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What Happened to Lee

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Re: What Happened to Lee

#241

Post by techer »

01100011 wrote: post #122
rubicon33 wrote: post #107

Terrifying. As a software engineer, shit like this scares me. I've felt like I'm on a steady, slow, decline for the last ~4 years. Is it just burnout? Do I need a new hobby? I used to love programming... Spent 12 hours a day jamming on it. Now, I struggle to keep my mind on a line of code for more than 5 minutes. At what point is it just burnout, or at what point is it something more? That's what's terrifying to me.…

How old are you? I'm about to hit 45 and have been on that path for about 2 years now. It started with sleep apnea but I've had that under control for 16 months now. I feel like I'm becoming too slow to be a proficient coder, and I lack the people skills to move to management. I'd pick a lower-stress career, but I've got alimony and need the income. I've tried getting fit. I've tried improving my sleep. Vitamins, her…

Yoga/Breathing?

Re: What Happened to Lee

#242

Post by jeffreygoesto »

dang wrote: post #163
woah wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sure he did a great job, but I’ve seen those things be a huge nightmare for anyone other than the irreplaceable genius code wizard who created them.

I guess you're using the word genius ironically, but I've also seen such things be radical in the sense that they're built in a way that no one else would have done, yet it ends up working perfectly for the business and being far more successful than anyone would have predicted. There's a certain type of mind that is immune to fashionable or normal technical choices, that often goes along with remarkable productivity…

Reading code is harder than writing and separating taste from business logic is even harder. Often what looks like an ugly wart was a very compact representation of domain knowlege for a special use case. Untangling that knowlege and re-mastering that use case in a refactoring or even rewrite goes wrong far too often.

Re: What Happened to Lee

#243

Post by mdonahoe »

saagarjha wrote: post #240
andmarios wrote: post #150

The behavior described in the article can be seen in all dementia patients. The article is written like it is a rare and unfortunate story which we watch from the sidelines, but only the age of Lee makes it unique. Many of us will experience exactly the same with a beloved one ( probably a parent, maybe a significant other). Every single part of the story except the age, all the changes in the behavior —small and lar…

I’m sure you mean well, but your comment came across as a little harsh to me, reducing the very real and very saddening decline of such a talented person, along with the people close to him that witnessed this decline firsthand, to a “so? This happens to everyone”. I agree it’s something that we should continue researching, but I don’t think it’s really fair to claim that doctors are apathetic to the issue.

I viewed it more as a warning about the frequency of dementia, rather than an attempt to minimize Lee's experience.

Re: What Happened to Lee

#244

Post by masonic »

Agathos wrote: post #91
Retric wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It survived both political parties in power. It might get chipped away over the next 30 years or replaced with public option etc, but bringing back the preexisting condition issue would be extremely unpopular. Also, it does not actually cost insurance companies much money as they can all just raise premiums.

So you're confident that the Supreme Court will overturn the 5th Circuit's decision to throw it out? The Supreme Court will be hearing the case this autumn. And you must be confident that Trump will lose, since the 5-4 majority that saved Obamacare last time will not survive a few more Republican appointments.

  the 5-4 majority that saved Obamacare last time will not survive a few more Republican appointments
You seem unaware that Chief Justice Roberts authored the opinion upholding ACA.

Re: What Happened to Lee

#245

Post by barbs »

duxup wrote: post #202

Watching a family member fade and the glimpses of them here and there can be horrific. My father died when I was 9. Decades later I watched my mother in law dissolve (and she was very much aware / terrified all the time) over the course of a decade. I think it altered and traumatized my wife's entire family in a way I'm not sure they understand or have dealt with. Sudden death seems so much more humane.

That sounds horrific, I'm so sorry

Re: What Happened to Lee

#246

Post by Agathos »

masonic wrote: post #244
Agathos wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're confident that the Supreme Court will overturn the 5th Circuit's decision to throw it out? The Supreme Court will be hearing the case this autumn. And you must be confident that Trump will lose, since the 5-4 majority that saved Obamacare last time will not survive a few more Republican appointments.

the 5-4 majority that saved Obamacare last time will not survive a few more Republican appointments You seem unaware that Chief Justice Roberts authored the opinion upholding ACA.

So what? The Chief Justice can write the minority opinion next time. That 5-seat majority includes some who will almost certainly retire in the next four years.

Re: What Happened to Lee

#247

Post by Agathos »

Retric wrote: post #114
Agathos wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're confident that the Supreme Court will overturn the 5th Circuit's decision to throw it out? The Supreme Court will be hearing the case this autumn. And you must be confident that Trump will lose, since the 5-4 majority that saved Obamacare last time will not survive a few more Republican appointments.

In terms of appointments, republicans have had control of the Supreme Court for years. In terms of the actual judges and their rulings that’s anybody’s guess. They could easily remove the tax while keeping the rest of the law unchanged or do just about anything.

I don't really know what to make of "republicans have had control of the Supreme Court for years." Overturning Obamacare was their number one priority during the Obama administration. The Supreme Court chose not to. The five justices who chose not to are still seated. Some control.

Re: What Happened to Lee

#248

Post by sdan »

saagarjha wrote: post #239
sdan wrote: post #214

I've always wanted to work at Cloudflare because of Lee. He was probably the first one from my high school who actually made something that people want (and I also use everyday).

Wow, I had no idea Lee was an alumni–I graduated a little too early to really know of Cloudflare at that point. I’ve occasionally been asked if about notable graduates; I guess I have someone to point to now. It’s sad to hear about Lee’s diagnosis; it would have been great to meet him: aside from talking about technical stuff, I’m sure it would have been interesting to hear about his time in high school.

Yeah I think Lee is probably the most notable (other than DJ Patil) in the tech space.

Initially found this a few years ago when I was doing a "deep dive" on Cloudflare.

Interesting nonetheless!

Re: What Happened to Lee

#249

Post by crazygringo »

danielbarla wrote: post #237
crazygringo wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as you have the necessary tooling for source control, versioning, code search, etc. -- why is it the pits? I mean, if you stick to a rigorous procedure of automatically exporting your stored procedures to files and committing them to git with messages... how is that different from any other development? Serious question -- I've done tons of database work but only a little bit with stored procedures, so wonder…

It's a completely valid question, so I'll try to give a serious answer, from my perspective. Firstly, I'd like to say that SPs can be quite awesome, for several of the reasons already stated. It is normally one of the few ways one can truly enforce integrity, access controls, and logging at the DB level. (Also, most of my experience is from an MS SQL and C# background, so some of this may not translate over to Postgr…

Thank you so much for writing that up!

Re: What Happened to Lee

#250

Post by distances »

elamje wrote: post #201
dimxasnewfrozen wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After reading this I had to do a quick self-assessment. For the last few years or so (I'm 33, also a software engineer) I've noticed a pretty big decline in my mental state. I can't focus. I immediately forget what I just looked at, read or did. I completely zone out when people talk to me. I am just not present in any situation. What is strange is that I can actually notice it, not in real-time however. It's been wo…

I don’t have the same issue with focus, etc. but I’m a couple years into my software career and have noticed a drastic shift in my cognitive abilities. Not negative per say, but it’s clear that being focused and working on a logic puzzle all day is changing how my brain is wired. You can imagine that our brain, after years of programming, starts to find shortcuts and such to make the tasks easier, but I find it’s com…

I've always felt I have to be extra careful about explaining/communicating, as the direct translation of my thought process doesn't deliver. I don't mind it much; I feel it's just a quirk I have to be aware of.

On the other hand, after a long and tiring coding session just talking normal stuff gets cumbersome but that, I figure, is just tiredness and passes soon enough.

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