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The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

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Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#391

Post by walshemj »

ntrz wrote: post #12
scarmig wrote: post #2

Is it generally easy for people to get permission from their day job to code on the side, without assigning all rights to the employer?

This definitely depends on the employer and your geographical location; for example, in California, clauses like this are not legal except under certain conditions: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...

But they are fairly wide conditions it has to be "unrelated" to your day job.

OK if your a semi pro musician but a generic developer sie gig not so much.

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#392

Post by munchbunny »

d_burfoot wrote: post #276

I feel like HN should have a special flag called "survivorship bias" that we can use to tag posts like this. For every project like this one, there are 1000 others where someone spent 15 hrs/week for 5 years, built something really cool, but never got any funding or traction. Now, that time was probably better spent on a cool project than on playing video games or watching TV. But you shouldn't think that consistent…

I don't think it's just about successful startups or successful projects.

Personal example: growing up I practiced the piano for about a decade, 30 minutes at a time, usually 4-ish days each week. I got more disciplined about it as I got older. After 10 years, I went from not being able to play at all to being able to play genuinely impressive stuff. I'm not especially talented, but the consistent application of 30 minutes at a time really did add up to something wonderful.

No survivorship bias needed here. Anyone with access to a keyboard or piano could have done the same thing. Yes, you would've needed to want to learn to play at least a little, and yes, you would've needed to practice at least a little intentionally, but given those things, just showing up consistently over a long period of time can do wonders.

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#393

Post by walshemj »

honzzz wrote: post #56
scarmig wrote: post #2

Is it generally easy for people to get permission from their day job to code on the side, without assigning all rights to the employer?

Could you please explain to someone who is not from the US what is the justification behind this? It seems that it is not uncommon in the US that the employer has some rights to stuff you do in your free time - to me that seems as "reasonable" as "you sold me your house so your car is also mine now". What I do in my free time is none of my employer's business, why would they have any right to any of it?

Because employment laws are based on old laws relating to "Masters and servants"

And European law is just the same.

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#394

Post by walshemj »

honzzz wrote: post #87
brabel wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It happens in Europe too. The rationale is that the employer gives you a lot of knowledge and tools which you could use to your own benefit... there are clear cases of abuse, some leading to litigation. I guess the employers want to defend themselves against IP theft basically. What I normally do is ask for an agreement that projects unrelated to my employer's business is ok for me to work on, which I have always bee…

> It happens in Europe too. Does it really? I am from Europe and I have lived and worked in 3 EU countries, many of my friends have experience from other countries and I have never heard anyone mention this is. Obviously, my personal experience is limited. In what country do you live if I might ask?

Its very common the work normally has to be related.

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#395

Post by criddell »

deregulateMed wrote: post #297
criddell wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand somebody not enjoying video games, but movies is a tough one for me. Does the same go for plays? If so, is there any narrative media you enjoy?

"History is crazier than fiction" This year I read/listened to 30 nonfiction books in philosophy, History, and science. It's been extremely enjoyable and rewarding. My best advice is to put down bad books after 20 or 30 pages.

Personally, I think John Lennon was on to something when he said "time you enjoy wasting was not wasted".

That said, I agree 100% about giving up on books early and often.

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#396

Post by walshemj »

KittenInABox wrote: post #62
honzzz wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you please explain to someone who is not from the US what is the justification behind this? It seems that it is not uncommon in the US that the employer has some rights to stuff you do in your free time - to me that seems as "reasonable" as "you sold me your house so your car is also mine now". What I do in my free time is none of my employer's business, why would they have any right to any of it?

It's because in the US the theory is that by hiring you salaried, they hire your mind and creative output, not a set labor. This means they pay you for anything your mind produces and then try to claim ownership for anything your mind produces whether you were in-office or not. (this is usually not enforcable unless you actively build competing services)

That is the point of salaried jobs

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#397

Post by walshemj »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #9
scarmig wrote: post #2

Is it generally easy for people to get permission from their day job to code on the side, without assigning all rights to the employer?

Depends on jurisdiction. In places with reasonable copyright laws, you'd have to do weird things to end up in the “employer takes rights” situation in the first place.

Copyright isnt really important here this is labor law

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#398

Post by elevenoh »

jstummbillig wrote: post #366
nend wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, I appreciated the correction and additional information. There was also an acknowledgment that it doesn't change ops point. Seemed like a useful comment to me.

Well, pedantry is quite popular around here.

Writing code w/o a pedantic frame ~= buggy code.

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#399

Post by temporama1 »

Counterpoint to this: a lot of the programmers I admire all have an uncanny ability to just sit and work for long periods of time. Like, sit down and hardly move for 10 straight hours. They achieve a huge amount in that time - much more in a single 10 hour stretch than they would in 10x1 hour sessions.

And that applies to other things they do: playing video games, reading a book...when they do something they go 'all in'.

I feel like this level of focus is much more of a superpower than small amounts every day (although that too is powerful, and both approaches are infinitely better than what most of us do, which is very little)

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#400

Post by ghaff »

robocat wrote: post #357
kjerzyk wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you mind sharing what you used to learn cooking? My main struggle is recipe books that teach you the recipe rather than cooking. But I'd love to learn HOW to cook, not WHAT to cook.

A friend of mine (who couldn't cook) learnt by buying the delivered raw food packages that have say four evenings dishes with recipes. The recipes are designed and written so that they are hard to screw up. It was a least effort path that worked for him: no videos or books (so a different option than the majority of answers so far!). Mostly I believe it is just the desire to cook - even if just making one _favourite_…

I think they're interesting if (in most cases) you're part of a couple, you're fine with spending a fair bit of time multiple times a week to prepare, and you don't have much of a pantry at ho,e.

Most of those don't really describe me, especially pre-pandemic, and the one time I tried Blue Apron it just didn't work for me. About half of three recipes were OK. Another one was incredibly fussy for a burger.

I know there are a million services out there and some probably better align with my preferences though they're all pricy.

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