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

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

#31

Post by justaguyhere »

giantg2 wrote: post #29
justaguyhere wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what little I know of unions, I'd say it is better to have unions (with all the problems they bring) than not at all. With unions, workers have a chance at least to get fair treatment. Without them, it is totally one sided. Just look at the way Amazon treats their employees - who has the balls to take on them? Cities and mayors are bending over backwards to get Amazon come to them. The power imbalance is patheti…

The population and future population events (pandemics, wars, control policies) are something I've wondered a lot about. I wonder if things will happen slowly enough that a sufficient portion of the population will voluntarily say "I don't want to bring a kid into this world" or if controls will be necessary. Of course with the economy being consumption driven, we will have a massive problem either way.

The no kids thing is already happening on a small scale. I decided when I in college that I'll never bring a child into this world.

There was even a guy who wanted to sue his parents for his birth. As absurd as this sounds, it makes one think. Maybe that was his motivation

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47154287

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

#32

Post by giantg2 »

justaguyhere wrote: post #31
giantg2 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The population and future population events (pandemics, wars, control policies) are something I've wondered a lot about. I wonder if things will happen slowly enough that a sufficient portion of the population will voluntarily say "I don't want to bring a kid into this world" or if controls will be necessary. Of course with the economy being consumption driven, we will have a massive problem either way.

The no kids thing is already happening on a small scale. I decided when I in college that I'll never bring a child into this world. There was even a guy who wanted to sue his parents for his birth. As absurd as this sounds, it makes one think. Maybe that was his motivation https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47154287

Yeah, but you still have plenty of people popping out 5+ kids and at a young age (smaller generation gap).

I am not saying this is true across the board, but my anecdotal experiences have been that the people who have more than 3 kids are not able to support them without government support programs (some exceptions like the Amish). I don't see any disincentives to having more kids if you know that support will be provided. Governments also promote having children via tax credits and even monthly payments for raising a kid (Norway or Sweden I think). That's not counting the needs-based assistance. It's all because the economy suffers if the population shrinks or stagnates.

Of course we can't just stop the needs-based payments and neglect the kids, but I would love to see the tax credits disappear and maybe require some kind of long lasting birth control as a requirement to assistance if they already have the replacement rate number of children (2) to ensure we aren't adding to the issue.

I have one kid and I don't think I want anymore. I see a very bleak future for the next generation.

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

#33

Post by giantg2 »

giantg2 wrote: post #32
justaguyhere wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The no kids thing is already happening on a small scale. I decided when I in college that I'll never bring a child into this world. There was even a guy who wanted to sue his parents for his birth. As absurd as this sounds, it makes one think. Maybe that was his motivation https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47154287

Yeah, but you still have plenty of people popping out 5+ kids and at a young age (smaller generation gap). I am not saying this is true across the board, but my anecdotal experiences have been that the people who have more than 3 kids are not able to support them without government support programs (some exceptions like the Amish). I don't see any disincentives to having more kids if you know that support will be pro…

Looks like I was wrong. I just happened to stumble on this.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/experts-predict-profound-dec...

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

#34

Post by Mr_Sweater »

Professionally : Leave IT asap, I'm fine with the "latest and greatest" leaving me behind, given all the time and freedom of a remote workday with no children or spouse to distract me, Id rather workout, watch tv, cook and read than implement yet another infrastructure automation tool. I cannot work remotely. I do not know what to do with myself professionally.

Personally : I lack life experiences, the Midwest is homogeneous and I need to upend my life the moment the world returns to normal. Planning life more than a few weeks at a time is very hard but not impossible. Two workouts a day puts me in a very happy place mentally. There is immeasurable value in community bonds, I lacked this for the first 25 years of my life and having found it recently I cant believe I never sought it out sooner.

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

#35

Post by cyberpip »

muzani wrote: post #6

The world happenings hasn't affected me at all. Same job, family is fine. Things are nice and getting better. One trick I've learned is to just show up. Instead of planning to write a whole module in a day, I now plan to just write 5 lines of code. This has helped me a lot - I've picked up two programming languages in three months just with the intent of watching one minute a day. I've had a lot of work done on my si…

I've discovered this way of looking at work as well, though I apply it more to outside of work personally. It really amazes me how much gets done when I decide "just do it for a chapter or two" or whatever the measurement is.

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

#36

Post by muzani »

twox2 wrote: post #22
muzani wrote: post #6

The world happenings hasn't affected me at all. Same job, family is fine. Things are nice and getting better. One trick I've learned is to just show up. Instead of planning to write a whole module in a day, I now plan to just write 5 lines of code. This has helped me a lot - I've picked up two programming languages in three months just with the intent of watching one minute a day. I've had a lot of work done on my si…

Can you share some examples of your tasks?

5 tasks are personal, religious.

Exercise. Anything within 2 minutes - 3 push ups, some squats, etc.

Learn iOS programming. 2 minute video, which I often play in 2x speed.

Work on my side project. 2 minutes is quite a lot of progress as the bulk of the work is data entry.

One task for a game I'm playing. It's not productive but I'll do it anyway. It used to take an hour, but thanks to habit, I shortened it to half an hour and can go even less.

Spending a little time dedicated to the family, nothing else, no phones. Cook breakfast, run with the kids, tell them a bedtime story, help them with homework. I thought I might have neglected this, but it seems it's already a habit.

Two to a regular work task. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. It's usually something like write 5 lines of code, remember to keep it to 2 minutes to cut out procrastination.

What really happens is that I'd rush through all the chores. After all they take just two minutes. I watch an intro video to iOS navigation, which is unsatisfying and end up watching a whole chapter. I write 4 lines for my project when I'm busy, or code an entire module when I feel like it. I do three push ups when I'm exhausted that day or run the whole neighborhood when I'm in the mood.

It's put me 'in the mood' to do a lot of productive things. I end up delaying the bad stuff until later, or have no guilt over doing them because I had a good day.

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

#37

Post by [deleted] »

FELDO wrote: post #20
souprock wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that even with 12 kids, working from home is productive. The difference is that I can go do a bit of work between other tasks. If I have an hour to spare and need to walk to work, about 50% of the time would be walking. It just isn't worthwhile. At home, I can put the whole hour to use. Also at home, I know I'm there for emergencies, so my wife can go out to run errands.

You have 12 kids?

[deleted]

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

#38

Post by [deleted] »

doublesCs wrote: post #16
souprock wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that even with 12 kids, working from home is productive. The difference is that I can go do a bit of work between other tasks. If I have an hour to spare and need to walk to work, about 50% of the time would be walking. It just isn't worthwhile. At home, I can put the whole hour to use. Also at home, I know I'm there for emergencies, so my wife can go out to run errands.

You have 12 kids?

[deleted]

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

#39

Post by [deleted] »

jakkyboi wrote: post #23
souprock wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that even with 12 kids, working from home is productive. The difference is that I can go do a bit of work between other tasks. If I have an hour to spare and need to walk to work, about 50% of the time would be walking. It just isn't worthwhile. At home, I can put the whole hour to use. Also at home, I know I'm there for emergencies, so my wife can go out to run errands.

You have 12 kids?

[deleted]

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

#40

Post by [deleted] »

souprock wrote: post #8
mister_hn wrote: post #7

I can work remotely productively, even with kids at home and that I am more productive than being in the office. I've learned that I can be very fast in changing environments and being able to do my job from home after the very next day I've started working from home, without disruption, on a new, unconfigured machine. I've also learned that interviewing for jobs has become something horrible, with most ghosting and…

I find that even with 12 kids, working from home is productive. The difference is that I can go do a bit of work between other tasks. If I have an hour to spare and need to walk to work, about 50% of the time would be walking. It just isn't worthwhile. At home, I can put the whole hour to use. Also at home, I know I'm there for emergencies, so my wife can go out to run errands.

[deleted]
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