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Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

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Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#411

Post by howenterprisey »

Volunteering for FIRST programs (FRC, FTC, FLL, etc) and similar programs would be right up the alley of anyone here. I find it incredibly fulfilling. You can mentor a team directly and/or volunteer at events; both are rewarding in their own way.

There are many different roles that you can fill. For example, next competition season I will try to become a CSA (Control Systems Advisor). They help teams troubleshoot various issues during competitions and even during matches. The role requires excellent problem-solving and communication skills.

As my description suggests, roles are well-defined, as are the relationships between them. This structure neatly avoids most of the messiness about unclear decision-making hierarchies that can be found in some other volunteer organizations. It also avoids something that really annoys me about some other volunteering opportunities, which is an unclear path of advancement to "the good roles". Of course, advancement isn't required at all and I'd guess most people don't think about it; it's just something I care about.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#412

Post by ropable »

stevage wrote: post #384
juujian wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. I joined a climbing gym. Hanging out with a lot of people both older and younger than you is refreshing. Not much shared misery though when it comes to climbing, always had a blast.

It's weird, I have done quite a bit of top-roping and bouldering, but never really found it conducive to making friendships. Or maybe I'm just not the right demographic (early 40s, male). Definitely I chat to people about specific problems, but it never really seems to go beyond that.

I feel like indoor bouldering lends itself a lot better to make random friendships. Attempts at any given problem tend to be a lot quicker, there's often multiple people looking at that same problem, and there's the resting between attempts. Because bouldering problems are usually just a few moves, it's a lot easier to strike up a conversation to compare beta.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#413

Post by uoaei »

Zpalmtree wrote: post #332
uoaei wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard these quickly become alt-right incubation machines. The "fellowship" becomes "brotherhood" and then you got a cult-militia going pretty easy after that.

God forbid people have different political opinions to you... they must be those scary militias

Anyone whose political ideals include exclusion or destruction of classes of people may be "scary" to those classes, and in any case I am willing to be intolerant to people who have vocally, explicitly broken the social contract we all usually abide by.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#414

Post by wly_cdgr »

winrid wrote: post #233

Stage Rally (motorsport). The community is amazing. I've had competitors help fix my car between stages, in pitch black, in the middle of the desert. Volunteering is an easy way to get involved and is really appreciated! You go to interesting, sometimes beautiful places, help run timing, radio, etc. You can also volunteer to help specific teams as crew. The driver will usually cover all your expenses to get to the ra…

I am super interested in getting into motorsports as a driver but really not sure how/where to start. Why do you say to start with RallyCross? Is it best to still start by volunteering as a first way of getting involved? What are useful skills to have/develop for volunteering? Do you recommend doing some kind of rally driving school / classes like DirtFish? Do you find sim racing useful as prep/practice if you drive, and if so, which game - DiRT Rally? DiRT Rally 2.0? Something else?

Sorry for the question whirlwind lol, please feel free to answer only some or none, thank for all the info in your OP regardless.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#415

Post by [deleted] »

gen220 wrote: post #396
bradlys wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m an early 30s male and I’m in your shoes as well. I found it to not be a very conducive space. I think it does vary a lot. I’ve only climbed significantly in NYC and SF. I’ve done some in PDX but not regularly. I didn’t find any of the gyms I was at to be very “community” oriented. I think the personal experience depends a hell of a lot on how good of a climber you are and how you look. Typical tech looking guys w…

Where did you climb in NYC, just curious? I've climbed here for a couple years, and found it to be really welcoming and inclusive of people from all backgrounds, tech included. I mean, if you show up as a "[stereo]typical tech-looking guy" anywhere in America you'll get some disdain, in the same way that looking like a wall street guy would have gotten you disdain in 2008 +/- 10 years. Maybe... don't flaunt the fact…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#416

Post by bradlys »

gen220 wrote: post #396
bradlys wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m an early 30s male and I’m in your shoes as well. I found it to not be a very conducive space. I think it does vary a lot. I’ve only climbed significantly in NYC and SF. I’ve done some in PDX but not regularly. I didn’t find any of the gyms I was at to be very “community” oriented. I think the personal experience depends a hell of a lot on how good of a climber you are and how you look. Typical tech looking guys w…

Where did you climb in NYC, just curious? I've climbed here for a couple years, and found it to be really welcoming and inclusive of people from all backgrounds, tech included. I mean, if you show up as a "[stereo]typical tech-looking guy" anywhere in America you'll get some disdain, in the same way that looking like a wall street guy would have gotten you disdain in 2008 +/- 10 years. Maybe... don't flaunt the fact…

> Maybe... don't flaunt the fact that you work in tech?

I never brought it up nor do I wear FAANG apparel or anything that would indicate such. It would be brought up in conversations among other people that you'd hear. People were always bitching about people in tech going to climbing gyms.

I went to Vital in Brooklyn mostly. I did metrorock in Brooklyn as well. Considered some others but that's where friends wanted me to go.

> As to the friendship discussion, it's kind of on your charisma and the other person's acceptance of it to move the conversation from bouldering to life in general, but it's a nice open window that I see swinging in the wind every time I go! Just don't wear headphones, and keep yourself approachable and supportive.

This comes back to the "how you look" part of my post. People who are good looking tend to have no real issues in this part of life. Become part of the ugly group - you'll find this hurdle much larger. Especially in large places like SF and NYC. Looking like a nerd is much more about your physiognomy, frame, etc. It has very little to do with what you wear.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#417

Post by honzabe »

1. Languages - I started going to English meetups in my town to practice English; I found a group of like-minded people that I felt comfortable with and we started doing other things together - hiking, visiting castles and museums, drinking wine and talking till 2am.

2. Cycling - I love road cycling and there is a strong sense of community around cycling. If you are training alone and a bunch of faster cyclists catches you, you can draft behind them for a while and start chatting with them when you catch your breath; if you hit it off, you exchange contacts and start riding together. There are people that I have spent years and thousands of km with. The advantage of cycling is that there is a lot of endurance rides where you can easily talk and you get to know people pretty well.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#419

Post by conductr »

bombcar wrote: post #186
silisili wrote: post #88

My neighborhood. When we moved in we sat out front every evening, and made small talk with every single person who walked by. Some were caught off guard, some kinda just waved and moved on, but most stopped to talk. What's interesting is that people who had lived in that neighborhood nearly 20 years together had never talked, and met for the first time as both stopped to chat at nearly the same time. Then we started…

It's sad that modern American yards are so unfriendly to sitting in your front yard, but that can be easily fixed, even within the boundaries of over-zealous HOAs or towns. Just make a cute little "gate" (it doesn't even need the gate) with flowers at the end of the walkway near the sidewalk, and add in a table and some chairs (or move them out when you go to sit). Being at the sidewalk vs being 20-40 feet away on a…

Retired city planners never envisioned a world where we were so collectively anxious/antisocial that waving and inviting someone onto your porch 20-40 feet from the sidewalk would be considered a “sad” state of affairs. Is it the planning that’s in a sad state?

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#420

Post by conductr »

silisili wrote: post #88

My neighborhood. When we moved in we sat out front every evening, and made small talk with every single person who walked by. Some were caught off guard, some kinda just waved and moved on, but most stopped to talk. What's interesting is that people who had lived in that neighborhood nearly 20 years together had never talked, and met for the first time as both stopped to chat at nearly the same time. Then we started…

I host two events. In fall, I’m the pancake breakfast guy and then in spring I’m the crawfish boil guy. I just put flyers on people’s doors before each event. I just think it’s fun and missed the sense of neighborhood community I had as a kid, had my “be the change you want” moment. My kid on the other hand gets a kick out of having everyone know his name and being a hyper local celebrity lol.
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