to rules like the Freedom to Roam as found in Scotland.

https://www.scotways.com/faq/law-on-statutory-access-rights

Or not. But it's very distinct from what's allowed in the US (or most of the world for that matter)

Re: Ask HN: What has the past 12 months taught you?

#182

Post by CalRobert »

zbentley wrote: post #178
workinthehead wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can camp for free on national parks and most state parks as well. So I'm wondering what exactly OP is going on about unless being super edgy.

I interpreted OP's statement as referring to other, unsaid aspects of (US) American life that they saw in contrast while camping in Europe--not as referring to the "free" in "freecamping" as a significant difference between the two regions. I'd be interested in what those differences were, though.

In some regions you are permitted to camp _on someone else's private property_ given you adhere to specific, and somewhat strict, rules.

https://www.scotways.com/faq/law-on-statutory-access-rights

Re: Ask HN: What has the past 12 months taught you?

#183

Post by pdelgallego »

kaybe wrote: post #162
koliber wrote: post #86

You can put more effort in and potentially make more money. You can not make more time, no matter how hard you try. You can pay someone to do something to free up a portion of your time, which you can then use as you see fit. You need to prioritize how you spend your time. This is not a one-time exercise. It's an ongoing process. You look at the things that you do in a given day, week, month, and year. You see how th…

I can recommend growing a handful of chilli plants as a substitute. They can last several years if you protect them from frost and are remarkably resistant against problems.

I would like to hear more.

Re: Ask HN: What has the past 12 months taught you?

#184

Post by Klathmon »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #58
qntty wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you expand on the third point?

It's a bit tongue in cheek, I don't really recommend that everybody moves overseas. But for me, I was in a city that I didn't really like, and a job that I didn't really like. I wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't saving any money. Basically, my life was on hold. I had worked at my job for a year, and had saved a total of zero dollars, my boss was never going to give me a pay rise, and I was feeling like shit at work.…

I managed to "unlearn" that lesson over the last year.

I used to love getting pushed outside my comfort zone, I'd take more risks than most, and I loved being "behind the 8 ball", I found I did my best work when there was no other option.

But then over the last year I got complacent, i got comfortable. I started second guessing any changes, because "what if it's worse"? I started becoming more and more risk averse, and more unwilling to change.

Recently I started changing that, and I'm making a conscious effort to push myself outside my comfort zone, because as you said, if I "woke up" 5 years from now and I'm still in the exact same position, i'd hate myself.

Thanks for reminding me that I'm making the right choice.

Re: Ask HN: What has the past 12 months taught you?

#185

Post by CalRobert »

* Babies are ten times more time consuming than I thought.

I knew they took all of your time but I never understand what life is like when you have to schedule a task that takes ten minutes for the weekend

But it gets easier and they (well, mine at least :-) ) are absolutely wonderful, or can be at least.

* I thought if Trump won I would be glad I left the US. And I am, but it's overpowered by a pervasive, ever-present sadness and despair.

* Facebook is (was, rather) probably a net negative in my life.

Re: Ask HN: What has the past 12 months taught you?

#187

Post by beaconstudios »

- Consistent disciplined work is more productive than bursts of inspired work, over any meaningful time frame. For example, your side project will be much nearer to completion in 6 months if you put in 3 hours of pre-planned work every night, as opposed to 12 hours of frantic inspired work every week.

- Do the things you have to do first.

- You have two mental modes of operation - "manager" mode and "worker" mode. Batching your tasks by this dichotomy reduces stress caused by context switching between the two. In other words - when you're planning, plan. When you're doing, do.

- Software features don't mean shit unless you're designing the workflow around them. Tools that work based on journeys and flows are better than tools that provide disconnected capabilities and make you implement the journeys in your head.

Re: Ask HN: What has the past 12 months taught you?

#188

Post by spidey1 »

yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #152
6ue7nNMEEbHcM wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, can you elaborate on '"Software Craftsmanship" is a scam.'?

Much of what's said in that community is uninteresting and nonsensical. I was super interested in this "movement" for some years and joined many of those events. The trouble is, so much of it is programmers patting themselves on the back for being more "disciplined" than your average working programmer. Before Google, business listing websites competed by being the most disciplined in listing business data — they had…

So how do you go about it?

I've only been in this field for about 18 months and I'm so overwhelmed by all these conflicting ideas and have no idea where to turn.

Do you have any advice for juniors on how to internalise good engineering principles and how to avoid dogma?

Re: Ask HN: What has the past 12 months taught you?

#189

Post by chiefalchemist »

firefoxd wrote: post #114

* Five co-founders are too many. * If you are working on someone else's crappy idea, think about working on your own crappy idea. * Call people you might need later when you don't need them. Or they tend to disappear when you do need them. * Learn about the stock market and invest right away. You'll make money, lose money, then understand money. * Build as many projects as time allows. It's nice to have the option to…

> "I'll end with this. If you are bored, create something. Make a clay pot, a drawing on paper, a JavaScript file, a wooden structure, a shoe rack, a sand castle, a matchstick home, a story. Make something you can look at the end result and you'll never get bored again..."

This might be the best single sentence I've read on the internet so far this year. Kudos.

In short: Boredom is a function of creativity / creating.

Thanks again.

Re: Ask HN: What has the past 12 months taught you?

#190

Post by chiefalchemist »

crankybear1337 wrote: post #151
firefoxd wrote: post #114

* Five co-founders are too many. * If you are working on someone else's crappy idea, think about working on your own crappy idea. * Call people you might need later when you don't need them. Or they tend to disappear when you do need them. * Learn about the stock market and invest right away. You'll make money, lose money, then understand money. * Build as many projects as time allows. It's nice to have the option to…

> If you are bored, create something. This is a bit rambly and tangential, but one thing I'd really want to emphasize is the "something" part. Sometimes it's good to decompress by just making something that's neither conventionally useful nor well-engineered, but absurd, like an inside joke taken to the extreme. A personal example: My friends and I have built an IRC bot that stores most of its code in Redis and is al…

Sometimes stepping away will bring you closer. Being over-focused and over-working can often do more harm than good.

I didn't understand much of what you said about your project, but it still sounds fun and interesting. Kudos.

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