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Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

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Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#231

Post by xor1 »

Royalaid wrote: post #177
m90 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be interested in a few real world examples of these cases where you are able to apply the CS knowledge in your day job. Would you mind sharing one or two?

I can contribute some. Mostly it comes when you attack problems and conceptualize your solution to that problem, it does not come when looking for a library or digging through the API. Almost all of the problems you will encounter in your day to day work will be something with an already known solution or use a well known and researched pattern. Knowing the common language and use cases for data structures is probabl…

The most brilliant and successful engineers I know don't have degrees, and they accumulated their vast CS knowledge on their own. They all dropped out of college within the first two years and started working at 19-20. Two of them now run their own software consulting businesses, one is a lead at Netflix, and one is a lead at Google. They're all a bit older than me, in their early 30s now. The younger ones -- one just started at FB with a 240k+ base (he's only 23), and the last one is at Dropbox.

The main factors I think people should take into account for whether or not a CS degree is worth it:

Do you believe that you absolutely need the degree to break in to a programming career, if you're someone who just wants a good job and doesn't know where to start (like I once was, and like many of my friends who are just starting off with learning are now)? Or are you interested in a specific programming field that has a hard CS/Math degree/knowledge requirement?

Is the combination of tuition/fees and opportunity cost significant to you? If you are responsible for paying your own way and taking out loans, compare spending ~4 years in college and having -$40k and no work experience, vs. working for ~4 years, having $40k+ in the bank (possibly much more), accumulated possessions/assets, credit history, etc. This is not nearly as significant if your finances are being handled by someone else, and/or you don't have to worry about money at all because you have access to wealth anyways (mainly through trusts, planned inheritance, a partner, or your family).

Do you believe that you need to the environment, structure, and pace provided by college/university to actually learn CS, and that you're incapable of doing so on your own? I want to note that there's nothing wrong with feeling that way. It's just something to take into consideration. If you need to be completely immersed in it to actually retain the knowledge, then it's the right choice. If not, and you're someone who can learn everything on their own, then consider if being in a CS program would actually hamper your rate of learning, as you're forced to match the slower pace of others.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#232

Post by monster_group »

treydey wrote: post #178
monster_group wrote: post #55

Learning Sanskrit. I have spent the last few years learning it and it's been tremendously rewarding. Sanskrit is a beautiful language. Learning it is a great mental challenge and gives great satisfaction (to me). Before learning Sanskrit I had never really pursued a hobby this seriously. Since I have been doing this I no longer feel like a machine who just goes to work, eats and sleeps. Before this, I used to feel gr…

This is an extremely interesting perspective. I actually had the opposite experience. I was forced to learn sanskrit throughout my high school career and I absolutely hated it. I'm an extremely practical person and I have no use for the language at all.

The key phrase is "was forced to learn". I am not forced. I am doing it because I want to. I am also a very practical person. Sanskrit is a very useful language to me because it gives me great happiness.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#233

Post by mathgenius »

yakcyll wrote: post #229

Playing Go. I picked the game up around the time when AlphaGo was on the up and up. My goal with it was to work on patience and fulfill my competitive drive. It proved to do so much more for me - a year in, I got to play solid games, experience success against players stronger than me, meet a lot of awesome people, travel a bunch and, most importantly - and probably the most cliche - learn a lot about myself, about m…

> learn a lot about myself

This is so true: playing Go strips you naked, everything about your personality comes out in the game. It's completely terrifying. And awesome.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#234

Post by songzme »

csomar wrote: post #224

Drinking lots of water. It might not be the same for everyone. However, I have noticed that I rarely drink water. It is interesting that I only noticed that this year (late twenties). The effects on my body and mind were phenomenal. I used to drink less than 1 liter a day. I don't feel thirst. So I don't drink water when I'm dehydrated (because I almost never feel it). Instead, I have a prescribed quantity that I dri…

During my interviews, I notice a profound difference in performance when I drank 2 gallons of water a day before the interview. I got out of those interviews thinking, How did I even come up with that solution? I pocketed a few offers and drinking water definitely played a pretty big role.

Now I drink 2 gallons of water every day, it's become a habit and I feel sharp every day.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#236

Post by sAbakumoff »

skrebbel wrote: post #67
sAbakumoff wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OOC - how long did it take to lose 10 kg? Did you experience decrease of body temperature during that period?

About 8 months. Unexciting speed compared to diets, but I'm not on any diet and I eat whatever I like. It's not going to come back on. I expect to lose the same amount again in the next 8 months or so. No idea about body temperature, sorry.

That is perfectly normal speed of losing ~1 kg per month. I have been there...lost ~20 for 2 years and keep it until now. As for the body temperature I read somewhere that losing 3% of weight slows down metabolism significantly that leads to wide spectrum of side effects like low body temperature.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#237

Post by st1ck »

lquist wrote: post #219
Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #218

Learning the very basics of photography: what shutter speed, ISO and aperture do, and how to adjust them for each situation. It takes literally half an hour to learn this, and of course you won't be taking professional quality photos, but your photos will go from crappy to OK or even good, even if you only have a phone (as long as it has manual mode). You know that time you took a random photo and the light and color…

Link for this?

For example, https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#238

Post by chris_wot »

songzme wrote: post #234
csomar wrote: post #224

Drinking lots of water. It might not be the same for everyone. However, I have noticed that I rarely drink water. It is interesting that I only noticed that this year (late twenties). The effects on my body and mind were phenomenal. I used to drink less than 1 liter a day. I don't feel thirst. So I don't drink water when I'm dehydrated (because I almost never feel it). Instead, I have a prescribed quantity that I dri…

During my interviews, I notice a profound difference in performance when I drank 2 gallons of water a day before the interview. I got out of those interviews thinking, How did I even come up with that solution? I pocketed a few offers and drinking water definitely played a pretty big role. Now I drink 2 gallons of water every day, it's become a habit and I feel sharp every day.

I go to the gym every day, which has had a profound effect on my life. But I also drink a lot more water than I did before. Perhaps a combination of the two have helped me a lot of the last year?

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#239

Post by mmirate »

tshannon wrote: post #213
mmirate wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern technology has made a mockery of the days when it took an entire family's labor just to raise an acre or two of crops.

Yeah as a species we're accomplishing much bigger things now than an acre or two of crops. I like to think that we're working towards a bigger goal than simply surviving.

Indeed, and we are able to do so via the artifices of trade and commerce - the only thing that need be agreed-upon is the price, the quantity and the quality.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#240

Post by uiae »

lquist wrote: post #219
Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #218

Learning the very basics of photography: what shutter speed, ISO and aperture do, and how to adjust them for each situation. It takes literally half an hour to learn this, and of course you won't be taking professional quality photos, but your photos will go from crappy to OK or even good, even if you only have a phone (as long as it has manual mode). You know that time you took a random photo and the light and color…

Link for this?

https://www.exposureguide.com/exposure/

In addition to learning about the technical basics about photography, I found the following guide highlighting certain patterns of composition useful: https://antongorlin.com/blog/photography-composition-definit...

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