I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)
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I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)
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Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)
#2Previous discussion (2013): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5806132
Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)
#3I read this article and while it's sad the author doesn't pursue passions anymore, I also can't help think that maybe they just aren't as hungry as they once were. I was diagnosed with cancer 4 years ago and it changed my perspective on life. I'm mid 30's now and more productive than ever. I also work full time and am a single father to two little kids. The way I describe it is that I am hungry. I didn't expect it to last this long but it's been years and I'm still regarded as a very motivated and determined person by others.
Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)
#4well, I hope the author is doing well
Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)
#5This predates the machine learning boom. Now there's much more demand for people who are into that kind of math.
Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)
#6But the environment matters a lot less than the fact that when I get home from work—which is a two hour commute each way (sorry, I can’t afford to live in downtown San Francisco)—I just feel like being mentally incapacitated.
This person spends 4 hours commuting each day. I would suffer from mental atrophy as well. If you work full-time, that's at least 8 additional hours per day down the drain, and that doesn't even include groceries, cooking, eating, taking a shower, etc. Barely any time is left if you want to get 7-8 hours of sleep. I think the soul-crushing reality here is that a commute like this is very unhealthy, and that he should change this by moving or getting another job.
Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)
#7> How has this affected me? I’ve mentally atrophied. I now feel like I can’t talk about any subject with more than a centimeter of depth. A half a decade ago, I could dive with you to the penetralia of convergence theorems of hypergeometric series, but now I cannot. Even my programming has taken a toll even though I do it every day. I find myself abstaining from studying advanced topics in programming and computer science, and instead sticking to this comfort zone of what I know.
How does one go about overcoming mental atrophy? Especially after spending a decade or more programming, I think most (if not all) developers battle with this problem...
If any one of you has successfully done this, please share.
Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)
#8> How has this affected me? I’ve mentally atrophied. I now feel like I can’t talk about any subject with more than a centimeter of depth. A half a decade ago, I could dive with you to the penetralia of convergence theorems of hypergeometric series, but now I cannot. Even my programming has taken a toll even though I do it every day. I find myself abstaining from studying advanced topics in programming and computer sc…
You cannot... you learn new things, old things fade. What you can do is maintain and dedicate time to learning things, and/or keeping your older skill refreshed.
About a decade and a half ago, I worked on eLearning systems and training materials. I've learned and forgotten about more things than I could probably think about when trying. I used to know, pretty intently how certain aircraft engines worked, now I'd have a hard time just simply describing how a jet engine works in general.
Why, because I don't use it regularly. I've since worked with other languages, platforms, systems and constantly learn. You will learn and forget a great many things in a lifetime. Most people would be hard pressed to remember as a young adult materials they covered in 5th grade.
What it comes down to is keep reading, learning and trying new things. You won't remember everything, don't even try. What you can do is keep your mind able to think.
As a small aside, avoid refined sugars and seed (vegetable) oils. There are a lot of significant links to dementia and Alzheimers disease aside from being two of the largest causes of inflammation from diet.
Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)
#9> How has this affected me? I’ve mentally atrophied. I now feel like I can’t talk about any subject with more than a centimeter of depth. A half a decade ago, I could dive with you to the penetralia of convergence theorems of hypergeometric series, but now I cannot. Even my programming has taken a toll even though I do it every day. I find myself abstaining from studying advanced topics in programming and computer sc…
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Re: I Wasn’t Prepared for Work (2013)
#10> How has this affected me? I’ve mentally atrophied. I now feel like I can’t talk about any subject with more than a centimeter of depth. A half a decade ago, I could dive with you to the penetralia of convergence theorems of hypergeometric series, but now I cannot. Even my programming has taken a toll even though I do it every day. I find myself abstaining from studying advanced topics in programming and computer sc…
I think there's a simple solution, but it's certainly not easy.
You set aside time for this intellectual stimulation. Don't let the work drain you off energy, your focus should be elsewhere.
Of course it's only really possible for very few people. But even a little bit might help. Personally we moved away from the city and to a small community. I started working remote and I've been working 60% or 80% for about a year (I wrote some words about it[0]). The rest of the time I've been writing a book.[1]
It's been quite helpful to keep the intellectual stimulation going, although I still have the stress of having to accomplish something, so it's not completely perfect. But I'm scared of going back to work 100% again, as I'm pretty sure it will kill any drive and energy I have.
[0]: https://www.jonashietala.se/blog/2019/10/18/we_moved_away_fr... [1]: https://whycryptocurrencies.com/