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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?

#651

Post by LZ_Khan »

localhost wrote: post #291

I would say focus on building a solid, functional body vs. say focusing on goals like "how much can I lift?" or "how much do I weigh?" or "how fast can I go?". Those goals, while laudable, can also cause you to break down your body in your quest to achieve them. An example from literally yesterday. Over the past few months, I struggled with medial knee pain that was limiting my ability to walk up stairs and do other…

I thought I was special in this philosophy but seems like others are catching on too. The tip that worked for me is "Do the activity to get that type of body." I've always admired the physique of basketball players like Steph Curry so I picked up basketball a few years back. It's done wonders for my posture and aesthetics and basketball is a fun kickass workout.

Swimming/soccer/tennis are other sports I'd put in the category of aesthetically pleasing.

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

#652

Post by enraged_camel »

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!

Lentil soup, man. I've got a family recipe, and I've decided that if I could eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be that.

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

#653

Post by eindiran »

someguy101010 wrote: post #647
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.

Truthfully I dont think there is any reason for a regular person to deadlift. It's a pretty high risk exercise and you can hit those muscles groups with different exercises. If you are hard set on deadlifts though I recommend the hexbar deadlifts to reduce the chances for injury. https://youtu.be/TU2xZ7s4jus

The deadlift is one of the most well-rounded, important lifts out there. I don't understand what you mean by "regular people"; are you saying that only eg powerlifters should do deadlifts and that casual lifters should avoid it?

IMO anyone interested in developing their strength (that is physically able to deadlift) should learn how to do them safely and then work on them.

Rippetoe laying out how to do a deadlift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwQQZCi6OHA

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

#654

Post by pastage »

astura wrote: post #539
quincy_daniels wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your general sentiment. However, in my anecdotal sampling of people who frequently cook vs frequently eat out, tolerance for discomfort is greater in those that frequently eat out. Especially in relation to food, where those who frequently cook almost can't tolerate food cooked by others. Further on the food front, people who cook seem to be more heavily affected by fasting, or less willing to tolerate i…

>Especially in relation to food, where those who frequently cook almost can't tolerate food cooked by others. OMG, this was definitely SO true of my grandma when she was alive. She would frequently go gambling and the casino gave her free food and she wouldn't eat it. She'd claim she didn't like it, all of it, couldn't stomach it, not even a bite. So she'd pack a lunch. It kinda bothered me because as far as I'm conc…

Food biz is a low margins cut throat affair, quality is not something that is easy to get.

"Just fine" is very low bar, my mom is an excellent chef, to get the same tastiness and attention to detail you have to pay quite a lot of money. Even eating her sandwiches on the go can be better than a high end fast food stall.

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

#655

Post by vonmoltke »

reaperducer wrote: post #466
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…

Listen to classical music. This one didn't come to me until my 40s but I finally realized: there's a reason that this music has been popular for 300 years. I agree. It's funny how when I was young I would only listen to one type of music, like it was some kind of tribal loyalty. Now I listen to all kinds of things, and I've learned to hear the difference between really good music and stuff that's just manufactured fo…

In what way do you think WQXR lost its way? I went from 12 years of WRR to WQXR about 3 years ago, and I didn't notice much of a difference.

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

#656

Post by brlewis »

I'm surprised at all these great non-technical suggestions and few coding suggestions. I'll supply some web-focused ones for the next 3 years.

In 2020 learn TypeScript really well. Learn all the ways to compose types. It's earned its popularity.

In 2021 learn deno. It's going to be big.

In 2022 learn the best way to structure a CSS project. I think we will have figured out what it is by then.

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

#657

Post by kls »

neuroticfish wrote: post #294
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've been trying to learn to cook off and on for years now and I get so discouraged all the time because I'm still either overcooking or undercooking something, still not getting the flavors right, not using the right amount of oil despite the recipe's prescription. I can't be alone in feeling that way.

Learn your five basic tastes, most people don't get balance right, they can balance sweet and salty but they don't know how to balance sweet with sour and bitter with savory. Once you learn how to balance you can turn any dish into a flavorful dish. Learn your savory ingredients such as Soy Sauce, Truffles, Mushrooms, MSG, etc. Then learn your bitters, they are the hardest. If you make something too sweet balance it with lemon juice or vinegar. Too sour brown sugar, molasses. Too bitter use soy sauce.

As for overcook / undercook as other have suggested, get a good stick thermometer and use it religiously. I have cooked since I was 8 years old in a family of excellent cooks and went to culinary school and to this day I still use a thermometer.

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

#658

Post by bitexploder »

papreclip wrote: post #367
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…

>NoSQL adopters often ... ended up with unmaintainable messes learning SQL seems much more straightforward than learning NoSQL. personally I'd like to find a good resource that will help me use a non-relational database without creating a mess

Normalization is a thing in NoSQL and SQL. When you end up with data skip and tons of duplication it can get pretty crazy. Being able to normalize data fits with most data models so much better because data is mostly a collection of related bits of information.

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

#659

Post by webdva »

danaur wrote: post #609
webdva wrote: post #573

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What kind of abstract mathematics? Ah, a curious intellect has approached! Know that every “What kind?” is the desire for a common ground of understanding. So the student must first ask themself which understanding would they like to pursue. What be your choice? A choice that only your heart’s love can ultimately know.

I think the op was asking because you had their interest and they wanted to know directions they could go in. Your post seems to assume people know of the different directions they could study

> I think the op was asking because you had their interest and they wanted to know directions they could go in.

> Your post seems to assume people know of the different directions they could study

Ah, forgive me as I am blind to my appearance, especially blind to my appearance’s appearance to the sight or eyes of others. I too do not know what directions there may be in the pursuit of truth, as a master or sage must not claim to know. Only thus then does the master know true knowledge. ...For doth not truth be vast in size?—oh! but I do not know of truth’s size!

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