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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?

#511

Post by sharadov »

astura wrote: post #288
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!”

> I have friends who eat out every single meal of every single day. I have friends who do too but it's not because they don't know how to cook, it's because they don't like to and don't wanna bother and can afford the luxury of having someone else to do it for them.

It's not about affording it dude, I got a cook who comes and cooks for me, have a meal delivery service as well, but I also like to cook.Period. Nothing to do with luxury BS.

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

#512

Post by jschwartzi »

nske wrote: post #392
smileysteve wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

And lentils with bread -most people look down on them for some reason, unless it's a side of some sort, but I find them just beautiful as proper dinner!

With a little toasted cumin seed, turmeric, onion, garlic, and maybe some fenugreek boiled lentils are heavenly. :)

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

#513

Post by mattrp »

Tehchops wrote: post #268
mattrp wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Build something. A new workbench for your office. Fix up an old car. Build a pull-up bar in your garage. Use your hands, cut some wood and metal, and treat yourself to a new tool or two. Be careful... my wife gave me a drill one year and I’ve since renovated two houses and now have a small fortune in tools. If you don’t have a garage, basement or backyard for it, your local community college might have a “maker l…

I always found the "idea" of that kind of work enticing. However, once I owned a house and had to do renovating/updating, I ultimately found it frustrating. Some jobs are incredibly frustrating if you don't have the exact tool to make it easier. The likelihood the angles and geometry of your home are square is, IME, near 0. Even measuring and re-measuring multiple times, I end up with a lot of wasted, mis-cut materia…

>The likelihood the angles and geometry of your home are square

This is true...it might be square on one plane and off on the other. That's what the 6 foot long levels are for by the way. It's good to find someone who has the tools and expertise to apprentice from -- either at a local cc or just hire them and ask if you can do some of the work. I went through several contractors before I found the guy I like to work with...I guess its the same in everything...but once you figure stuff out like that blasted little semi-hidden copper pin that's between you and a replacement shower valve, a lot of cost savings can be realized. The first time I replaced that thing, the plumber charged me $270. The second time I replaced it, I paid $19 for a part at home depot and did the rest myself.

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

#514

Post by jschwartzi »

Hitton wrote: post #473
dfansteel wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cook or eat left overs 6 nights a week at this point. Beyond saving a massive amount of money it's shocking how much better the steak I make myself is than one I can get out. Most cities have kitchen equipment stores (not just Bed Bath) that actually have cooking courses you can take. Now "home made pasta" starts with flour and eggs.

Saving massive amount of money? Judging just from demographic that uses hackernews (mostly tech workers), I think it's actually cheaper to eat out if you measure price of your time by how much money would you earn in that time while working compared to shopping for the ingredients, cooking and doing dishes.

I've been there, done that. It's not worth the extra $20-30k/year to do nothing but code. Even if I had clients to fill 80 hours a week I would still only work 40. Life is too short to do nothing but earn money.

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

#515

Post by mattrp »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #358
Tehchops wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always found the "idea" of that kind of work enticing. However, once I owned a house and had to do renovating/updating, I ultimately found it frustrating. Some jobs are incredibly frustrating if you don't have the exact tool to make it easier. The likelihood the angles and geometry of your home are square is, IME, near 0. Even measuring and re-measuring multiple times, I end up with a lot of wasted, mis-cut materia…

The problem I find is if you aren't doing it regularly everything takes three times as long as a it would take a contractor.

just like writing code!

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

#516

Post by bluntfang »

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.

Is it possible they were going for ego lifts? From your examples, do you know the weight they were lifting for each exercise?

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

#517

Post by sharadov »

chrissnell wrote: post #504
sharadov wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learn to make basic cocktails ( manhattan, old-fashioned). Get good spirits, quality mixes ( cannot emphasize this enough), fresh herbs and you got yourself a great skill.

Definitely. Like a good set of tools in the workshop, I love to buy new spirits every time I have a cocktail night with friends. I have a liquor cabinet full of strange aperitifs and whiskeys. It's very fun to learn. I should find an app that lets me build a virtual liquor cabinet and gives me ideas for new drinks that I can make with what I have.

My wife got me this book - https://www.amazon.com/Shake-Perspective-Cocktails-Eric-Prum... It's got a list of liquors to stock, everything in the book can be made with them. You will need to just buy fresh ingredients each time.

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

#518

Post by chrissnell »

inform880 wrote: post #120
a_bonobo wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have the money (and it sounds like you have), there are quite a few recipe box companies which send you boxes of ingredients and recipes every few days. It's a nice stepping stone towards fully cooking for yourself as it cuts out the shopping/deciding part.

Anyone have suggestions for these?

If you have never cooked before, start with one of the big companies mentioned by other posters. Once you build up recipes (HF and BA send you the recipes on notecards!), you can cancel and get everything at the local grocery. These days, most grocers have order-online options with quick pick-up or delivery.

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

#519

Post by agumonkey »

chrissnell wrote: post #100

Some suggestions: - Build something. A new workbench for your office. Fix up an old car. Build a pull-up bar in your garage. Use your hands, cut some wood and metal, and treat yourself to a new tool or two. Do this with every project and you will have a nice tool collection before you know it. - Learn to take pictures on a manual camera. You can do this with a modern automatic camera if it has a manual mode. Learn ab…

Where do you live ? Nightly walks do seem lovely (i tried twice), but I always have the potential mad person around in mind. City or forest.
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