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Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

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Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#91

Post by HenryBemis »

jcbrand wrote: post #73
collyw wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having worked filling shelves in a supermarket, I disagree that it applies to every field.

I would imagine the depth there is in determining what goes where on the shelf. You as shelf-filler probably didn't get to make this decision though.

There is a "science" behind shelf placement decisions and it has to do with height, location on the aisle, colors, lights, and of course the "fee" that the outlet asks for the premium spots. Someone who just fills shelfs (I've done that for a toystore a few decades ago, for a a couple of months).

Depends whether someone gets to just fill the shelf as per plan or has the curiosity to ask "WHY", noticing why X things fly off the shelf why Y things two shelves lower stay there forever. This curiosity builds the critical thinking 'muscle' and can motivate a shelf-filler to switch into marketing (hypothetical scenario has to do with a 17yo working part time and then deciding to studio marketing)(I didn't study marketing) :)

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#92

Post by NullPrefix »

kortilla wrote: post #85
inopinatus wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having dated someone who specialised in developing and enforcing visual merchandising guidelines for an international cosmetics brand, I have to suggest that it just might.

Well it doesn’t, given that it only takes one example to negate “every field”.

Are you going to provide that example?

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#93

Post by tonyedgecombe »

jakobegger wrote: post #42
cdoxsey wrote: post #26

That almost all software is unreliable and SaaS products only work because there are engineers behind the scenes fixing it all the time. The Wizard of Oz nails it: "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" https://youtu.be/YWyCCJ6B2WE

On the contrary, my job taught me that desktop software can be extremely reliable and does not actually break all the time. Many of my customers use versions of my app that are a few years old without any troubles. When the user is in control of their environment, software doesn't suddenly break. That's not to say software doesn't have bugs. Only that bugs don't appear suddenly. Most bugs are caused by two things: (1…

I do wonder if some of it is down to the platform. It seems to be a weekly occurence that I log onto an application and I'm presented with a blank page. No doubt some trivial JavaScript exception has borked the whole thing.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#94

Post by pure-awesome »

rjbwork wrote: post #41
enraged_camel wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I manage a team. The reason I don’t promote or give raises to people who overwork is because I don’t want to encourage behavior that inevitably results in burnout. What I instead do when people overwork is I give them extra paid time off. Stayed in the office for a couple of extra hours yesterday helping a customer? Great, please make sure to take Friday afternoon off. You had to work extra last week to meet a deadli…

You sound like a great manager/team lead. I think the obsession with 9-5 and whatever else it takes to get the job done is absurd in today's world.

Maybe I misunderstand your comment, but aren't "9-5" and "doing what it takes to get the job done" contradictory?

The one is having fixed working hours and, as in the parent comment, compensating with extra leave if those hours are overstepped.

The other is working overtime whenever there is extra work that has to get done.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#96

Post by Antoninus »

I'm a developer like many people here. One thing that people who don't program don't realize is that its a laborious job. It seems like its a fun job with lots of 'hanging out' but its more like 4-5 hours a day / 5 days week looking at a text editor and a terminal trying to focus and not be distracted. At the end of the day, I'm exhausted

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#97

Post by joseph2342 »

timeattack wrote: post #67

Kind of obvious one, but I wish more people knew that — critical thinking. On the one side it helps to avoid bad/stupid things in life: quackery medicine, scammers, bad investments, etc. On the other side it allows to peep deeper into things and see more choices even in ordinary life. After some practice you gain nearly magical ability to peel couple of additional layers from reality and to see non-obvious things eve…

Any Book recommendations ?

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#100

Post by jcbrand »

kortilla wrote: post #85
inopinatus wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having dated someone who specialised in developing and enforcing visual merchandising guidelines for an international cosmetics brand, I have to suggest that it just might.

Well it doesn’t, given that it only takes one example to negate “every field”.

Someone working in the very bottom rung of a field not having to deal with any of the complexity of that particular field is not a valid negation.
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