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Ask HN: Non-tech professionals on HN?

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Re: Ask HN: Non-tech professionals on HN?

#31

Post by fwn »

I'm trained in philosophy and social sciences, mostly economics and sociology. I work in management consulting, we do strategic communication and some public affairs.

We do have some tech mandates but my interest in technology is largely personal. My parents are both in tech and their very problem driven compsci dinner talk in the evening greatly influenced me throughout my younger years.

I feel that since tech grew into every corner of society its far less peculiar to have a tech interest than maybe even 15 years ago.

Re: Ask HN: Non-tech professionals on HN?

#32

Post by jackvalentine »

Eikon wrote: post #7
newbamboo wrote: post #2

Everything is tech. And tech is nothing. For instance Google is an ad business. The web, aside from ads, is publishing. I propose we drop the construct altogether. It had its place back when personal computers were novel, but the contemporary historian writes code. Unless you mean software engineering, but much of that is now plumbing and project management.

> but the contemporary historian writes code. What?

Here is one example I know of https://timsherratt.org

Re: Ask HN: Non-tech professionals on HN?

#33

Post by Jaxtek »

kanten wrote: post #8

I am a physician turned drug developer and work in biotech now. I have also dabbled a bit in IT though and got hooked on HN many years ago. I keep coming back to HN for the thoughtful comments and nearly complete absence of malignant ones.

I work in IT but I love biotech. It was (still is) my dream. Got into IT due to circumstances. Some day I am gonna FIRE and invent cool weird plants.

Re: Ask HN: Non-tech professionals on HN?

#36

Post by opinion-is-bad »

mattowen_uk wrote: post #26
opinion-is-bad wrote: post #21

California farmer, mostly pistachio and almonds. The farm has been in the family for four generations now and we hope to continue that. I found HN while I worked at Google on self-driving cars from 2014-2018. At least two postings on HN have been direct material impact to me: the first about an autonomous tractor we might be experimenting with soon, and the second about water restrictions in CA that fortunately did n…

I've just watched season 3 of the legal drama 'Goliath' starring Billy Bob Thornton, which was ALL about almond farmers in California trying to get water. Really good show, totally recommend it.

I have not heard about that, I’ll check it out. The water situation is not good for a lot of farmers, but we are fortunate with where our aquifer-drawing land is located and that most of our acres don’t draw from the aquifer at all.

Re: Ask HN: Non-tech professionals on HN?

#37

Post by ArekDymalski »

Psychologist here, working in logistics now. I discovered HN 9 years ago, when I was involved in educational projects for startups.

Got immediately hooked not only by selection of links but also informational (an entertainment) value of comments which quite often are more intresting than a linked article itself.

Re: Ask HN: Non-tech professionals on HN?

#38

Post by midasuni »

3guk wrote: post #18

I work predominantly in Event Production - I love to read anything tech related and occasionally some of the links posted here contribute to more creative solutions in my day job.

Has business picked back up now post shutdowns? Just dine my first major event in the U.K. for two years, the riggers seem happy enough that jobs are starting again.

Re: Ask HN: Non-tech professionals on HN?

#39

Post by Jaxtek »

jimbob45 wrote: post #19
999900000999 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the same boat. I found Reddit to be one of the most hateful communities online. Checkout the Herman Cain award sub if you want proof. In my 20s I wasted a ton of time arguing about politics and even my own life on that site. While 9/10 times I'd find someone fun, the 1/10 was spent absorbing pure vitriol. Ultimately no one cares about what I think or how I choose to live my life. No normal person will spend al…

Mainstream Reddit, sure. However, the more esoteric your topic, the better Reddit gets. For example, most of the specific game subs are hyper-focused on their topic with paper who genuinely want to know and talk about the scene.

Yes. It all depends which subs we join. My reddit feed is full of useful information and helpful people ('s posts). Though r/popular is garbage, if we join certain niche communities, it is fun and useful.
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