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Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

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Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#231

Post by pmiller2 »

lowercased wrote: post #195
spinlock_ wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding the "ejector seat savings account", do I receive something like unemployment benefits when I quit my in the United States? If yes, does it matter whether I quit or was fired? Sorry if that question sounds naive, but from what I read here on HN I'm often not quite sure how the system works in the US.

generally speaking, if you quit or were fired you would not be eligible for any unemployment assistance. it's different state to state, but quit is your decision, and 'fired' is usually for something negative/bad. I've been 'laid off' - terminated but it was reported as no fault of mine - and received unemployment assistance - this has happened to me twice. the 'ejector seat savings' the GP was referring to just mean…

I agree that unemployment benefits aren’t the metaphorical ejector seat here. But, regarding “fired” vs “laid off,” at least in California, you’re generally eligible for unemployment benefits even if you were fired, as long as you weren’t fired for illegal or malicious activity. In particular, if you didn’t care about losing a reference and burning bridges, you could get fired for poor performance and still collect unemployment. I can’t think of a plausible situation where it would be beneficial, but you could certainly do it.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#232

Post by r0rbit »

cygned wrote: post #107

I am of the opinion that the software industry could improve by closer looking at the industry of producing physical goods. I have yet to conduct further research, but if you glance at it; Agile has been an idea since the 1940s over there; factors like longevity, safety, security directly influence quality of the product and its creation process. Also, greatly standardized methodologies, procedures, metrics (think: 6…

Ever tried 'The Phoenix Project'? It's a good read that implies this idea

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#234

Post by Geee »

beefield wrote: post #51

That money is debt. In a very fundamental, literal and practical sense, debt or credit (i.e. someone owing somebody something valuable) is what money is . The traditional definition of means of unit of measure, means of payment and unit of value describe how money is used , not what it is . Like, knife is a sharp edged tool used to cut things vs knife actually is steel. (This also being my main reason objecting crypt…

No, that's not true. Money can be either debt-based or non-debt-based.

The current government issued money is based on debt. It means that in order to create new money, someone has to be in debt for that amount. I.e. someone has to promise to create value in the future. When more promises are made, the monetary base inflates and money loses value. Money is created at the central bank (public/national debt) and in commercial banks (private debt).

The alternative is money that is based on value that was created in the past. The distinction is that the work already happened and there's no promise to be held. Such money can be anything that requires work to obtain, and can't be created in any other way. Examples of such money are gold and bitcoin.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#235

Post by quotemstr »

Antoninus wrote: post #96

I'm a developer like many people here. One thing that people who don't program don't realize is that its a laborious job. It seems like its a fun job with lots of 'hanging out' but its more like 4-5 hours a day / 5 days week looking at a text editor and a terminal trying to focus and not be distracted. At the end of the day, I'm exhausted

What if the part I find most fun is looking at the text editor and not the social signaling games?

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#236

Post by pgt »

pmiller2 wrote: post #225
fxtentacle wrote: post #146

How much feel good and drinking relationships matter in upper management. And on the downside, how little facts weight in when compared to a manager's gut feeling. Enthusiastically presenting a (factually wrong) solution can be a winning strategy. In high school, I thought I was a math genius because all of my solutions were judged as correct. Turns out, I was just a good presenter and nobody made any effort to check…

The bit about math homework reminds me of how I started getting better grades in grad school as immediately after I started doing homework in LaTeX. It’s not that I got any smarter, and I don’t think my work improved significantly as a result of using LaTeX. IMO, it was just that my papers literally looked more convincing when they were typeset like preprints rather than handwritten.

I spend a lot of time making my consulting invoices look good, because it seems to justify my rates and impresses the payroll department, who then pays me sooner.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#237

Post by shawabawa3 »

mattnewport wrote: post #43

Working in VR, the state of the art is closer to Pong than to the Holodeck or the Matrix. That doesn't mean there aren't useful applications for the technology but we won't see anything that passes for reality in my lifetime, or perhaps ever.

> but we won't see anything that passes for reality in my lifetime, or perhaps ever

maybe not that passes for reality, but VR already has a powerful "reality feeling" even with the crappy resolution we have now

Get someone to load a VR game and try to walk off a cliff - they'll find it very difficult to do. Even someone that's played a lot of VR will have to override their instincts to not step off.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#238

Post by keiferski »

gonzo41 wrote: post #173
jsjw7sbw wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having worked with filling shelves, that job felt sometimes a lot more complex than my development job nowadays. The store I worked for didn't in general allow anything extra to be stored in the warehouse. This lead to the filling load sometimes having excess products that you had to fit somewhere. I really enjoyed making space by moving and rearranging products on the shelves. The products came in wrapped in big rol…

I used to have a job in the back warehouse of a white goods store. I was moving around fridges all day long. It was a really good job. The best part was I couldn't take any fridges home with me in the evenings. I'd get home and my fridge would be already where it's meant to be. Also no one wanted me to do a fridge moving side project in the evenings.

Yes, but that’s only because you lived in an area without fridge innovation. If you really wanted to work on the cutting edge of social fridge technology, you’d have to move.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#239

Post by tonyedgecombe »

fxtentacle wrote: post #146

How much feel good and drinking relationships matter in upper management. And on the downside, how little facts weight in when compared to a manager's gut feeling. Enthusiastically presenting a (factually wrong) solution can be a winning strategy. In high school, I thought I was a math genius because all of my solutions were judged as correct. Turns out, I was just a good presenter and nobody made any effort to check…

Support is interesting, I've found that I get about one support issue for every sale. The interesting thing is most people who raise a support problem never buy the software and most people who do buy the software never raise any issues.

None the less I do find it a valuable source of information, in particular identifying bugs and deficiencies.

Re: Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

#240

Post by kstenerud »

The most effective team member is the one who amplifies everyone's output. If you can improve a 5 member team's output by 20%, it's the same as if you'd added a 6th member for free.

The least appreciated team member is the one who amplifies everyone's output.

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