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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?

#731

Post by nkozyra »

shpongled wrote: post #730
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…

Re: cooking - What are you guys eating if you're not already cooking/eating leftovers 4+ nights a week? This is absolutely mind boggling to me... I eat out maybe 1-3 times per month, I don't think I would even want to go out more than that. Are people actually eating out 3 or more times a week? I'm convinced that you aren't actually saving that much time vs cooking.

I cook most nights and frankly am starting to see the appeal of frequent dining out.

I cook for three and that's generally in the 10 minutes prep, 20-45 minutes cooking, 15+ minutes cleaning. And that's dinner. It adds up. Eating truly fast food takes 5-15 minutes.

If fast food were reliably better for you I think it would be a wash. Financially I used to order out in NYC and get two+ days meals out of a single Indian seamless order for $30 and no cooking time.

The compromise, I think, is cooking a meal 2x quantity and freezing half for a week, but then you get into some very tiresome food routines.

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

#732

Post by dahdum »

samsolomon wrote: post #699
Xcelerate wrote: post #662

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love cooking and have recently become obsessed with it, but doing it well is extremely time consuming. The best equipment is all meant to be washed by hand (knives, aluminum baking sheets, cast iron and stainless steel skillets, etc.) and cleaning all this easily takes over an hour per meal, never mind the time to actually cook the meal (which, depending on what I’m cooking takes 1-4 hours of active prep time). Als…

A few tips I learned from a professional chef that changed everything: — Mise en place (Get everything you need prepped) — Clean as you cook Get a bunch of small glass dishes and get all the ingredients you need measured, chopped and placed into those dishes. This will make combining them effortless when cooking. If you've done prep, you'll have some down time while cooking. As you finish using pans and utensils wash…

It took a short culinary program to really drill those into my head, but they are game changers for sure. Now I get a bit anxious when my “station” isn’t tidy, like I’m disappointing the chef. The other habit drilled out of me was watching food cook...very few things require constant attention and that’s all time that should be spent on prep and cleaning.

I use stainless steel mixing bowls, lighter and cheaper than glass and they stack really well. A large cutting board (24x18) helps you work clean.

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

#733

Post by bufordtwain »

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?

Maybe try reading poems by poets who write mostly in plain English. For example Charles Bukowski, Philip Larkin and Stephen Dunn. I don't generally like "flowery" poetry but I do enjoy many of the poems written by these writers.

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

#734

Post by dahdum »

mattrp wrote: post #229
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…

> - 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…

> 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.

Started with a 3D printer for me, then a membership to Techshop. Few years later I have a garage filled with woodworking / metalworking, diy cnc machines, laser cutter, welding, and automotive tools. It’s a slippery slope.

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

#735

Post by themodelplumber »

Professional communication skills are worth a look from time to time. Understanding how to keep your personal fears out of your next message or email, and yet keeping after your concerns with appropriate management of both technology and emotion. Learning how to be assertive without inadvertently raising the stakes. And keeping a project on track without causing a blame-fest.

Another one is learning to set boundaries for your personal growth. Do you have a learning and skills-updating standard which helps prevent FOMO, unfair feedback from your inner critic's voice, and related career anxieties? This is one example of a boundary that can be designed to help you stay on track without becoming bitter about your past experiences and future prospects.

It's impressive that you asked. Best of luck to you.

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

#736

Post by langitbiru »

sanderjd wrote: post #501
langitbiru wrote: post #223

Here are what I am learning in 2020. I try to be a holistic person. So I am learning technical skills, business skills, and social skills. Technical: Blockchain programming (mostly on Ethereum). I believe Ethereum is the future. Programmable money. How cool is that? However if you think blockchain is fad, you could replace it with cybersecurity. Business: Corporate finance (stocks, bonds, future contracts, options, e…

How are you studying corporate finance? What are the canonical / first principles books?

"Finance Theory" from Prof. Andrew Lo (MIT). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdHlfiOAJyE&list=PLUl4u3cNGP...

He used "Principles of Corporate Finance" by Richard Brealey, Stewart Myers, and Franklin Allen as the text book. I bought it from Google Play.

For accounting, I use Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-accounting

https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-financial-accounting

https://www.coursera.org/learn/uva-darden-financial-accounti...

There are other courses about finance in Coursera and Youtube but I haven't checked them out. But the ones I listed here are good based on my experience.

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

#737

Post by x0 »

pawelk wrote: post #666
8ytecoder wrote: post #533

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 on all of the above. I just want to add one thing - Learn an instrument. Just for fun. You don't have to play in an orchestra or a band. I came to this thread expecting it to be about tech skills, glad to see this comment at the top. Overall, I'm more grounded and happier for it (and less depressed).

I am a hobby (unplugged) woodworker with a quite large collection of vintage tools... it all started because I needed some basic temporary furniture for the new house and w were broke enough to not be able to afford it - the kitchen I built is still around after 7 years and I have developed a lot in this area. I use manual cameras, or digital cameras in manual mode / with manual lenses because that's how I learned ph…

learn to play songs you like. all you need to do this is a few chords. if you choose guitar, there's tonnes of tabs out there, and if you choose piano, just read the guitar tabs and translate the notes/chords.

but most importantly, play songs you like! sing along! play around with the lyrics! whatever!

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

#738

Post by bkjelden »

marcosdumay wrote: post #378
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…

> YMMV, but I always found when you add up the time spent and material cost, it's nearly a wash to just pay someone else to do it. I dunno. For some tasks the time it takes to find somebody else to do it, be available to let the person in/out, and settle payment is much larger than doing it yourself; the lead time is orders of magnitude larger, and doing it yourself gets the bonus that you can do it whenever is best…

This is why I've acquired most of the DIY home improvement skills I have.

By the time I message 3 electricians, coordinate to let them in the house, get a bid and have someone do the job, and finally get it done, I could've just youtubed and googled my way to doing it myself. Maybe I have to pick up a tool or two along the way but eventually you reach an inflection point where you have the tools you need for multiple jobs. I think the biggest tool purchases I've made in the last 18 months are a brad nailer, a finish nailer, and a 4 ft level.

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

#739

Post by lwhalen »

Take a cue from Uncle Bob (Heinlein) and start working on his list:

A human being should be able to:

- change a diaper

- plan an invasion

- butcher a hog

- conn a ship

- design a building

- write a sonnet

- balance accounts

- build a wall

- set a bone

- comfort the dying

- take orders

- give orders

- cooperate

- act alone

- solve equations

- analyze a new problem

- pitch manure

- program a computer

- cook a tasty meal

- fight efficiently

- die gallantly

Specialization is for insects.

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

#740

Post by taurath »

grvdrm wrote: post #638
taurath wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Easy to overthink you say, yet you’ve listed a lot of quite complicated aspects, many of which aren’t directly related to cooking.

Spend a bit of time on all of them and you'll find them easy and intuitive!

Like many things!
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