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Ask HN: What skills to acquire in 2019?

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171–180 of 194 posts

Re: Ask HN: What skills to acquire in 2019?

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go is undeniably very useful, just feels like such drudgery actually working with it.

Just my 0.02, but I started my primary project in Golang this year (a first for me) and have genuinely enjoyed getting deeper into using the language. Great tools, great community, and a clever language -- what more could you want?

Absolutely, the language is well designed with good tools but it isn’t very eloquent. I find other languages much more enjoyable to work with Ruby, Typescript, Kotlin or even Java.

Re: Ask HN: What skills to acquire in 2019?

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We really have to be careful here, because many CS programs have or are planning CS courses specifically designed around LeetCode problems as a way of giving their students a leg up in the interview process. If these kinds of interviews become more widespread (and there are a lot of companies trying to copy google here), this will only intensify and possibly begin push out other CS courses with more useful content. T…

From a very pragmatic standpoint, the most useful courses in college are those that help you get a job.

Taken to an extreme that can get ridiculous (eg if colleges start teaching courses titled “fake it until you can make it”).

Re: Ask HN: What skills to acquire in 2019?

#173
post #6

I would love for us tech folk to dip our toes in idea history, hermeneutics and rhetoric. We need to think about the way we think and talk about the way we talk. I mean reflect on the state of things, instead of blindly increasing shareholder value. We glorify engagement, but we’re arguably glorifying how addictive our creations are. What if apps maximized for less time spent, like help users just do their work and g…

Can you recommend a few resources on idea history, hermeneutics and rhetoric?

Re: Ask HN: What skills to acquire in 2019?

#174
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on why other things are "better" than crossfit? I've found it to be very time-efficient and well-rounded.

CrossFit is an easy way to injure yourself.

As reported in NSCA study, which court found containing “false statements”.

"It is taken as established that the NSCA had a commercial motivation for making the false statement in the Devor Study (…) that the NSCA made the false statement in the Devor Study with the intention of disparaging CrossFit and thereby driving consumers to the NSCA (…) (and) that a loss in CrossFit’s certification revenue was the natural and probable result of the false injury data in the Devor Study."

Re: Ask HN: What skills to acquire in 2019?

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a very pragmatic standpoint, the most useful courses in college are those that help you get a job.

Taken to an extreme that can get ridiculous (eg if colleges start teaching courses titled “fake it until you can make it”).

What’s the difference between “faking it until you make it” and “learning on the job?” I don’t think I have had a single job in 20+ years where I didn’t spend the first six months in Imposter Syndrome territory.

Re: Ask HN: What skills to acquire in 2019?

#176
post #52

Cloud, machine learning, AI. If you haven't gotten your Ph.D. in machine learning by now, you're at considerable risk of being replaced by an offshore dev who can do your job for pennies on the dollar. As for languages, the future of computing is JavaScript (except for the lowest and most performance-sensitive layers, over which the Rust Evangelism Strike Force has an unshakable claim). Nontechnical skills: practice…

"As for languages, the future of computing is JavaScript (except for the lowest and most performance-sensitive layers, over which the Rust Evangelism Strike Force has an unshakable claim". You mentioned AI/ML both of which are deeply embedded in Python ecosystem though R is still the choice of academia. JS is and will continue to be a client only Tech stack for ML because of it's lack of a NUMPy like Math library. Be…

I have a feeling that will all change once the data community gets wind of TypeScript.

Re: Ask HN: What skills to acquire in 2019?

#177

I've been learning Elixir, which is really good for creating concurrent and scalable systems. Concurrency has always been something that has fascinated me and I see in Elixir a chance to make very concurrent code without having to deal with locks, race conditions, and all the other icky low-level stuff. Elixir is also a functional language, making this is the first functional language I've learned, which is another r…

Elixir sounds like an awesome combination of the advantages of Golang and immutable + functional-first languages, nice!

Re: Ask HN: What skills to acquire in 2019?

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad someone has mentioned this here. It's something our industry is really not taking seriously at all and needs more people pushing for. As you mentioned company decisions have real racial effects, and those decisions are often made by homogeneous teams that lack diversity and perspective. If anyone wants a recommendation for reading to build up some knowledge about these issues I would recommend reading "White…

I start with a pretty strong bias against any philosophy that counts skepticism of itself as proof of its own existence. It's like a religion that says you know it's true because other people will claim it's not true.

I'm not sure what you mean by this comment. How does it relate to the discussion on racial equity?

Re: Ask HN: What skills to acquire in 2019?

#179
post #104
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if apps maximized for less time spent Today I used an automated delivery booth. At the end it reported in big letters: "you took your order in 2 minutes 12 seconds". Made me vividly remember the end-of-level screen in classic Doom. Maybe that's a good idea: make the session time prominently visible, to have an urge to optimize.

Like a package locker? Why did it take two minutes?

Well, I liked the end-of-level screen, but the rest of UI was not so new-user-friendly, especially not sleepy-new-user-friendly.

About half the time I was staring at the instruction "the box will unlock now" with the box in question still behind a closed door before trying to pull the door harder.

Re: Ask HN: What skills to acquire in 2019?

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any benefit to doing this in a sheet rather than something like Mint? I just check it occasionally to make sure my net worth increases month-over-month. Any financial decision like buying a car I take the net income average over time as potential spending bound.

For those who still live somewhat paycheck-to-paycheck (or who manage their money that way as I do), Mint can be a bit challenging to use because it only allows budgeting at a monthly resolution and things like pending charges, etc., can be tricky to manage. For me it's easier to see "I have A amount coming on B date with C expenses due and D left over for saving or spending" than it is to try and budget monthly and…

Funny, but I still use a 6-month cash-flow spreadsheet broken down bi-weekly. I teach my children about other tools, and what they should learn about to do it better, but if you dutifully keep a 6-month to 1-year cash flow spreadsheet, you are leagues ahead of the average person. It was the first tool (started in my thirties, and in my mid-fifties now) that made me avoid waking up to a negative balance, because I couldn't foresee expenses coming in right before my paycheck. I admit I haven't done much beyond this, however, compared to my parents, I am doing much, much better. I can only hope my children can write the same twenty years from now!
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