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Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

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Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#411

Post by ChrisRackauckas »

merpnderp wrote: post #337
TeMPOraL wrote: post #31

You might as well have asked who among us won the lottery. I've been struggling with this for years now; after 4 boring jobs I finally gave up even the expectation that what I'll be asked to do will be even remotely interesting (or socially useful). The chance of landing an interesting job is absolutely minuscule - the market rewards whatever it rewards at the moment, and that's where jobs flock. These days, one of t…

I'm not very clear on what you think a job is for. I understand a job as a way to trade your service for money and the point of money is to exchange it for other people's goods and services, like the kinds of goods and services we need to not die starving in the street, and are incredibly inefficient to provide all by ourselves. Or to send our kids to college. Or to pay our taxes so that the government can continue t…

ML isn't really what's being used since it's too unreliable. The reigning models are all differential equations based, using ODEs and PDEs along with the clinical side using PBPK with maximum-likelihood estimation.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#412

Post by TeMPOraL »

lgas wrote: post #386
iforgotpassword wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pushing the humanity forward, or alleviating a social problem for some group of people Isn't this what humans like to strive for? Making an impact, being remembered after death, thus living forever. That's one of the things a family (with kids) helps you get over, you know, the whole "living on through your kids" thing. If they don't end up as homeless drug addicts, it probably kinda works. I've taken a job at a un…

> Isn't this what humans like to strive for? Making an impact, being remembered after death, thus living forever. That's one of the things a family (with kids) helps you get over, you know, the whole "living on through your kids" thing. If they don't end up as homeless drug addicts, it probably kinda works. I don't know. Everyone has kids. Having kids is technically making an impact, but I think that when most people…

Yup. Having a child seems to be the lowest common denominator of "having an impact", and it terms of improving anything around you, it's simply re-rolling the dice, hoping that your kid will end up in a position of greater influence than you. Having offspring is probably the best way to make (some of) your way of thinking outlive you, but you need to work on creating opportunities for your children if you want your way of thinking to impact anything around them.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#413

Post by dragonwriter »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #412
lgas wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Isn't this what humans like to strive for? Making an impact, being remembered after death, thus living forever. That's one of the things a family (with kids) helps you get over, you know, the whole "living on through your kids" thing. If they don't end up as homeless drug addicts, it probably kinda works. I don't know. Everyone has kids. Having kids is technically making an impact, but I think that when most people…

Yup. Having a child seems to be the lowest common denominator of "having an impact", and it terms of improving anything around you, it's simply re-rolling the dice, hoping that your kid will end up in a position of greater influence than you. Having offspring is probably the best way to make (some of) your way of thinking outlive you, but you need to work on creating opportunities for your children if you want your w…

> hoping that your kid will end up in a position of greater influence than you.

No, it's hoping that you plus your kid(s) will have more impact than you alone. Or that your kid will magnify your impact just by existing (which there is some evidence for if your chosen venue of impact is electoral politics, at least.)

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#414

Post by swsieber »

perfmode wrote: post #397
swsieber wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't given it a ton of thought because I have a job I enjoy from time to time, and enough downtime to pursue a hobby or two - I guess I'm in a pretty balanced situation and am okay with it. In reading your post, I had to stop and think for a bit. I agree with you but want to give the thought that family can be one's top priority without looking for it fill every aspect of one's life.

no one thing should be dependended upon entirely. any and everything may disappear from your life at any moment. no one is above great tragedy and loss.

You are correct - no one is above great tragedy and loss.

If my family was taken from me unexpected, I don't I'd say that I wished for more time at the office, or working on personal hobbies. I do believe in balance, but the point I'm trying to make is that family can be the number one priority.

The mindset of "I can be happy because I have x" (in this case where x = family), is indeed dangerous. And while the mindset of "I have chosen to be happy, and my top priority is my family" will bring sadness and pain if they are suddenly taken, I feel like that pain and sadness will have been worth it. Well, it is for me. That for others it might not is understandable.

Please note as well that I'm not advocating self-deprecation or letting your family take advantage or you, or throwing yourself under the bus for an uncaring family - it's a group effort and there a lot of ways to appear to put your family first in a way that's detrimental to one's self.

For me when I think of dedication in family life, I think of the story, "the gift of the magi". Nothing of true importance was sacrificed, and yet the others needs were prioritized.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#415

Post by sharonzhou »

I was a couple months ago, then I started my own thing and I feel great again. It’s called Sidepact and it’s actually really relevant to this problem! It’s a weekend program for employed engineers to start companies—to get people out of their local maxima. Check it out and apply if what you’re looking for next is to maximize fulfillment in your work and you want to own it :) http://sidepact.com

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#416

Post by newfoundglory »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #407
newfoundglory wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Living in a city, there's no such thing as "local community" anymore. Not even neighbours. Sure there is. I live in a condo with 20 other units, and it makes a great small neighborhood.

How do you make it work? In the experience of every condo dweller I know personally, people know their neighbours mostly to the extent they bother being involved in their HOA meetings; otherwise, everyone walks their separate paths, only greeting (and maybe briefly chatting with) the neighbours as they meet them on the stairway.

It helps that it's shaped more like townhouses than an apartment building. We have a large interior carpark/garden where the kids play, which creates a lot of incidental contact and I think the kids are a huge factor in making a neighborhood feel, it creates an easy shared experience and proximity means you can easily help people out with eg shared babysitting. There's also a few people who make a dedicated effort to encourage community, like trick or treating, and it's a place where half the residents have been there over ten years. I joined the HOA in my first year which has definitely helped me get to know others.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#417

Post by recharged93 »

Used to be developing hardware and software swarm tech for drones. shows. (yes, I'm that guy)

Company didn't want to spend millions in sustainable infrastructure and evolution (we found another company to do it, they threw big bucks! Wink!) and instead politics pushed things to wilder [IMHO, unachievable] ideas. But that's research nowadays: politics and money. Went into walking robots last year, and... similar result. Now in product development, gluing s/w libs and resoldering circuits from a CM overseas. What a roller coaster last 5 yrs. But it pays the bills.

Hard to do anything challenging today, once the MBAs and sales folks come in (now at very early stages) all challeneges get snubbed for the release date, presentation deck, ecosystem "messaging" and manufacturing.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#418

Post by IpV8 »

I do. I gave up many higher paying opportunities and took risks. It is tough to turn down a good offer without a better alternative just because the work is displaying data on a web app. I've found the trick is find interdisciplinary teams. Look for jobs building medical/scientific research equipment, or renewable energy, or robotics. Also, the more experience that you get building CRUD apps, the more inertia your career has in that direction. Go to meetups, build cool things and show them off. Look at R&D grants from your state and cold email those companies. It will take time, but good jobs are out there.

Re: Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?

#419

Post by fps_doug »

lgas wrote: post #386
iforgotpassword wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pushing the humanity forward, or alleviating a social problem for some group of people Isn't this what humans like to strive for? Making an impact, being remembered after death, thus living forever. That's one of the things a family (with kids) helps you get over, you know, the whole "living on through your kids" thing. If they don't end up as homeless drug addicts, it probably kinda works. I've taken a job at a un…

> Isn't this what humans like to strive for? Making an impact, being remembered after death, thus living forever. That's one of the things a family (with kids) helps you get over, you know, the whole "living on through your kids" thing. If they don't end up as homeless drug addicts, it probably kinda works. I don't know. Everyone has kids. Having kids is technically making an impact, but I think that when most people…

> I don't know. Everyone has kids. Having kids is technically making an impact, but I think that when most people say they want to make an impact, or to accomplish something great, or to change the world, they don't mean by doing something that almost everyone else does.

I guess that's what the "help getting over it" part was referring to. In your teens/early twenties you dream of changing the world, and after reality sank in, you do the next best thing and go for kids because you shape them and so live on through them, mission accomplished, impact has been made. Humans are great at bullshitting themselves. (Not trying to sound harsh or implying kids are worthless or anything, but it really seems to be a fallback plan for a lot of people)

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