Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

aleksandra.codes

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 169 posts

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#21

Post by jlengrand »

" On est toujours le con de quelqu'un, et tant pis pour lui". -> "We are always someone's jerk, and so much the worse for him".

Agree with the article, I just wished it wasn't conflating "bullshit / actual harmful content" as much with "stuff that is valid, but in a given context".

200% that nothing online, (nor IRL to be fair), should be taken as universal truth. I see that same at conferences, with certain topics/fads/trends being absolutely overrepresented compared to what's actually happening on the ground.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#22

Post by mola »

In some respect being a software engineer today is really hard. OTOH you want to do the right thing, so you don't want to invent a solution yourself. So you look for available resources, you go online. There you're going to encounter either:

1. Spam from junior devs who started a blog so to build a name for themselves.

2. Spam from SEO mills peddling junior level wisdome so they can get ad money.

3. Spam from software vendors that try and convince your that X is the best solution for everything. (Looking at you Confluent)

4. SEO Spam by software consultencies mainly interested in hitting the relevant buzzwords so the suits will find their site.

5. Spam from FAANG employees showcasing their google scale solutions made to attract talent.

What is the engineer to do? Either cargo cult the FAANG engineers, you don't got their scale but atleast these are actual solutions. Or invent it yourself. Which maybe scary after you read all of these conflicting advices.

We really are drowning in spam. Thanks heavens we we employed humanities best to create LLMs so we can now automate this. /s

But seriously, seems like most useful information is siloed in the brains of battle worn engineers who are surrounded by an inflation of junior devs. I have a feeling this field grew too fast and we are losing a lot of wisdom and knowledge.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#23

Post by strangattractor »

jlengrand wrote: post #21

" On est toujours le con de quelqu'un, et tant pis pour lui". -> "We are always someone's jerk, and so much the worse for him". Agree with the article, I just wished it wasn't conflating "bullshit / actual harmful content" as much with "stuff that is valid, but in a given context". 200% that nothing online, (nor IRL to be fair), should be taken as universal truth. I see that same at conferences, with certain topics/f…

I interpreted "bullshit" to mean fluff. Much of the content I encounter appears to be regurgitated trivial examples from tutorials. Entire websites are dedicated to this. The goal generally appears to generate some type of influencer status or get money from ads. Few people offer helpful content that provides a deeper understanding or solves a tricky problem. Probably because they can't.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#25

Post by packetlost »

mola wrote: post #22

In some respect being a software engineer today is really hard. OTOH you want to do the right thing, so you don't want to invent a solution yourself. So you look for available resources, you go online. There you're going to encounter either: 1. Spam from junior devs who started a blog so to build a name for themselves. 2. Spam from SEO mills peddling junior level wisdome so they can get ad money. 3. Spam from softwar…

100% agree. All the best devs I know literally do not give a flying fuck about blogs at all (with a few exceptions). They read white papers and textbooks from 40 years ago (this is a bit of an exaggeration).

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#26

Post by OmarShehata »

mola wrote: post #22

In some respect being a software engineer today is really hard. OTOH you want to do the right thing, so you don't want to invent a solution yourself. So you look for available resources, you go online. There you're going to encounter either: 1. Spam from junior devs who started a blog so to build a name for themselves. 2. Spam from SEO mills peddling junior level wisdome so they can get ad money. 3. Spam from softwar…

> Spam from junior devs who started a blog so to build a name for themselves.

I often find this is the most useful category out of the 5 you listed. Junior devs writing something like "How to setup webpack" often explain things in plain words and just spell out how to get the thing working. There's humility to the post like "I don't know what all these options do, but this is what worked for me".

I find that a lot more honest/useful than say category 5 there where I have no idea if what they're talking about will actually work for me or how much effort it's going to take to integrate because the assumption there is you have big teams who can spend all their time maintaining these tools.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#27

Post by Dudester230602 »

OmarShehata wrote: post #26
mola wrote: post #22

In some respect being a software engineer today is really hard. OTOH you want to do the right thing, so you don't want to invent a solution yourself. So you look for available resources, you go online. There you're going to encounter either: 1. Spam from junior devs who started a blog so to build a name for themselves. 2. Spam from SEO mills peddling junior level wisdome so they can get ad money. 3. Spam from softwar…

> Spam from junior devs who started a blog so to build a name for themselves. I often find this is the most useful category out of the 5 you listed. Junior devs writing something like "How to setup webpack" often explain things in plain words and just spell out how to get the thing working. There's humility to the post like "I don't know what all these options do, but this is what worked for me". I find that a lot mo…

> How to setup webpack

Half the juniors are creating a problem ("modern" frameworks), the other half is trying to solve it.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#28

Post by Lacerda69 »

strangattractor wrote: post #23
jlengrand wrote: post #21

" On est toujours le con de quelqu'un, et tant pis pour lui". -> "We are always someone's jerk, and so much the worse for him". Agree with the article, I just wished it wasn't conflating "bullshit / actual harmful content" as much with "stuff that is valid, but in a given context". 200% that nothing online, (nor IRL to be fair), should be taken as universal truth. I see that same at conferences, with certain topics/f…

I interpreted "bullshit" to mean fluff. Much of the content I encounter appears to be regurgitated trivial examples from tutorials. Entire websites are dedicated to this. The goal generally appears to generate some type of influencer status or get money from ads. Few people offer helpful content that provides a deeper understanding or solves a tricky problem. Probably because they can't.

"helpful content that provides a deeper understanding or solves a tricky problem" is a lot if work to create, even if you know the solution or can solve the problem easily.

I can empathize with people who dont spend their limited free time on explaining others how to solve problems out of the goodwill of their heart and I am eternally grateful for the tiny minority that does this.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#29

Post by zeroonetwothree »

Not every decision has to be done with maximum research. That’s usually a waste of time. It’s more efficient to try a couple things until something works and move on (“satisficing”). A key skill you learn over time is why decisions actually matter. But it’s not inherently bad that there’s no good reason for something, it really depends on the context. And sometimes things that had good reasons turn out bad anyway because the assumptions proved wrong or circumstances changed.
Post reply on HN