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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?

#61

Post by MattHood0 »

alexchamberlain wrote: post #6

Programming (I feel like that might be cheating on HN...) I started programming about 16 years ago (I think), when my Dad bought a basic introduction to HTML for himself, which I ended up "borrowing". I super geeky teenage life followed where I learned various languages, including Python, Delphi and an obscure language called RapidEuphoria (honest, that is a programming language, with some interesting features actual…

I'm curious about your experience going from a maths degree to a software engineering career - do you find the maths to be specifically and/or broadly relevant to your work? Are there any anecdotes you'd like to share on the process?

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

#63

Post by mzanchi »

MattHood0 wrote: post #61
alexchamberlain wrote: post #6

Programming (I feel like that might be cheating on HN...) I started programming about 16 years ago (I think), when my Dad bought a basic introduction to HTML for himself, which I ended up "borrowing". I super geeky teenage life followed where I learned various languages, including Python, Delphi and an obscure language called RapidEuphoria (honest, that is a programming language, with some interesting features actual…

I'm curious about your experience going from a maths degree to a software engineering career - do you find the maths to be specifically and/or broadly relevant to your work? Are there any anecdotes you'd like to share on the process?

I'm a maths graduate who became a programmer too. In my experience there's very little direct application of the knowledge acquired during the degree, but the thinking process gained is totally relevant. Doing a maths degree is one of the best things that happened in my life, and it altered the way I think forever. Having said that, now that I do a little bit of AI (as everyone should), I start to see more and more math in the code I write.

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

#64

Post by fazilakhtar »

galfarragem wrote: post #60
pjmorris wrote: post #13

Cooking. I am not a chef, but I have spent the time and effort to be able and willing to tackle nearly any recipe in the cuisines I'm familiar with. More importantly, I've made my wife, family, friends, strangers, and myself, happy at my table and via gifts of food. In terms of books, the biggest difference-makers have been 'The Way to Cook', Julia Child, 'The French Laundry Cookbook', Thomas Keller, et al, and 'The…

Completely agree. Being able to eat decently, consistently and without breaking your budget definitely makes cooking a great skill to invest. Hint (it works for me, YMMV): cook only once a day, only when you're rather hungry and preferably on evenings after work. It will help you to relax.

Cooking, and ironing are my go to relaxing activities in the evenings. Hit two birds with one stone.

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

#65

Post by EliRivers »

Keinstein wrote: post #53
EliRivers wrote: post #48

Being good at reading and writing. The ability to quickly and efficiently understand and mentally absorb large amounts of the written word, and the ability to write clearly, simply and coherently about subjects both simple and complicated. Being good at reading is a force multiplier in everything academic I have ever done, and continues to be a huge advantage in both learning and simply doing my job, and in so much o…

Do you have any tips on getting better at this (eg writing explanatory pieces on technical issues) apart from simply doing it over and over again?

Harsh, brutal critique from other people (ideally the target audience), prompted by deliberate questions from us about how easy it is to read and understand, and questions from us to test that understanding.

Writing happens entirely inside one's own mind; it can be so hard to see that what we're writing isn't clear, isn't well structured, doesn't guide the reader deftly through understanding and enlightenment. I wonder if it's even possible to properly critique our own explanatory pieces on technical issues, given that we cannot read it without having that knowledge already in our heads, as the target audience will have to.

It can be quite a shock to learn how badly written some of our own work is; as with code reviews, ego has to step aside.

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

#66

Post by galfarragem »

stevekemp wrote: post #34
pjmorris wrote: post #13

Cooking. I am not a chef, but I have spent the time and effort to be able and willing to tackle nearly any recipe in the cuisines I'm familiar with. More importantly, I've made my wife, family, friends, strangers, and myself, happy at my table and via gifts of food. In terms of books, the biggest difference-makers have been 'The Way to Cook', Julia Child, 'The French Laundry Cookbook', Thomas Keller, et al, and 'The…

I was going to say the same thing! For me it is baking/making bread, but cooking generally is rewarding and a practical skill.

I wouldn't advise to start with baking once the learning curve is way steeper and less fault tolerant than general cooking. If you are just starting and want to see cooking as a relaxation activity delay baking and start with Italian food.

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

#67

Post by skrebbel »

sAbakumoff wrote: post #49
skrebbel wrote: post #19

Directed meditation. I read a weight loss book called "the Gabriel Method" and it changed my life. Besides all kinds of food related things, it teaches a sort of goal-oriented meditation/visualization technique that I found to work for many more things than changing eating habits. I've felt more like good food and less like bad food so I eat healthier without needing to muster discipline. Lost 10 kilos so far without…

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.

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

#68

Post by faitswulff »

neya wrote: post #20

I'm going to say something out of the blue - Building speakers. Building speakers look complex from the outside, but are pretty rewarding once you know the basics (Thiele parameters, enclosure design and tuning). You can put together your own speaker with just a couple of parts from eBay or anywhere else on the internet really and sometimes can end up with really high quality boxes that can outperform much more expen…

Would the barrier to entry for making working speakers be significantly higher if the aux port goes away entirely?

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

#69

Post by nicoburns »

neya wrote: post #20

I'm going to say something out of the blue - Building speakers. Building speakers look complex from the outside, but are pretty rewarding once you know the basics (Thiele parameters, enclosure design and tuning). You can put together your own speaker with just a couple of parts from eBay or anywhere else on the internet really and sometimes can end up with really high quality boxes that can outperform much more expen…

Oo, this is something I'm pretty interested in getting into (I love good sound systems, and enjoy building physical things). Do you have any pointers on where to find information on how to design speakers / pick sensible component combinations?

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

#70

Post by grk »

faitswulff wrote: post #68
neya wrote: post #20

I'm going to say something out of the blue - Building speakers. Building speakers look complex from the outside, but are pretty rewarding once you know the basics (Thiele parameters, enclosure design and tuning). You can put together your own speaker with just a couple of parts from eBay or anywhere else on the internet really and sometimes can end up with really high quality boxes that can outperform much more expen…

Would the barrier to entry for making working speakers be significantly higher if the aux port goes away entirely?

You can use something like hifiberry or justboom to embed a spotify / airplay compatible amplifier into your speakers: https://www.justboom.co/product/justboom-amp-zero-phat/
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