A Project of One’s Own • Hacker News Board

Re: A Project of One’s Own

#201

Post by j4yav » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:14 PM UTC

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #122

tornato7 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I could have more of that "ship" mentality. I have dozens of quite interesting personal projects that are stuck in the 80% complete state, because ultimately the final stages of releasing a project just aren't fun to me (bug fixing, tests, docs, build systems, code polish)

Shipping is boring as hell. Lots of not-fun stuff. I generally have to force myself to polish the fenders. For example, one of the things I always do, is create a project social media card for my repos. Silly, but it helps me to feel like it's "for real." But it's really nice to know that I can include one of my projects as a dependency, and not have to worry a bit about whether or not it will bork my project.

Funny, for me not shipping is a source of anxiety and I get paralyzed at the getting started point.

Re: A Project of One’s Own

#202

Post by m0llusk » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:16 PM UTC

99_00 wrote: post #179

brhsagain wrote: post #131

Good essay overall, but this footnote in particular stood out to me: > [2] Tiger parents, as parents so often do, are fighting the last war. Grades mattered more in the old days when the route to success was to acquire credentials while ascending some predefined ladder. But it's just as well that their tactics are focused on grades. How awful it would be if they invaded the territory of projects, and thereby gave the…

Tiger parents A largely Chinese-American concept, the term draws parallels to strict parenting styles ostensibly common to households in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. (wikipedia) The idea behind tiger parents is that Asians earn more money. And it's true, but not the whole store. But the problem is that average Asian incomes are pulled up by Indian-Americans. Chinese-Americans earn less than many Europea…

One idea is that tiger parenting results in kids that make more money as adults. The more general observation is that strict parenting results in different behaviors and expectations and patterns of engagement. While wealth is a dominant social metric other measures such as criminal convictions also come up and do indicate some differences in outcomes.

Saying this is about flawed logic is a mistake as the idea is not based in logic but rather on the wild variation exhibited during the process of raising children.

Re: A Project of One’s Own

#203

Post by splithalf » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:17 PM UTC

dpogorniy wrote: post #143

brhsagain wrote: post #131

Good essay overall, but this footnote in particular stood out to me: > [2] Tiger parents, as parents so often do, are fighting the last war. Grades mattered more in the old days when the route to success was to acquire credentials while ascending some predefined ladder. But it's just as well that their tactics are focused on grades. How awful it would be if they invaded the territory of projects, and thereby gave the…

That's because parents are afraid that their child won't be competitive enough to have a decent life. If only parents were relaxed, if only they knew that their child can live full life without grinding through exercises. Then child just would pursue what they love, interested (unless it's unaffordable to their social strata). I wonder what we can do today to make this happen sooner. On the side note. There is a grea…

Some people are never content and need to increase their wealth and social status constantly. Others will be content and happy regardless of their social status. Those who need to keep amassing ever more wealth “to keep up with the Jones’” are the future we’re choosing. Hope it’s the right choice.

Re: A Project of One’s Own

#204

Post by Aditya_Garg » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:21 PM UTC

There’s a video about a Chinese kid going through this exact dilemma

https://youtu.be/4L6RKFbQoxs

Re: A Project of One’s Own

#205

Post by shoto_io » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:23 PM UTC

munificent wrote: post #160

shoto_io wrote: post #8

I have come to realize something profoundly fundamental for myself in the last weeks - after seeing this famous marketing video by Steve Jobs and reading a biography of Nike's founder: My passion for my own project/business is highest whenever my passion is aligned with the passion of my target audience. In that case, I also believe your chances of success have improved. Take Nike, for example. Phil Knight was a pass…

> My passion for my own project/business is highest whenever my passion is aligned with the passion of my target audience. This is a critical insight. Taking this out of the business domain and into psychology/philosophy, I think the key question is "What does working on the project mean for me?" Here's an interesting thought experiment: Take the hobby project you are working on now and imagine that when it was all d…

Yes, absolutely. Thanks for sharing your insights. I like the test/thought experiment.

You know, there is also the other camp, and I have been part of it myself. Those who say that you shouldn’t find a passion to follow, and why that’s a foolish and romantic thing to do. But I have switched sides (again).

Why solve problems for people you don’t care about even if that makes you rich? It’s nothing I’d like to do with the limited amount of time I have on this planet.

Re: A Project of One’s Own

#206

Post by spacedcowboy » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:25 PM UTC

philsnow wrote: post #197

spacedcowboy wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a 9-year-old, and he's pretty much into his "iPad time" where he gets 30 minutes per day. He's got a soccer team which demands a certain amount of time per week, but like most kids he has a lot of free time... We did two main things: 1) From the age of about 7, we started him on something called "Beast Academy", which is basically a maths course for kids, using examples in a cartoon-like style. He did simultan…

You mention in the epilogue that you would use plastic sheeting instead of directly waterproofing the 8'x4' plywood sheets -- that would also make the plywood somewhat more re-purposeable. How loud were all the pumps combined? You mention there was a bounce house, were the pumps quieter than that?

Pumps were inaudible - I mean a birthday party full of 5-8 year-olds isn't a quiet environment, but:

- the pumps were submerged

- I put a rubber mat on the bottom of the big black rubbermaid container, though the thinking here was to stop them bumping around rather than noise per se

- and the connection to the raceway was via flexible tubing, so there was no vibration transfer.

Overall I'd expect the pumps to be one of the least-loud parts of the system , the flowing water was way louder, and that's not very loud.

I've since bought myself a 4'x3' laser-cutter [1] (and many projects have been jointly undertaken as a result :), and the plywood has been satisfactorily repurposed (one side is fine, so I just made sure the side I had painted previously wasn't visible. There's lots of projects where re-using is pretty simple :)

[1] https://i.imgur.com/IiIvFFv.jpg

Re: A Project of One’s Own

#207

Post by EarthLaunch » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:32 PM UTC

convolvatron wrote: post #180

gdubs wrote: post #124

Another aspect of personal projects is that if they’re truly enjoyable they can be a kind of salve for burnout.* If you feel like you can’t even open your IDE, a personal project can generate the excitement that reinvigorates your passion. There’s also less of a speed limit with personal projects — the things like: “before you go down that road let’s talk with X; hold off on that idea for now; let’s wait until...” Th…

I disagree about the sidenote. go for it. get as far as you can.

I'm curious, why push through on a fun personal project into causing burnout? Asking for...a friend.

Re: A Project of One’s Own

#208

Post by celrod » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:33 PM UTC

grahamburger wrote: post #196

asadlionpk wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait so how do I 'not-force' my kid into programming these days? Our generation didn't have roblox, youtube and minecraft to distract us much.

Our generation had distractions, too. TV, for example. I don't know the direct answer to your question but at least part of it is that 'not-forcing' your kid in to programming means they might just never be in to programming. My oldest is at least kind of in to programming (and also plays a lot of Minecraft and watches a lot of YouTube) my youngest two have shown zero interest in programing, but have interests of the…

Growing up, what my late father probably wanted most from me is for me to find a project of my own. When I was in high school, he once threatened me with "get a life, or I will get you one". Engines, and especially motorcycles, were always a passion of his. He grew up on a farm, and "was rebuilding tractor engines when the other kids were learning to ride bicycles." He still holds a few land speed records he set with motorcycles he designed and built.

But I had no real hobbies or passions of my own, other than playing card games.

It wasn't until my twenties, after I already graduated college with degrees I wasn't interested in and my dad's health failed, that I first tried programming. A decade earlier, my dad was attending the local Linux meetings when away from his machine shop.

Programming, and especially performance optimization/loop vectorization are now my passion and consume most of my free time (https://github.com/JuliaSIMD/LoopVectorization.jl).

Hearing all the stories about people starting and getting hooked when they were 11 makes me feel like I lost a dozen years of my life. I had every opportunity, but just didn't take them. If I had children, I would worry for them.

Re: A Project of One’s Own

#209

Post by withinboredom » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:37 PM UTC

opportune wrote: post #173

throwawayboise wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've hit on it, grades matter right up until you're out of school. For most people, they matter for getting a first job (because there usually isn't much else to serve as a filter). After that, nobody will ever ask for or look at them again.

Most of the high paying professions outside of software require the degree and that first job to break into them. Sure for banking and consulting it’s not a hard requirement, but it’s much harder to get into them with bad grades or a degree from a non-target school. It’s really only in the software bubble where people are able to prove themselves to break into it, due to various factors including engineers being in v…

> but they still look at where I went to college (based on high school achievement) and my first job (based on college achievement) and subsequent jobs (much easier to get because of where I worked at my first job), etc.

No one has ever asked me about my schooling and I haven't had a school on my resume in over 10 years. Do they look at it because you put it on your resume?

Re: A Project of One’s Own

#210

Post by sbierwagen » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:38 PM UTC

99_00 wrote: post #179

brhsagain wrote: post #131

Good essay overall, but this footnote in particular stood out to me: > [2] Tiger parents, as parents so often do, are fighting the last war. Grades mattered more in the old days when the route to success was to acquire credentials while ascending some predefined ladder. But it's just as well that their tactics are focused on grades. How awful it would be if they invaded the territory of projects, and thereby gave the…

Tiger parents A largely Chinese-American concept, the term draws parallels to strict parenting styles ostensibly common to households in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. (wikipedia) The idea behind tiger parents is that Asians earn more money. And it's true, but not the whole store. But the problem is that average Asian incomes are pulled up by Indian-Americans. Chinese-Americans earn less than many Europea…

>Chinese-Americans earn less than many European-Americans.

On the page you link, Chinese-Americans have a lower per-capita income than Americans of Macedonian, Russian, Latvian, British (not otherwise specified), Lithuanian, Slovene, Australian, and Austrian ancestry.

They have a higher per-capita income than Americans of Scottish, Czechoslovakian, Croatian, Romanian, Hungarian, Slovak, Belgian, Swiss, Welsh, Danish, Israeli, Ukrainian, Canadian, Scotch-Irish, English, European (not otherwise specified), Bulgarian, Polish, Norwegian, Italian, German, Finnish, Irish, Dutch, French (excluding Basques), Yugoslav, Portuguese, American (not otherwise specified) and Pennsylvania German ancestry.

I am curious to hear how you define "many".