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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?

#801

Post by ptero »

posedge wrote: post #316
ptero wrote: post #149

Interpersonal skills. Those are usually in very short supply at tech companies. This wide spectrum with many sweet spots. For example, if you can learn what a developer is doing without pissing them off or boring them out of their minds and translate from techno-babble to humanspeak and back you can quickly make yourself appreciated in many tech companies. Time management skills. Learn to rest, really rest so that yo…

Curious, what else would you recommend to really rest?

I think much of this is person-specific. Try different things and see if you find a few. For example, for me a change of scenery often works well: go to a new place within a few hours' drive, spend a night at a hotel near nice trails, get up late, do a decent hike (say, 4-6 hours), dinner, another night at the hotel, go home.

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

#802

Post by grvdrm »

amongwhales wrote: post #773
taurath wrote: post #740

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like many things!

Funny, I was just thinking how helpful these tips are compared to a lot of the advice on cooking which is repetitive. Was not aware of the differences in veggie storage. You do have a lot more seasoning control not in a shaker and that's how it is done in a professor kitchen. Thanks!

Glad you found them helpful.

Overall, there can be nuance in all of these things, but you don't need to stress yourself with that nuance in so many cases.

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

#803

Post by grvdrm »

jelliclesfarm wrote: post #776
the_gastropod wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a suspicion this kind of living, in part, explains why so many people are miserable. I feel like removing every inconvenient thing from your life, and "having someone else do it for you" must make your ability to handle discomfort atrophy to the point where the tiniest unpleasantness feels like a catastrophe. Like muscles, your brain, your immune system, etc., we need a little discomfort / struggle once in a w…

It is not about discomfort..I don’t want to waste my time on things that take up a lot of my time for very little return. Hired help for cooking, cleaning, child care, outdoor and home maintainance is pretty common. If I had spare change, I would even hire someone to drive me around. My time is important. If I can make double or triple what a maid service charges per hour, it makes no sense to do the lower wage jobs…

How do you measure return? Not doubting your approach - just curious how you measure the return of various unrelated tasks (e.g. cooking vs. spending that time working)

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

#804

Post by derangedHorse »

Enginerrrd wrote: post #755
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.

$120/month for food? Sorry, but no. That is the exaggeration. Maybe if you're scraping the bottom of the barrel in ingredient quality and buying a lot of rice and beans.

It depends what you eat. Most of my home cooked meals are just seasoned vegetables with the occasional chicken on the side, or pasta. They don't have to be bottom of the barrel ingredients, just a higher ratio of vegetables to meats.

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

#805

Post by derangedHorse »

Balgair wrote: post #379
neuroticfish wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

When learning to cook, order a pizza. You're learning after-all, and learning while hungry is not a good combination. If you burn the food and then have to eat it, you're going to have a bad time, negative reinforcement, etc. Order something else, like pizza, munch on that as you learn this new skill of cooking.

I might try this more often. I'm currently trying to make a food schedule for things I know how to make every day of every week, and some of the new recipes I try are just not coming out all that well discouraging me to venture out on new recipes.

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

#806

Post by chrissnell »

ryanmercer wrote: post #283
inform880 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cooking thing really hits home. I work in a high stress, banking environment at a fortune 500 company, and I eat out most days. I know theoretically how to cook, but between the time it takes to shop, cook, and clean, AND I'm doing well financially it's so hard to convince myself to cook. Living alone doesn't help either.

Instant pot (best kitchen purchase I've ever made) and meal prep. There's entire subreddits dedicated to meal prep with a lot of good ideas.

I love my instant pot. My favorite recipe is red beans and rice. My mother-in-law is Cajun from down on the bayou and this was one that I adapted from hers. Happy to post it if anyone is interested. It makes enough for about 6-8 one-bowl meals and freezes wonderfully, so you can always have a quick meal ready in a pinch. Takes about 10 minutes of prep and an hour to cook.

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

#808

Post by koheripbal »

stakkur wrote: post #491

Marcus Aurelius' Stoic idea of winning the morning. This means doing your best to make the most of the first part of the day: arise early and jump into doing the most important tasks of the day. Practice good habits. Then, as the day expands and becomes less in your control, you've 'won' the morning. I use 'win the morning!' almost as a mantra, and just that single, simple idea been life-changing.

"Rise to Victory" is the way I teach my kids to wake up in the morning.

Setting a central focus for the morning, and working to accomplish it before noon is critical. If I cannot finish whatever it is, I usually become so incensed that that drive lasts me the rest of the afternoon.

...and I track every day in my Google Docs journal. I lay out the thing I want to accomplish that day, and then just break it out to the steps needed to accomplish it before the day gets filled with distractions.

It turns out, this simple journal is the one habit I've that's lasted more than a year - it's become invaluable. of all the GTD, Pomodoros, Google tasks, etc... ...all I ever needed was a list in a doc that was broken into dated sections.

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

#809

Post by homonculus1 »

boring_twenties wrote: post #569
sharadov wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are becoming one trick ponies, only defined by the work that we do. There is something about cooking, doing things with your hands that is fundamental to the human experience. I cook, but I also like to order in, sometimes I just microwave stuff. It depends on your mood.

"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."

To anyone who hasn't previously encountered this beautiful quotation, its originator is Robert Heinlein.

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

#810

Post by ada1981 »

yewenjie wrote: post #302
ada1981 wrote: post #286

Learn to feel your emotions. Holotropic Breathwork Learn how to hold space for someone. Non violent communication Tribal Leadership How to grow magic mushrooms How to have a challenging conversation

What are some best ways to feel your emotions (and not run away from them)?

Somatic inquiry / therapy; Gestalt practice with a men’s group; Noticing where you have an impulse towards dopamine triggers (blame / criticism / drugs / sex / food / work ) and take pause to see what might be beneath it.
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