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Ask HN: Does anybody else feel overwhelmed while reading HN?

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Re: Ask HN: Does anybody else feel overwhelmed while reading HN?

#81

Post by apohn »

Reading HN is extremely overwhelming. I'm in the data science field. So I read yet another Deep Learning article on HN and wonder how long it is till I'm unemployed and bankrupt because I barely know anything about deep learning and have no opportunities at all to use it at my job.

Then I remember the following.

1). I'm employed, my manager is happy with the work I do, and I make enough money to pay my bills, have savings, and live in a decent place in a safe neighborhood.

2). I don't have to be better than everybody else at my workplace. I just need to find an area where I can contribute.

3). When I apply to other jobs I get some positive responses. I know people who would be happy to recommend and hire me if they can.

4). I've met more than a few people who can talk about data science like they can solve any business problem under the sun, but cannot actually do much of anything except talk.

5). There is plenty of stuff I read on HN that is clearly wrong or exaggerated.

I think the key is to focus on what you need today to stay employed and have a realistic assessment of your weaknesses and where you want to go. Then figure out what you need to get there and slowly work towards that that. I don't need to know Rust, Go, and Vue.js because they have nothing to do with my job or where I want my work direction to go. If they day comes when I do need to learn that stuff, I'll learn it.

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody else feel overwhelmed while reading HN?

#82

Post by marmaduke »

abakker wrote: post #77
marmaduke wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the opposite of hubris is called nemesis, or what happens after hubris. I'd say the OP is describing humility, a quality which is essential imho

I think you may be right, however, Hubris is a "feeling" while nemesis is an "Agent". So, it is possible for you to be my nemesis, but you can't be my hubris. Humility vs Hubris do seem to be opposites.

Good point about agent versus feeling. If my Greek friend is a reliable reference, the words originated in Greek mythology wherein a human acting in hubris would be punished by the gods, the punishment was called nemesis.

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody else feel overwhelmed while reading HN?

#83

Post by [deleted] »

abakker wrote: post #77
marmaduke wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the opposite of hubris is called nemesis, or what happens after hubris. I'd say the OP is describing humility, a quality which is essential imho

I think you may be right, however, Hubris is a "feeling" while nemesis is an "Agent". So, it is possible for you to be my nemesis, but you can't be my hubris. Humility vs Hubris do seem to be opposites.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody else feel overwhelmed while reading HN?

#84

Post by rrherr »

patio11 wrote: post #30

Attempting to be as accomplished/skilled as the union of people you read on the Internet is a fool's errand. You have to accept you'll never know everything and that, for almost all things, there will be someone -- or a lot of someones -- much better than you. Pretend you were working at a company with a hundred engineers. Do you understand how easy it is for every single one of them to simultaneously feel like you d…

Reminds me of this:

"Data Scientist (n.): Person who is better at statistics than any software engineer and better at software engineering than any statistician."

https://twitter.com/josh_wills/status/198093512149958656

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody else feel overwhelmed while reading HN?

#85

Post by kinleyd »

gorbachev wrote: post #49
yeswecatan wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Complacency may be a blessing at this point. For years I had the mindset that it's a bad thing.

Do what makes you happy / keeps you and your family fed. If complacency does that for you, then it's good. If not, it's not.

Pith instruction. I don't think it can get much more succinct than that.

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody else feel overwhelmed while reading HN?

#86

Post by losteric »

bingo_cannon wrote: post #7

I was overwhelmed at first. Every time a Show HN would pop up, I was amazed at how individuals could deliver on so much alone. So I accepted these things: - There will always be people who are better than you, in any field. I see it as a positive and a great learning opportunity. - There will never be time to learn everything you want to learn. The question I try to answer is: Am I doing the best I can at the moment?…

The internet solved discoverability but gave us the problem of consciously avoiding information, learning about the right things at the right level and accepting some ignorance in favor of specialized deeper understanding.

Personally, I forward everything from HN's front page, every tech-relevant subreddit, major tech companies and software projects, roughly 30 blogs, Twitter, and blogs/changelogs for every project/service I depend on (for work or side projects)... all straight into my email.

Rules automatically curate emails into prioritized / categorized folders. Setting up those rules was my solution to information overload - reviewing rule relevance is the same as measuring how my attention investment tracks against long-term learning goals.

One process for managing my work, personal life, and interests :)

10 minutes a day is enough to follow every personally relevant development. I do a deeper hour-long review of lower priority content at least once a week, but my email is an effectively infinite backlog of interesting-possibly-relevant information.

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody else feel overwhelmed while reading HN?

#89

Post by emiliobumachar »

inputcoffee wrote: post #39

Oh, you will feel much better once you have mastered: 1. Programming chips in binary, machine code, and C. You need a variety of chips. Try to learn at least 5 from each manufacturer. 2. Learn at least 37 Javascript frameworks, as evenly divided between front-end and server side as you can. (Good news: angular 1 and 2 count as 2 frameworks). 3. Learn Scala, Rust, Haskell, C, C#, Java. (Python and Ruby go without sayi…

I don't normally downvote good jokes like this one, but I'm making an exception. Imagine if this rises to top (it's #2 now), and either the OP or someone in the same situation see it first, and fail to notice the irony.

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody else feel overwhelmed while reading HN?

#90

Post by skadamat »

I strongly recommend reading the following book - https://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You/dp/14555091...

It's a fantastic book by a now tenured CS professor that provides a good framework for how to think about your career / career satisfaction. He encourages working backwards from the lifestyle you want to the skills you need to master to where you are right now. His framework provides a lot of clarity and helps you ignore the roller coaster of announcements, updates, and new "things" you FEEL like you need to stay on top of.

You can also just read some of his blog posts - calnewport.com/blog - if you don't feel like buying the book. Or check out some of his interviews, etc.

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