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Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?

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Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?

#291

Post by ralphc »

sureglymop wrote: post #248
ralphc wrote: post #76

This is me. Fortunate to be able to retire at 55, programming my whole life, I love my career even when particular jobs had their issues. So now I work on projects I want to work on, no commute, no 20-person meetings. I'm currently working with a team that's recreating the Prodigy online service servers in Elixir. Having a blast, and I have my next project already in mind, also in Elixir or some other BEAM language.…

Sounds amazing! Have you heard of/checked out Gleam which compiles to Erlang/JS? Asking because if I was in your shoes, I'd spend all my time to invest in that ecosystem. I got a taste of it in my 3 month semester break where I was able to work on a lot of Gleam and Rust side projects. (Nothing to actually publish, but purely for fun and my own enjoyment).

I’m sticking with Elixir for now. I fancy myself a Lisp/Smalltalk style hacker&painter and like dynamic typing and macros, my current project uses Elixir and I’ve invested too much time & book money in Elixir.

Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?

#292

Post by ralphc »

Vivtek wrote: post #184
okdood64 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Write down your daily thoughts. Can you elaborate on this? What sorts of daily thoughts did you write down and how did it help you?

So a million years ago (the mid-90's), I was working with Doug Hofstadter and I had some ideas I wanted to follow up. Over the intervening years of raising a family, none of which do I regret, I never had the opportunity to actually do that - but I've done a lot of pieces of it, sometimes forgetting exactly where it fit into that original big picture. Unfortunately, a lot of those pieces were logged on paper, but I'v…

I’m envious, reading EGB in the ‘70s is what put me on the path of computer science. I may yet try copycat or other creative analogy project in Elixir. I have the time, I’m retired :)

Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?

#293

Post by hiAndrewQuinn »

Gooblebrai wrote: post #215
hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #210

Honestly? I'd just keep working on whatever I already thought was profitable. I'd probably take higher-risk, higher-reward swings with that work, but I like working. I have a pretty steadfast confidence by this point in my life that free markets usually converge over the long term to the best outcomes for all. So I have no real plans to stop reaping the fruits of my own increasingly-specialized labor, until medical r…

What drives you to keep earning money when you don't need more?

Charity, mostly. Earning money is a hard-to-fake sign that the person you're doing something for is genuinely getting value out of what you're doing for them.

Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?

#294

Post by 6510 »

linearrust wrote: post #166

> basically what would your ideal job be Easy. A nonexistent one. If you didn't need money, why would you be seeking a job? > would you contribute towards making society more rational, healthy, and well-coordinated? How does a job contribute to 'society'? Who works to contribute to society? What company exists to 'contribute to society'? Has 'hacker' news become so cynical to believe one's existence is about finding…

I like your questions. They are the sum of what our culture and society projects onto us.

The question to ask is what kind of people you want to create? It is perhaps a bit arrogant to think one can upgrade such a complex device. It can be a modest modification tho. Then you find ways to push society in that direction. You probably wont move mountains but we work with what we have. This nudging might involve a company depending on where we are going.

I doubt one could contribute to society directly.

Calling it a job is just our nutty vocabulary. The ancient Greeks would probably call it leisure.

I had some pretty good ideas for myself but the problem I kept running into is that people are so fucking unimaginative and nihilistic that they get angry if they cant have their cynical 3 seconds glory of "I told you it wouldn't work"

Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?

#295

Post by swgarst »

yashg wrote: post #90

I would just create software. I love coding little programs that make life easier. It gives me joy of creation. In fact that's what I have been doing, in last few months I have created (1)a video GPS viewer, (2)Windows based authenticator and an (3)online clipboard. After my day job and on weekends, this is how I like to spend my time. I have stopped trying to create the next killer app. I am just going to create wha…

Subsistence programmer. I only code stuff I need/want: - scripts to help track investments - scripts to manage list of movies/TV shows (get ratings, actors, synopsis). - scripts to manage my computers - database to track my research interests

Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?

#296

Post by swgarst »

I haven't worked in a decade, and my predictions about what I'd do were... bad.

I am not volunteering, or consulting for non-profits. It fulfilling or interesting, possibly because I wasn't invested in the cause(s).

I am not reading as much as I thought. It is lonely and boring to read for more than half a day, day after day.

I am not doubling down on family, as they are busy doing their own things.

I am not traveling constantly, because it is lonely traveling by myself (again, family is busy).

What am I doing?

I'm studying neuroscience at a local university (after working through chem/bio prerequisites). I had zero interest before, now it is all I care about. Surprise!

I spend a lot of time walking through town, aimlessly. No idea why.

I average 1.5 grocery stores every day, and cook needlessly elaborate meals for my family. Again, brand new interest.

Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?

#297

Post by mindctrl-org »

mikestew wrote: post #128

I guess I'll find out on Friday, which is my last day. Poking around on computers has been good enough to me that I can call it quits at 60. What comes after this? First, a summer of being a bum (if I last that long). After that, more volunteering at the animal shelter, more volunteering with the local running club, and I half-jokingly say I'm going to be a professional trail runner (where I'll be paid in socks and c…

> I guess I'll find out on Friday, which is my last day.

Congrats on today being your last day!

Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?

#298

Post by mikestew »

mindctrl-org wrote: post #297
mikestew wrote: post #128

I guess I'll find out on Friday, which is my last day. Poking around on computers has been good enough to me that I can call it quits at 60. What comes after this? First, a summer of being a bum (if I last that long). After that, more volunteering at the animal shelter, more volunteering with the local running club, and I half-jokingly say I'm going to be a professional trail runner (where I'll be paid in socks and c…

> I guess I'll find out on Friday, which is my last day. Congrats on today being your last day!

Thanks! Kinda weird walking out that door and knowing that when it closes, I’m not getting back in. :-)

Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?

#299

Post by andrei_says_ »

ActorNightly wrote: post #289
andrei_says_ wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am actually looking for such a solution. Would you care to share some of the players in this market?

Uncharted Tiny Homes is the only one that builds small homes, but I was looking into tapping some college resources (they have competitions on sustainable container houses) and some talent there in terms of what it takes to build one out. You can get shipping containers pretty cheap, and the trailer doesn't even have to have wheels for it to be considered not a permanent residence. The short of building out a house i…

Thank you!

Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?

#300

Post by kulahan »

2cynykyl wrote: post #153

I am quite surprized how few people are proposing to make art or music. Is this why artists/musicians can't make money, because so few people enjoy it? I always thought it was the digitization and easy access that allowed us to enjoy these things from our homes (instead of going out to clubs), but maybe not. Anyway, for the record, I would be recording my lifetime backlog songs I've written. And probably re-recording…

Someone needs to spark your interest in music or art creation, rather than simple consumption. It used to be that we expected everyone of a certain class to know how to play a piano, or paint a scene, or whatever. I’m in my late 30s and went to a MASSIVE school, and I never even saw an opportunity to learn how to make music. At least art is a bit more universal.
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