Make something people want.
I'm being presumptive but your post talks only about technology as if you care more about it than just means to an end.
Ask HN: After almost 30 years the romance is over - What now?
31–40 of 121 posts
Re: Ask HN: After almost 30 years the romance is over - What now?
#32There are several big things you didn't mention, AI and neural networks, for example. You could also try robotics and engineering stuff (watching how a piece of silicon and metal becomes alive is priceless).
This is good advice, the problem is that you are suffering burn out. !0 years sounds about right. You need to get back to your roots and one way I recommend to do it, is to get into embedded. It gets you back into a small reward loop where little things net positive feedback. The other thing that I recommend to people is get closer to a research discipline. If you are really that burnt out, try applying your trade to…
How do you suggest getting started with embedded programming?
Re: Ask HN: After almost 30 years the romance is over - What now?
#33Open source still makes a big difference, especially in 3rd world country. I went once to an open source conference in India, it really opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at the movement. Maybe that's what you may want to look at: software which really makes a difference today for many people.
Re: Ask HN: After almost 30 years the romance is over - What now?
#34Have a holiday then do stuff with computers that you enjoy and try to find a career that is perhaps not in computers.
Re: Ask HN: After almost 30 years the romance is over - What now?
#35[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: After almost 30 years the romance is over - What now?
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is good advice, the problem is that you are suffering burn out. !0 years sounds about right. You need to get back to your roots and one way I recommend to do it, is to get into embedded. It gets you back into a small reward loop where little things net positive feedback. The other thing that I recommend to people is get closer to a research discipline. If you are really that burnt out, try applying your trade to…
How do you suggest getting started with embedded programming?
I start using PICAXE(http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/picaxe/) few years ago. It's incredibly cheap and easy to use. But i think it's essential to have electronic/mechanical knowledge in order to make interesting project.
Re: Ask HN: After almost 30 years the romance is over - What now?
#37I've been doing this for 30 years and I'm more jazzed than ever. Wanna know the biggest difference between you and me? I'm pulled. You're pushed. Let me explain... I love building stuff. Nothing gives me a bigger rush than getting something working the first time (well almost nothing). But I couldn't care less about the technology. If an abacus, two tin cans on a string, or some BASIC code on a Kaypro II did the job,…
This is an important distinction, its a subtle change in perspective but very satisfying.
I would also like to add that perhaps the reason why it sometimes feels like nothing revolutionary is coming out is that it happens so often now.
Re: Ask HN: After almost 30 years the romance is over - What now?
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is good advice, the problem is that you are suffering burn out. !0 years sounds about right. You need to get back to your roots and one way I recommend to do it, is to get into embedded. It gets you back into a small reward loop where little things net positive feedback. The other thing that I recommend to people is get closer to a research discipline. If you are really that burnt out, try applying your trade to…
How do you suggest getting started with embedded programming?
Pick up an Arduino, or one of it's derivatives (like Netduino). Then span out. Once you've gotten 'in', you'll soon find other interesting platforms to develop on.
Re: Ask HN: After almost 30 years the romance is over - What now?
#39I wrote my first program in 1965 (FORTRAN). I was hooked and haven't had a dull moment ever since. Then it was Assembler, COBOL, C++, PHP, C#, there's more left for me to learn than when I started.
We have been blessed with an exceptionally rewarding craft. Only actors and jet pilots can match the thrill we get from our jobs. The former are few, and the latter have a short career span. There are always new projects, new worlds to explore. Knowledge is the greatest wealth.
Re: Ask HN: After almost 30 years the romance is over - What now?
#40I think the "loop" is indeed moving on. The last real mini-revolution this side of the line probably were torrents. The whole social web is just wrong. It's centralized. It's not the web - it is a corruption of it. It is like the great minds who could design truly de-centralized, robust, reliable and truly social structures have all just vanished. There are so many difficult and important problems around but no one wants to solve them just because there is a huge ??? before the profit step. It is indeed a bit sad.
But there is some real fascinating stuff happening in hardware. We have freaking humanoid robots and private rockets. And nothing excites me more about the future than 3d printers. And there is a real and true to the soul open source like effort going on in there. Reprap, makerbot and that awesome 75k inr 3d printer from china... printers that can print themselves! Hardware specs that are shared and re-shared. Ideas and insights shared with gay abandon. No major patent threats anywhere in sight so far. It is the free world.