Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?

#41

Post by tessting » Thu, Jan 02, 2020, 3:39 AM UTC

wolco wrote: post #40

tessting wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon and Google, which I have found to be similar in a lot of respects. Personally I prefer Amazon's versionsets to the monorepo at Google. Curious why you think Amazon is so different from the other FNG+?

Amazon's culture is very different. It is more microsoft crossed with shark tank and with this strange hint of moneyball guiding projects/promotions.

Yes, I agree with that, but I guess I thought we were discussing more of the engineering culture. I think at both places the biggest factor is your specific manager team, but that the average team at Google is more relaxed and enjoyable with higher QOL.

Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?

#42

Post by caspervonb » Thu, Jan 02, 2020, 4:56 AM UTC

rxpad wrote: post #13

caspervonb wrote: post #10

Don't get involved with web development.

Why

Many reasons; like it's a bit dull but primarily we are creating user hostile software and thats the norm.

Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?

#43

Post by keiferski » Thu, Jan 02, 2020, 6:22 AM UTC

netsharc wrote: post #36

keiferski wrote: post #16

Do a few small things daily, consistently, 365 days a year, for the next decade. E.g., learning three new words/phrases in a foreign language per day takes about 5 minutes yet adds up to over 10,000 in a decade - essentially the number it takes to pass a C1 exam. This kind of slow steady progress is useful for virtually anything: learn foreign alphabets one letter a day, read the encyclopedia one entry a day, etc.

The 10000 hour rule has been debunked.. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/8/23/20828597/th... Like a few other Malcolm Gladwell's claims...

I didn’t say anything about 10,000 hours...

Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?

#44

Post by keiferski » Thu, Jan 02, 2020, 6:36 AM UTC

elliekelly wrote: post #32

keiferski wrote: post #16

Do a few small things daily, consistently, 365 days a year, for the next decade. E.g., learning three new words/phrases in a foreign language per day takes about 5 minutes yet adds up to over 10,000 in a decade - essentially the number it takes to pass a C1 exam. This kind of slow steady progress is useful for virtually anything: learn foreign alphabets one letter a day, read the encyclopedia one entry a day, etc.

I took French classes from 5th grade all the way through college and could speak basically zero actual French. For maybe six months now I’ve been doing about 20-30 minutes a day using the “Fluent Forever” method and I’m already able to converse with native speakers and watch movies in French. It’s really opened my eyes to how inefficient learning “sprints” are compared to small but consistent progress.

Yep, this is called the spacing effect and it’s really powerful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacing_effect

Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?

#45

Post by allendoerfer » Thu, Jan 02, 2020, 4:54 PM UTC

I am in my late twenties. All the other advice seems to come from people my age. I would also have similiar advice:

- Focus on your relationships, they take work. Manage your input and your expectations.

- There are probably easier ways to make money. It's okay to take an easy route and improve from there. Time is valuable and interests compound.

- Which inner desires are your goals feeding into. Is there an easier way to get there?

This thread is full of advice like this and there were probably similar threads 10 years ago. Have we listened? I would not have. I learned it the hard way and now believe in it.

A better question probably would be: What advice would your future self give you in ten years?

For me it would probably be around health. Maybe family and friends.

Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?

#46

Post by gshdg » Thu, Jan 02, 2020, 5:06 PM UTC

You can do that job, and you can be good at it. But it would take you a lot less time to get good at it and you’ll do a lot less damage in the interim if you hired an executive coach now.

Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?

#47

Post by adawg_4 » Thu, Jan 02, 2020, 6:27 PM UTC

ruslan wrote: post #9

Pay attention to your health, don't eat junk food, get more sleep.

I've seen this on ycombinator's yt and it has improved my wellbeing dramatically: https://youtu.be/LH1bewTg-P4 I second this.

Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?

#48

Post by probinso » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 4:34 AM UTC

Don't complete your master's degree

Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?

#49

Post by JaggerJo » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 12:02 AM UTC

probinso wrote: post #48

Don't complete your master's degree

Interesting. I don’t have a degree and sometimes think I maybe should have got one.

Could you explain why completing your masters degree was ‘bad’ ?

Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?

#50

Post by probinso » Sun, Jan 05, 2020, 5:54 AM UTC

JaggerJo wrote: post #49

probinso wrote: post #48

Don't complete your master's degree

Interesting. I don’t have a degree and sometimes think I maybe should have got one. Could you explain why completing your masters degree was ‘bad’ ?

The value add can be less than the emotional and opportunity costs; Completing 2/3 of the degree would have satisfied my goals going in.