Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I no longer build software

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

811–820 of 891 posts

Re: I no longer build software

#811

Post by genericallyloud »

mauvehaus wrote: post #123

Holy shit, this is me! A couple things to clarify: I posted the original issue as a minor complaint about the docker cli and promptly forgot about it. I never expected it to get any traction or follow-up. At the time I posted it, I was working as a contractor for my former full time employer. I had left full-time work there in early 2017 to attend the full-time program at the (sadly now-defunct) Furniture Institute o…

I just recently bought the anarchist's design book and toolbox book! I'm just just getting into though - haven't built anything yet. Need to get tools and set up a shop.

Re: I no longer build software

#812

Post by chubot »

someguydave wrote: post #776
chubot wrote: post #597

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally understand people who are burnt out on building commercial software. The incentives are often to create systems that work poorly for both users and are hard to work with for developers. It's a miracle when that's not true! However if you're really burnt out, and still want to exercise your skill, take a break and give open source software a try! I'm still having fun building http://www.oilshell.org/ after m…

How do you make money? Do you live on savings?

Yes, although I worked on open source while employed for 6-10 years too (sometimes it was my job, but usually not).

I'm not saying that it's the way to spend the least time at the computer :) I'm saying it is a way to avoid being burnt out.

If you are building something for yourself, and others incidentally get some use out of it, you'll be less likely to burnt out than killing yourself for a deadline made-up by a VP. And then the whole project gets through away, and no customer ever cared about it. I've seen that a lot.

-----

Related story: Many years ago I got burnt out by my job, and I took a woodworking class at night (lol, definitely a programmer thing). It was great, and I'm typing on top of a desk I made in that class right now.

However I bought a bunch of magazines about woodworking, and I noticed that everyone had 8 or 9 fingers, so I didn't go further with it :) The thing that the OP pointed out is real!

Re: I no longer build software

#813

Post by Polylactic_acid »

tombert wrote: post #402
coldtea wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So we've mostly solved trivial non-problems if/not regressions? People lived in 1990 and didn't feel that bad to have to call a travel agency to get a ticket, or, god forbid, to actually meet friends and not in VR space... I'll give you "self driving cars" -- well, I would if they could work today, which they don't...

This seems like an awfully reductionist take, and is demonstrably wrong. > to actually meet friends and not in VR space Nintendo released the Virtual Boy in the 90s, a (somewhat unsuccessful) attempt at a semi-VR thing; they were (and are) a pretty big business, and I don't think that they were just doing it because they thought it was cool; there was demand for something like virtual reality at the time. > People li…

VR is also not just about recreating irl situations so you can sit at home. There is something deeply satisfying about shit talking with friends in Pavlov and then blowing their brains out with a shotgun only for them to come back 10 seconds later.

Re: I no longer build software

#814

Post by Polylactic_acid »

smolder wrote: post #630
anticristi wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very nicely put. I mean look at a car: It's essentially a lot of 3rd party components put together coherently. I don't think any part of my Peugeot has a Peugeot label on it, rather Bosch, Autoliv, Michelin, etc. Same thing with airplanes. Boeing is pretty much Honeywell+GE+Liebherr to name a few. I am unsure why people find componentizing and integrating unrewarding in IT. I didn't hear my dad (a sound engineer) com…

Let me work with your analogy a bit. What if your dad's job was to install sound systems designed around poor quality speaker components, using expensive DSP systems that add a lot of latency to the signal and draw lots of power? He knows he could build better components than the ones he uses if he put the time in, and create a better overall system design with a better price/performance by applying state of the art…

I imagine a lot of product engineers cringe when they are forced to make a design choice that will save 1c on the BoM but causes the device to fail sooner or be impossible to repair.

Re: I no longer build software

#815

Post by brucifer »

chpmrc wrote: post #304
derefr wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the implication is that ride hailing, delivery ordering, and flight/hotel booking were possible to do by calling the company on the telephone . Which— if you already know precisely what you want—has almost as little friction as opening an app and tapping a button. (And to make that apply more often, these companies used to distribute fliers containing their “browsable UI.”) “Live streams” of rocket launches w…

Calling has absolutely not the same friction as using an app. It's orders of magnitudes less efficient, more expensive and sometimes just impossible (good luck calling radio taxi in some countries where you don't speak the language). I think comparing what we could do 20+ years ago with what we can do now and saying "meh" is outright absurd. But, hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

You might be overestimating the gap in efficiency. For example, last night, I ordered a pizza for pick-up, and the phone call took exactly 31 seconds. Even apps aren't instantaneous, but if they were, you're only talking about saving less than 1-2 minutes per day. In exchange for those time savings, apps introduce a lot of complexity and overhead: service fees, app updates, device storage, logins, behavioral tracking, etc.

Now, that being said, there are a few unique advantages to apps, like being able to order taxis in a foreign country (as you said), or being able to share your GPS coordinates with the taxi.

Re: I no longer build software

#816

Post by Polylactic_acid »

bmurphy1976 wrote: post #687
protomyth wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of the pre-2000 programming was a bit more enjoyable because most of us were not programming for the web and actually using platforms that were designed for application development. The web is a very poor fit for what most people want designed.

Pre-2000 you actually had a hope of understanding everything your computer software was doing. These days there's no hope, everything is too complicated for the best of minds. You'll only ever know a small portion of it. Maybe that doesn't bother some people, but it's a big demotivator for me. I miss being able to truly understand my computer. Now I feel like I'm always spinning my wheels. Even worse, I'm more capabl…

I don't see why this should bother you. This isn't just the case with tech. Doctors work with humans that they don't have a hope of understanding even 5%. I have done web development my whole working life and I couldn't tell you how the browser actually renders a page. I just know the interface to communicate with the browser and let it be someone elses job to work out the next part.

Re: I no longer build software

#817

Post by chiefgeek »

wrycoder wrote: post #798
lightelement wrote: post #763

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to know your thoughts on woodworking in a living space. Before the pandemic I took classes at a local art school. I'm considering upgrading to a two bedroom apartment (in a large apartment building) and using the spare bedroom as a workshop. I'm guessing I'll have to go all (or almost all) hand tools. Do you think this is feasible, or will I regret it? I'm worried about dust management and noise for my neigh…

Use hand tools, when possible. If not, use Fesstool tools and one of their dust extractors. I built a wood bed for my truck in the living room some decades ago. And also a clavichord. Hand tools generate shavings, but little dust. I have a very good collection of hand tools in a large tool chest. And, I have a very solid, large workbench. Both of these look great in the living room when not in use.

Fein also makes amazing vacuums and they're very quiet. At least they used to; I haven't been in the space for years.

Re: I no longer build software

#818

Post by vbezhenar »

andrewmcwatters wrote: post #691
DarkWiiPlayer wrote: post #168

It seems like nowadays you just can't make money building interesting things anymore. Most of the available programming work is really just writing glue code to make big software systems work as intended, to the point where it can feel more like writing configuration files than actual programming. Put simply, 98% of programming these days is scripting. On the other hand, you have lots of fun things one can do with co…

> It seems like nowadays you just can't make money building interesting things anymore. Sounds like you haven't tried or you haven't stumbled on an actual issue. There are lifetimes of problems out there, and many existing solutions are poor or non-solutions. I run into them all the time and cannot possibly dedicate my one lifetime to all of the problems I see viable commercial solutions to.

Write a blog post enumerating all of them :)

Re: I no longer build software

#819

Post by samatman »

notacoward wrote: post #392
mumblemumble wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After having read the article Built to Last [1] from the latest issue of Logic Magazine over my morning coffee, and spending breakfast pondering my coming day of figuring out if we can disentangle some stuff I'm working on from the increasingly complex and inscrutable Big Data ecosystem, and if it's even going to be possible to get management to approve it when the requests to stick RSS feeds into DBMSes are forever…

> "... many people don’t even see the preference for complex languages for what it is: an attempt to protect one’s status by favoring tools that gate-keep rather than those that assist newcomers." Don't forget the ones who jump onto a new language or framework so that by dint of experience they can be the gatekeepers for the next generation. This was staggeringly apparent with both Java and Go, each in their time.

Let's conjugate the whole thing, shall we?

I learn new languages for technical development and to stay curious and fresh. You learn new languages for job security. They want to gatekeep the next generation.

Re: I no longer build software

#820

Post by jjav »

bobbytuck wrote: post #674
Diederich wrote: post #659

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I sincerely feel bad for people who have to stay in it. I'm in my 50s, and I've been getting paid to build software for over 27 years now, and started programming on a near daily basis on a TRS-80 in the 1970s. Please don't feel sorry for me. I still very much enjoy building software. I won't necessarily disagree with the particular challenges you cite. The total complexity is enormous now, but the tools and abstra…

Another TRS-80 fan here. I learned programming by sitting in the back of a Radio Shack where they had a Model I Level II and a Model II with those big 8" drives. This was probably around '81 or so. A year or so later they eventually had a Model III in the front of the store. Whenever I get burned out on software (in my case, Vue and React) -- and build complexity -- I always remind myself of those TRS-80 days. The on…

The detail in the store description is wonderful. That's exactly where I grew up, learning to program on store equipment as the store manager let me spend the days there in exchange for showing potential customers what these things were.
Post reply on HN