Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What was your favorite job?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 32 posts

Re: Ask HN: What was your favorite job?

#21

Post by austin-cheney »

A/B testing. It was fast paced, high risk, you actually had to know how to program on the front end, and everything was measured. It’s what programming for the web should be but absolutely isn’t. It was like comparing special forces to being an army cook.

Edit for clarity:

When I say you had to know how to program I mean you know to know the environment and not fail. It’s not about knowing some tool, framework, or pretend gimmick. If your test executes properly you are helping the employer form massive revenue making decisions. When it break you break existing functionality in production and nobody will forgive you. If you know what you are doing you can squeeze absolutely anything you can imagine in an A/B test and most of it can be tested in a browser console.

Re: Ask HN: What was your favorite job?

#22

Post by mikewarot »

In the 1980s, I was the sole developer/support person for an inspection system based on MS-DOS, Turbo Pascal, Norand corporation handhelds running code in PL/N (Their variant of PL/1). I wrote a set of libraries to do field based data editing, cooperative multitasking, and all the code for it all. I supported the system in the field, and learned a ton of things about software usability.

My moment of self actualization happened when I walked up to one of the customers locations, and I realized that no matter what... they were going to be happy by the time I left.

Re: Ask HN: What was your favorite job?

#23

Post by RankingMember »

DANmode wrote: post #12

Auditing hung and underground utility lines, and related and low-voltage equipment. Almost as disproportionately paid as tech, if not more, depending on your niche. Great exercise, engaging. Flexible schedules and methodologies. Can be performed on a bicycle or e-bike(!!). If you know what geocaching is, imagine being paid to do it! If you've ever wanted a well-paid career that you're in control of, that's a good one…

Can you give us some more idea as far as qualifications needed and the US regions involved? It sounds awesome on the surface!

Re: Ask HN: What was your favorite job?

#24

Post by RankingMember »

mattbgates wrote: post #7

It was actually my second/third job into my career. I got #2 and #3 at the same time. One was working from 8 AM to 5 PM and the other was from 6 PM to 2 AM. I was working these two jobs like this for a year and a half. Position for both was web designer. On the weekends, I'd do web design freelance work. Managed to pay off my student loans in 2 1/2 years ;) This current one, I'm still working and fighting for it ever…

Wow, that sounds exhausting on your end and makes me feel like I must be missing some kind of additional context (or you've just had the bad luck of working for an org whose culture promotes awful people).

Re: Ask HN: What was your favorite job?

#25

Post by DANmode »

RankingMember wrote: post #23
DANmode wrote: post #12

Auditing hung and underground utility lines, and related and low-voltage equipment. Almost as disproportionately paid as tech, if not more, depending on your niche. Great exercise, engaging. Flexible schedules and methodologies. Can be performed on a bicycle or e-bike(!!). If you know what geocaching is, imagine being paid to do it! If you've ever wanted a well-paid career that you're in control of, that's a good one…

Can you give us some more idea as far as qualifications needed and the US regions involved? It sounds awesome on the surface!

The qualifications are mostly physical: a physically disabled person* would necessarily struggle or be unable to do the physical auditing out in the field.

The regions involved vary wildly, depending on where infrastructure needs auditing (either because of catching up on the utility's own documentation, or updating a competitor's docs that they're buying out). Medium to large cities of differing climates.

People in this role either choose to remain in a region for around a year, or move to various areas as a perk/"vacation".

I was introduced to it by what I found out to be a really disorganized and mildly unethical group, which is why I'm not currently out doing it!; looking to forge a new group with trustworthy people, who also know what a damn computer is!

*(but, if you're reading this and strongly interested/motivated, you may be able to assist on the documentation side or more!)

Re: Ask HN: What was your favorite job?

#26

Post by mattpallissard »

I worked in a maintenance shop for 6-7 years.

Operating equipment, fixing things, hauling items from various sites, welding. Sometimes problem solving, sometimes being "paid from the neck down".

Full of young and old derelicts, wildly inappropriate conversations, and shouting matches. I'd never been so mad or laughed so hard. It was both a blast and a formative part of my life. It really taught me what being part of a team was all about.

Re: Ask HN: What was your favorite job?

#27

Post by mixto »

austin-cheney wrote: post #21

A/B testing. It was fast paced, high risk, you actually had to know how to program on the front end, and everything was measured. It’s what programming for the web should be but absolutely isn’t. It was like comparing special forces to being an army cook. Edit for clarity: When I say you had to know how to program I mean you know to know the environment and not fail. It’s not about knowing some tool, framework, or pr…

Do you still do A/B testing? As in, was this a specialty or just a project you were assigned?

Re: Ask HN: What was your favorite job?

#28

Post by mixto »

mikewarot wrote: post #22

In the 1980s, I was the sole developer/support person for an inspection system based on MS-DOS, Turbo Pascal, Norand corporation handhelds running code in PL/N (Their variant of PL/1). I wrote a set of libraries to do field based data editing, cooperative multitasking, and all the code for it all. I supported the system in the field, and learned a ton of things about software usability. My moment of self actualizatio…

Thanks for sharing. Do you think being a subject matter expert is a crucial part of job satisfaction?

Re: Ask HN: What was your favorite job?

#29

Post by DANmode »

RankingMember wrote: post #23
DANmode wrote: post #12

Auditing hung and underground utility lines, and related and low-voltage equipment. Almost as disproportionately paid as tech, if not more, depending on your niche. Great exercise, engaging. Flexible schedules and methodologies. Can be performed on a bicycle or e-bike(!!). If you know what geocaching is, imagine being paid to do it! If you've ever wanted a well-paid career that you're in control of, that's a good one…

Can you give us some more idea as far as qualifications needed and the US regions involved? It sounds awesome on the surface!

Can I answer any more questions, or even curiosities for you?!

Here's a couple of pics from one of the access roads on one of the runs I did: https://ibb.co/B4WWM8k

https://ibb.co/q55gK3p

Re: Ask HN: What was your favorite job?

#30

Post by RankingMember »

DANmode wrote: post #29
RankingMember wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give us some more idea as far as qualifications needed and the US regions involved? It sounds awesome on the surface!

Can I answer any more questions, or even curiosities for you?! Here's a couple of pics from one of the access roads on one of the runs I did: https://ibb.co/B4WWM8k https://ibb.co/q55gK3p

Thanks. I did some googling to try to better understand what the "meat" of a job like that would be and came up pretty empty, so it must be very niche. I'm guessing it's doing contracts for service providers, e.g. in California a customer would be Pacific Gas and Electric Company, eh?
Post reply on HN