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Ask HN: Non-tech professionals on HN?

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

#51

Post by james_in_the_uk »

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.

I see what you are saying, but I think that there's a contradiction in your argument. The fact that /much of/ (i.e. not all) software engineering is plumbing and project management implies that there's still a nucleus which is proper tech. Someone has to write the frameworks, configure the servers, do the devops etc. even if it is being further and further abstracted away from the 'typical' user.

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

#52

Post by james_in_the_uk »

slyn wrote: post #46

I manage at a famous Chicago pizzeria. When I was young I had aspirations of becoming a programmer or otherwise working in tech and kinda grew up reading different aggregators and eventually HN. Now that I know myself better I don’t think I would do well or be happy really sitting at a desk most days. I like working with my hands, entertaining guests, and working with and developing a team of staff from a variety of…

What's the state of the restaurant management software scene? Any scope for an open source restaurant management system? Could be a good side-hustle.

Edit: Just googled and found TastyIgniter. https://github.com/tastyigniter/TastyIgniter Don't underestimate the value of someone who knows code AND has worked in the industry in helping clients implement tech like this. You could make a good consultant!

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

#53

Post by abdullahkhalids »

mdturnerphys wrote: post #6

There are a few experimental physicists on here. I work for Microsoft now, but I found out about HN from a grad school officemate, who found out about it from a YC grad who did a postdoc in our research facility. I credit HN with helping me have enough understanding of the tech industry to land a job as a data scientist at Microsoft, which set me up for joining the quantum computing team a few years later.

Hey! There are some theoreticians like me lurking around as well!

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

#54

Post by rPlayer6554 »

Godel_unicode wrote: post #30
sammyq wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you pay for school, I’m interested in more classical majors as well but schooling is expensive.

>... I pay for my masters and academic hobbies in other fields with my tech day job.

Off topic, but is there meaning behind your name or is it just two things you like? (Yes I know who/what Godel and Unicode are)

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

#56

Post by I_complete_me »

Civil Engineer here. I found HN after coming across an article by a programmer who had found a way to crack a captcha to access something called "Silk Road" using a Ruby script. I found that fascinating and followed a trail that led here. I like the community. Maybe I picked the wrong profession!

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

#57

Post by akudha »

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 second this recommendation. I actually liked all 4 seasons of the show. The games that lawyers play … sigh

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

#58

Post by snickersnee11 »

ARandomerDude wrote: post #4

Philosophy and theology student here, former military. I have a passion for history and dabble in Latin. I'm here because I pay for my masters and academic hobbies in other fields with my tech day job. I believe in the Renaissance model of trying to understand and succeed in many fields.

This is interesting! How many hours a day do you spend at work? In what position? I think it's a very good opportunity for smart, tech-savvy people to realize their dreams. It's hard for me to do it myself, my day job completely exhausts me, usually by the end of the day I have no interest in doing anything else. That's why I've always admired people who can combine work and hobbies and be successful at them.

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

#60

Post by slyn »

james_in_the_uk wrote: post #52
slyn wrote: post #46

I manage at a famous Chicago pizzeria. When I was young I had aspirations of becoming a programmer or otherwise working in tech and kinda grew up reading different aggregators and eventually HN. Now that I know myself better I don’t think I would do well or be happy really sitting at a desk most days. I like working with my hands, entertaining guests, and working with and developing a team of staff from a variety of…

What's the state of the restaurant management software scene? Any scope for an open source restaurant management system? Could be a good side-hustle. Edit: Just googled and found TastyIgniter. https://github.com/tastyigniter/TastyIgniter Don't underestimate the value of someone who knows code AND has worked in the industry in helping clients implement tech like this. You could make a good consultant!

There’s a zillion services for pretty much anything you could possibly want to do in a restaurant, some decent and most not. I think it’s a difficult space to compete in because there are so many different options in both big obvious services (Point of Sale, online ordering providers, staff scheduling services, etc) and relatively niche services (Review aggregators, QR menu management, waitlist tech, etc.) that it’s not just that your service needs to work, it needs to be easy to use, highly reliable, reasonably priced, and with high levels of tech support.

We’re multi location so as a store-level manager I’m not totally familiar with how we as a company procure new services or glue together what we use into something resembling a seamless experience for the guest.

I think about trying consulting but if I did so my strengths right now are setting efficient process and development+training, not so much tech. There are times where I think to myself I should bounce around working a handful of restaurants for a few years to get a better idea of the tech available and expand my food+menu development skills.

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