11–20 of 165 posts
I liked the article, I wish there were more of these. I've always wondered "who" are the developers who contribute to the open-source projects that I use without much hassle? Why do they do it? How does their life look like? And most importantly, are they OK?
i wanna know this too!
I don't think DSLs are the right answer (a la Nix) -- and the fact that Guix is written in an infinitely malleable fully featured programming language is awesome IMO.
I'm not a developer but I totally relate to this. Most of my creative pursuits are weird, niche, sometimes avant-garde. If I didn't make my artifacts, nobody else would, and it is so intrinsically rewarding to see my visions instantiated, even if they pale in comparison to my first imagining of what they might be. Because I have fringe-y interests, most people don't necessarily "get" it. (Probably true of everyone el…
Does it bother you if people don't discover your work and don't use it? I've always wanted to do something of value that lasts, and many times I was discouraged by lack of interest from other people.
There is also something to getting you software to a level where you show it to others (the sooner the better). If you don't showcase your stuff odds are people won't find it.
I'm not a developer but I totally relate to this. Most of my creative pursuits are weird, niche, sometimes avant-garde. If I didn't make my artifacts, nobody else would, and it is so intrinsically rewarding to see my visions instantiated, even if they pale in comparison to my first imagining of what they might be. Because I have fringe-y interests, most people don't necessarily "get" it. (Probably true of everyone el…
Does it bother you if people don't discover your work and don't use it? I've always wanted to do something of value that lasts, and many times I was discouraged by lack of interest from other people.
The moment you have an audience for something it significantly changes the experience. Doesn't matter if it's music, development, cooking... if other humans are involved on the receiving end it makes it different.
For a lot of us, we're very protective of our creative endeavors. And, lots of the time the journey we're taking is one of vulnerability (learning, creatively extending ourselves, taking risks).
Then there's the criticism and critique. People can objectively be pretty awful. It doesn't matter if it's making my own software tooling, or a song, or fleshing out a new idea... I just don't want to hear anyone's opinion - I want to focus on being productive in what I'm doing. I've often found that isolating is way more productive than trying to ship to an audience. If I need other people I don't pull them in as an audience, I pull them in as an advisor and/or teacher: contracting out a code review, or going to guitar lessons.
If/when this stuff I created dies with me that's OK. I'm a fart in the wind anyway, and I don't care about silly things like "legacy" - I just need to create stuff to optimize and improve the world around me. And, sometimes I create stuff just because it feels good. It's a selfish endeavor sure, but I'd have it no other way.
@dang Am I banned from replies? Why? Because I comment through Tor? Is there a better way to ask this without polluting a comment section?
I'd love to know how the authors financials work. It sounds like a dream to work on something just because it's fun and fulfilling. I have mouths to feed and that dominates much of my career choices. I'm in a small town in a small country so earning a FAANG salary is not an option. I can't save up and go work on a dream project.
If you don’t have mouths to feed then options are massive and life is cheap. For example remote work live in south america type of thing.
See: the amount of miserable people on Reddit and elsewhere.
@dang Am I banned from replies? Why? Because I comment through Tor? Is there a better way to ask this without polluting a comment section?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4761102
To contact Dang the best option, I suspect, is to email hn@ycombinator.com