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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?

#4

Post by jhwang5 »

Running. Been running ~ 2 years fairly seriously. Lost a lot of weight, and have never been healthier. Now have run marathons under 3 hours, qualified for Boston, ran in international races, Hawaii, etc. Running and any active sports feel fun when you are fast.

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

#6

Post by alexchamberlain »

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 actually). Fast forward through a Maths degree and 2 internships, I'm now a happy Engineering Team Lead at Bloomberg, generally utilising JS, Python and C++ as appropriate.

Of course, there are a bunch of other skills needed to be a successful software engineer, but I think turning my hobby into my career has been the most richly rewarded skill so far.

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

#7

Post by barking »

Nothing but I think if I had mastered another language that would probably be very rewarding. Actually I think mastering just about anything must be very rewarding. The more you put in the more you get out. There were subjects I did in school that were boring only because I didn't put enough into them to find them interesting. So my answer would be just about anything. Except don't go for something at which you know you don't have the attributes for.

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

#8

Post by srik »

Penmanship & Calligraphy. One of my non-computer fascinations that turned out to be spiritually rewarding. Once one gets past shallow modern trends, there's so much to discover, study, learn, practice, master and let loose with. It's really fun. I don't necessarily ship or sell anything, at least as of yet, but still the act itself is kinda like meditation.

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

#9

Post by mrlambchop »

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 hesitated to write programming (or coding!) but saw more posts and came back to peek.

Through this, I've learnt product and market fit that made tangible changes in peoples lives - the coding remains a personal rich reward, but the product outcome has been the true 'reward' so to speak.

I value the personal rewards higher than anything however. There are not many things better than a good hour coding session when things go well and everything works. I've fond memories of many good hacks or idea that were so perfect that they pivoted other peoples ideas and changed a product outcome.

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