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Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

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Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#341

Post by goatinaboat »

gozzoo wrote: post #244
billfruit wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learn to enjoy poetry. There is so much of great poetry in English, but I think it is not being read and appreciated enough. It is a kind of mental challenge like doing a puzzle, to unlock the full vivid meaning. Also reading fiction, though how exactly it helps one is beyond me, but it offers glimpses into other worlds. For example I read recently 'The French Lieutenant's Woman', I doubt its richness of detail, and…

I've been trying the same and each time I failed miserably. I just don't get it and certainly can't enjoy it. Can someone recomend good poetry sutable for highly analytical mind or a book about apreciating poetry?

Have you tried Dylan Thomas, the greatest poet in all of Wales? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas

Those of a more Scottish persuasion might prefer Robbie Burns.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#342

Post by sequoia »

Improve your ability to participate in the democratic process!! Our (Americans') democratic "muscles" have atrophied so much in recent decades. People can hardly disagree without thinking the other is evil. I've found that even in small groups (such as school-parent coop), people struggle to do things like negotiate different priorities, listen to one another, and come to a compromise. This is a very dire condition for a democratically-led society, as these skills are essential for such a system to function.

No one is going to fix this for us, but we can all contribute to fixing it together! To quote a recent New Yorker article on democracy in crisis[0], "Don’t ask whether you need an umbrella [if you need to prepare for failure of democracy]. Go outside and stop the rain [fix it!]."

How? Make an effort to reach out to people with different views. Commit to listen to them and be willing to agree to disagree in a friendly manner. You'd be surprised how quickly the name-calling can stop and the shared humanity can be found when you really listen! For inspiration & guidance, read one or more of the following:

    * Don't Label Me by Irshad Manji (lots of practical democratic advice, if you pick only one pick this one)
    * The Coddling of the American Mind by Haidt & Lukianoff
    * How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The second book has an overly-confrontational title–rest assured the book itself is level headed and thoughtful. The third book will help you in business & your personal life, and may improve democracy as well!

Let's (Americans) roll up our sleeves and take on The Big Challenge in 2020: improving our own democratic skills to get our society back on track.

0: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/02/03/the-last-time-...

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#343

Post by brodouevencode »

JamesBarney wrote: post #311
kerkeslager wrote: post #9

Starting conversations with strangers. Squat and deadlift. Eating healthier. Doing something kind for someone else every day. Honesty. Listening to people you disagree with. Driving safer (this is the most dangerous thing we do on a regular basis). Meditation.

I don't know about squat and deadlift. I'm in my mid 30s and 20-40% of my friends who squat and deadlift had to stop because they injured their back in the last couple of years. All of them looked like they had great form and half had gone to a trainer as some point to make sure their form was good.

Almost certainly mobility issues. Im almost 40 and still squat at least once a week.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#344

Post by OJFord »

falcolas wrote: post #238
komali2 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully support the value system here in that we both want people cooking for themselves more, but I have to say that sous vide cooked steaks taste like boiled meat to me, aka terrible. People around me are swear by it until I slap a ribeye onto the pan for them, high heat, making sure to render the fat. To each their own but imo a sous vide is a big, expensive, plastic waste of counter space.

Do both. Sous vide to your tastes, then in a hot pan on each side for 3-4 minutes. Best of both worlds, without having to worry about overcooking the outside to get the desired internal doneness.

> Sous vide to your tastes, then in a hot pan on each side for 3-4 minutes

Cook a steak, and then put each side in a hot pan for 3-4 minutes?!

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#345

Post by bryanmgreen »

snarf21 wrote: post #113
ryugarden wrote: post #64

Learn how to make more friends. Communicate. Learn how to talk with people, how to be adaptive and contextual. Learn about yourself as much as you can, either via introspection or from other people. Learn what your values are, and what makes them satisfied. "You are your own ally, when you make yourself an enemy even though you should trust yourself, you become the victim hit the hardest". Learn agency. Remember that…

I've come to believe that introspection is the one true real superpower. Here is an exercise for the reader. Every year on your birthday, write down what you "know" to be true about life, work, love, politics, money, meaning, happiness, environment, etc. and then seal it. Now read what you wrote last year and see how dumb you used to be.

Right now I’m completing an “In My 20’s” document tracking numbers of big things (is: how many countries visited, music festivals attended, pieces of furniture built, jobs had, dollars saved, etc), feelings, observations, lessons and questions.

It’s pretty powerful. I can track my progress, see the speedbumps, but I think the biggest thing is that despite having all this data, it is not predictive.

I have zero idea what my thirties will look like. Will my goals and priorities change? If so, in what direction and how much?

The biggest takeaway for me in this process is really wrapping my head around how I have no control over tomorrow, only the actions I take today, and that whatever happens, that too shall pass.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#346

Post by bitexploder »

ngsx wrote: post #285
bitexploder wrote: post #35

I will share one that has served me well for over 20 years: learn RDBMS and SQL. Learn normal forms, good schema design, and how to write complex queries. NoSQL adopters often avoided schemas like the plague and ended up with unmaintainable messes after a few years. I have seen more than a few NoSQL -> SQL conversions by now. Data is the most important thing in your app. Give it a great design. Plus databases like Po…

Do you have any recommendations on how to learn RDBMS/SQL? I'm currently using NoSQL at my day job (and agree with your points on it), but have struggled to find a good side project to really dig into RDBMS/SQL. I have used SQL briefly in the past (side projects/class projects) but I'm looking to really cement the skill in my mind.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22237767 -- someone else asked a similar question, here was my response.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#347

Post by smileysteve »

geddy wrote: post #332
tnel77 wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What blows my mind is how much I took my ability to cook for granted. So many people my age (millennial) can barely cook anything. I have friends who eat out every single meal of every single day. People give me weird looks when every single workday I have the same answer to “you wanna go out and get some lunch?” “Nope. I have leftovers!”

Funny thing about those people is they constantly complain about how expensive everything is, yet they spend frivolous amounts of money on what's probably the highest marked up item: food. Meal prep for a week for ~$75 and you're set. It would cost probably 4 times that (at least, depending on where you eat) to eat out, not to mention you don't know how it was prepared, and it's probably wildly unhealthy compared to…

$75 is even an exaggeration. It might be more bland, but eggs, chicken breasts, some veggies should get you through a week for < $30.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#348

Post by ubercow13 »

butler14 wrote: post #317
cpursley wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The health risks of not doing deadlifts far outweigh the risk of doing them. It's the only thing that has resolved my back pain and improved my posture. Disclaimer: hire a trainer to learn the correct form

this is probably one of the most absurd comments I've ever read on HN

Why? Deadlift is absolutely magic for back pain. You don't even need to lift 'heavy', just regularly.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#349

Post by ryanstorm »

cushychicken wrote: post #239

I'm trying to write more! I forget where I originally read it, but I think Ben Horowitz said something to the effect of "Clear thinking is best expressed in writing, so you can refer back to it later and see if your logic was correct." Been blowing up Confluence at work like a fuckin' fiend, and been blogging a lot more on my personal site. I don't have any objective measures for this, but I think it's helped me a lo…

There's this blog post:

Writing is Thinking: Learning to Write with Confidence

https://blog.stephsmith.io/learning-to-write-with-confidence...

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#350

Post by cgh »

deepGem wrote: post #16
kerkeslager wrote: post #9

Starting conversations with strangers. Squat and deadlift. Eating healthier. Doing something kind for someone else every day. Honesty. Listening to people you disagree with. Driving safer (this is the most dangerous thing we do on a regular basis). Meditation.

I will add Kettlebell swings to Squat and deadlift. They are one of the best all round exercise for muscle development particularly around the lower back and for cardio as well. In fact, I haven't come across a full body muscle building and cardio exercise that can match Kettlebell swings.

Yes, heavy two-handed swings were a game-changer for me. I am a climber and I don't think it's any coincidence that 5.13- and V8 became "easy" after incorporating these into my routine. I had a very weak posterior chain. It's funny, when you do an actual sport-specific strength assessment, it often seems your weaknesses are not what you thought they were.
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