Ask HN: What you up to? (Who doesn't want to be hired?) • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What you up to? (Who doesn't want to be hired?)

#701

Post by adv0r » Tue, Nov 02, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

sigg3 wrote: post #548

philangist wrote: post #180

I won the IPO lottery and I’m in the middle ground between rich enough to never work again but not quite rich enough for the yachts/mansions/private jets lifestyle. I haven’t worked in 6 months and I’m struggling to find a larger meaning to my life beyond getting yet another tech job. I’ve considered going to college for a math degree, moving to my parents home country, and joining the military (among many other opti…

This is quite normal. Many who win big in the literal lotteries are worse off. I know reddit is all antiwork these days, but that's really mostly about rights and not not working. Being a productive member of society is meaningful. I'm from Scandinavia and a lot of our identity is tied up with our careers. Being without a job or any structural social purpose is asking for depression. GWF Hegel wrote about suffering f…

> society does not recognize in terms of existing

The hell with this. Society nows recognizes Early Retirment as a status to aspire to. People look up to joung retirees, and this provides a pretty big identity.

The FI movement now put a name and label on it, so the belonging part of meaning is covered.

Re: Ask HN: What you up to? (Who doesn't want to be hired?)

#702

Post by Mockapapella » Tue, Nov 02, 2021, 2:16 PM UTC

I've been inspired by the VR workspace and metaverse talk around here, and am digging through a master's thesis called "TOWARD GENERAL PURPOSE 3D USER INTERFACES: EXTENDING WINDOWING SYSTEMS TO THREE DIMENSIONS" (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/evil0sheep/MastersThesis/m...) with the goal of creating a VR user interface. Looking to create it in a popular language like python or rust. I've never dug down into things like frame buffers or window servers before, but I think I could get something useful (albeit clunky) up and running by christmas.

Re: Ask HN: What you up to? (Who doesn't want to be hired?)

#703

Post by andrewzah » Tue, Nov 02, 2021, 2:21 PM UTC

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #691

I've been quite depressed lately[0] but recently found I can keep it at bay with significant amounts of caffeine and forcing myself to do a project. So I finished a Gigatron emulator I'd started a while back in Zig. I'd never written an emulator before, and chose Gigatron over the traditional starting point of CHIP-8 because CHIP-8 seemed downright trivial and boring. It's more or less functionally complete now, with…

I was in a similar situation. I recommend finding hobbies that have nothing to do with computers. I used to work on open source stuff all the time, now I find that my energy vanishes if I even think about it after work.

Picking up guitar, cooking, studying (real) languages has rekindled my sense of purpose. Seeing my technical improvement on guitar from 3 months ago and being able to play and make music with other musicians is far more gratifying than ... maintaining open source software. In the limited time I have before I, y'know, die.

Re: Ask HN: What you up to? (Who doesn't want to be hired?)

#704

Post by ramimac » Tue, Nov 02, 2021, 2:21 PM UTC

andy800 wrote: post #112

I've worked at casino resorts for the past 15 years. With a vast number of functions and departments within a single resort, just about anybody can find work at one, if they choose. So I built a job search engine just for this industry: https://www.casinojoblist.com What I really wanted to focus on was extremely easy search, high info density, up-to-date data, and no hurdles (logins, profiles, etc). And a little bit…

Very cool! In case you're not already aware, https://twitter.com/searchbound talks a lot about his experience building ranchwork.com

Re: Ask HN: What you up to? (Who doesn't want to be hired?)

#705

Post by AlwaysRock » Tue, Nov 02, 2021, 2:21 PM UTC

I'm getting back into BJJ after 2 years of not being able to train due to COVID.

I started a technical interview podcast this year as well which is about to release its 20th episode. Currently at 210 subscribers which is really exciting. That is more than I thought I would have at this point.

Re: Ask HN: What you up to? (Who doesn't want to be hired?)

#706

Post by AlwaysRock » Tue, Nov 02, 2021, 2:25 PM UTC

david927 wrote: post #5

Could we make this a monthly post, just like the Who's Hiring one? I miss that aspect of HN.

I agree. This is more interesting and engaging than corporations posting their open roles.

Re: Ask HN: What you up to? (Who doesn't want to be hired?)

#707

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet » Tue, Nov 02, 2021, 2:34 PM UTC

andrewzah wrote: post #703

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #691

I've been quite depressed lately[0] but recently found I can keep it at bay with significant amounts of caffeine and forcing myself to do a project. So I finished a Gigatron emulator I'd started a while back in Zig. I'd never written an emulator before, and chose Gigatron over the traditional starting point of CHIP-8 because CHIP-8 seemed downright trivial and boring. It's more or less functionally complete now, with…

I was in a similar situation. I recommend finding hobbies that have nothing to do with computers. I used to work on open source stuff all the time, now I find that my energy vanishes if I even think about it after work. Picking up guitar, cooking, studying (real) languages has rekindled my sense of purpose. Seeing my technical improvement on guitar from 3 months ago and being able to play and make music with other mu…

Unfortunately it is winter now and my more active hobby of biking is off the table, and my body is unable to handle more than 2 days a week of climbing at this point. I've tried learning Japanese, which I find interesting, but I find that no resource for it quite seems to work in a way that isn't tedious to the point of making me not want to bother. That may be endemic to any language that uses logograms so extensively, I don't know. I have no desire to learn an instrument because I'm apparently one of those odd people who feels no particular attachment to music.

Re: Ask HN: What you up to? (Who doesn't want to be hired?)

#708

Post by dixie_flatline » Tue, Nov 02, 2021, 2:38 PM UTC

Working on training a reinforcement learning agent to use Metasploit to interact with computer networks to do autonomous pentesting. I was a pentester for a few years at the same time I was reading Neuromancer, which has made me decidedly obsessed with working on an agent that could do network pentesting. I presented my current results at StrangeLoop[1]. Check it out if you're into infosec or RL.

Planning to clean up the code I've been experimenting with it and release it before the end of the year[2] and show it off at Defcon. Goal is to get more people interested in working on the project. I'll need to be able to generate tons of realistic looking networks with realistically vulnerable machines to capture a large enough distribution for a robust agent.

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiI69BdWKPs

[2] - https://github.com/phreakAI/MetasploitGym

Re: Ask HN: What you up to? (Who doesn't want to be hired?)

#709

Post by silexia » Tue, Nov 02, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

37 and male. I have built a business I own 100% over the last twelve years that has made me wealthy. The wealth came slow though. I was financially independent by around 30 and it has continued to grow from there.

If you are looking for purpose in life, have children. The purpose of all biological life is reproduction. I can tell you from my own experience that my kids provide me a ton of purpose and direction.

If you are looking for meaning, focus on your relationships. Do DIY projects with your grandpa and dad. Go out to lunch with your mom weekly. Host the family Thanksgiving and Christmas. Help your uncle build a shed. Go on long bike rides with friends.

Outside of those things, I have most enjoyed visiting national parks and camping. I really enjoy construction, I am working on building a shed then an ADU then a full house.

Maintaining a healthy diet and vigorous fitness is critical. Avoid risky sports that could injure you.

Re: Ask HN: What you up to? (Who doesn't want to be hired?)

#710

Post by biztos » Tue, Nov 02, 2021, 2:46 PM UTC

daswolle wrote: post #627

biztos wrote: post #457

I just bought what will eventually become an artists’ residency, and we will start renovating it later this month. It will probably take about two years to get it started. The plan is to have a few artists a year come for about a month each and make art under the influence of the crazy dramatic landscape there. It will not be a paid thing, I’m financing it myself. At first it’ll have to be informal but eventually I w…

This sounds awesome. I've had half baked ideas along these lines for different intersections of disciples. Great you're pursuing it and making it a reality! Are you comfortable sharing any more specifics? Do you have a landing page or is it all offline at the moment?

Offline until the paperwork all goes through.

But sure some details. It’s in the Canary Islands so pretty far from “Europe” but not exactly hard to get to. In a village about 20 minutes drive from the city. Under a volcano but not that volcano. By the time it’s all fixed it will have cost me about a year’s gross income from my fancy tech job (which paid less than in California but quite well for the EU).

It’s a house with a studio and eventually it will also have a ceramics oven and a printing press and whatever else seems necessary. There is a bit of land with food growing. Interestingly, I will probably never be allowed to make the house any bigger, which is a useful constraint actually.

Solar and wind for energy so even stuff like long-lived powered projects can be considered. If I’m ever VIP enough I’ll bring Trevor Paglen out to watch the ships at sea. :-)

The master plan is to use it myself as a sort of recurring self-residency and then have other artists doing the same. How many depends on my capacity to manage it, at the beginning it’ll just be artists I already know and trust. If any artist has a particularly strong resonance with the place I would try to get them recurring as well, but that remains to be seen.

There will be exhibitions and studio visits and art parties, at some point. I will try to help the artists sell (including myself) but that’s secondary.

I could run it informally forever but I would really like to give it some official status eventually, partly just because but mostly in order to be able to sponsor artists. In the long run assuming I have enough money I’d like to bring out artists who would need help paying for it and getting the visa.

Part of my motivation in this is to find a way of being in the Art World that does not fill me with dread like exhibiting my own work does. But that’s another story.