You must read at least one book to ride • Hacker News Board

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#121

Post by sevensor » Sun, Dec 01, 2024, 4:03 AM UTC

Competence can put you in a lonely place. In the best case, you get talented junior developers to train, and then you lose them because they’re too good to be concentrated with you in one part of the organization, or because they realize how badly underpaid they are. Regardless, you may never reach a point where anybody can meaningfully critique your work.

Edit: this is not to disparage competence. It sure beats the alternatives. Go read a book. Please don’t let it be Design Patterns, that one has already done enough damage.

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#122

Post by chamomeal » Sun, Dec 01, 2024, 4:07 AM UTC

gwd wrote: post #87

Does reading HN count as self-improvement? I can't say how many "leads" in technology or ideas I've got by spending time on this site; and I'm sure I never would have quit my job to be a solo founder if not for the stories on this site. (Too soon to say whether the latter was a good idea or not!)

For me HN is definitely less valuable than reading a book (obviously) but a lot more valuable than scrolling Reddit or social media.

I think you get a lot of knowledge kinda by osmosis that you would never get otherwise. Like I have a pretty good knowledge of the programming landscape despite only having worked with a tiny fraction of the tech. Gives you more knowledge of “what’s out there” and “what to google”.

But you could probably get 95% of that osmosis with like 10% of the scrolling time lol. In general HN is a good use of time, but usually I am specifically wasting time

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#123

Post by llm_trw » Sun, Dec 01, 2024, 4:13 AM UTC

ludicity wrote: post #115

llm_trw wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Australia has amazing CS departments that produce more top talent computer scientists per capita than any other place I've seen. They then export those engineers to the US and Europe and import people by the boat full who can't code their way out of a for loop with a map and compass.

I studied with some very cool people. One joined my consultancy, and the other won a million dollars in a machine learning competition before we graduated. Unfortunately, yeah, we were all removed from the workforce in a conventional sense almost immediately. I run my own business and most of our clients are American, my co-founder became an executive within four years, and the last guy went into private consulting f…

>And their team is really overloaded with Americans that immigrated to Australia for non-career reasons.

Which is ironic given how bad everything has gotten since the end of covid. From my circle of friends _everyone_ has left and I'm half way tempted to move to Switzerland to work for a competitor in the field who offer American salaries with European social services.

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#124

Post by radar1310 » Sun, Dec 01, 2024, 4:21 AM UTC

You definitely have no issue writing long and boring articles.

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#125

Post by kelseyfrog » Sun, Dec 01, 2024, 4:32 AM UTC

Unlisted6446 wrote: post #105

kelseyfrog wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can start by asking, "What are the epistemologies that exist within psychology?"

Well that's a thorny question, now isn't it? I mean, if it was so clear what 'epistemologies' exist in any field, then there would be little need or interest in the study of philosophy and history of science, no? If it was clear, then I think one would simply state what the epistemology of the field is. That philosophy and history of science are so successful seems to suggest that the way of the scientist is both mul…

Surely the philosophy of science has results, no?

Aren't positivism, anti-postitivism, post-positivism, experientialism, and critical realism among others we can rubric psychology or psychological thinkers or results against?

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#126

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Dec 01, 2024, 4:33 AM UTC

skybrian wrote: post #29

He's a good writer, but I think he underestimates the implicit skills that an experienced engineer has that beginners don't have. Sometimes it just seems like common sense, but it isn't, and the result is often a lack of empathy. To build up that empathy, being around children or the elderly probably helps. Also, helping a relative who is struggling but you're on their side . Also consider the difference between a na…

[deleted]

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#127

Post by ludicity » Sun, Dec 01, 2024, 5:03 AM UTC

radar1310 wrote: post #124

You definitely have no issue writing long and boring articles.

I will never recover from this psychologically or financially. My life will be neatly divided into before this comment, and after this comment, and ever shall I long for the former to no avail.

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#128

Post by hackable_sand » Sun, Dec 01, 2024, 5:19 AM UTC

anal_reactor wrote: post #79

skybrian wrote: post #29

He's a good writer, but I think he underestimates the implicit skills that an experienced engineer has that beginners don't have. Sometimes it just seems like common sense, but it isn't, and the result is often a lack of empathy. To build up that empathy, being around children or the elderly probably helps. Also, helping a relative who is struggling but you're on their side . Also consider the difference between a na…

How can I build this empathy? I feel extremely frustrated when spending time with people less educated than myself

You're not reading a book,

You're writing a play.

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#129

Post by skybrian » Sun, Dec 01, 2024, 5:23 AM UTC

ludicity wrote: post #97

yellow_lead wrote: post #21

The section about reading "the right books" is important. I tried reading some self-help books in high school, but after reading a few, you'll realize they are mostly "fanfic" as the author says. I noticed some other patterns in these books. 1. Constant self-questioning while reading - "Is this obvious? did I already know this?" 2. Lots of examples or stories 3. Try to turn a simple metaphor/slogan into a complete ph…

(I'm the author) Starting with Taleb at a young age was helpful for me, as he introduced me to the Narrative Fallacy. I.e, the easiest way to convince anyone of anything is to posit a causal chain with some neat story, and 95% of the population will absorb it uncritically (including me, at the time). I'm asked if I read Cal Newport a lot, and I can't stand him because he makes some good points, some trite points, the…

Oddly, I think having concrete examples and storytelling are good, actually, and you do it a fair bit in your writing, drawing from your own experience.

(I don't do that - my writing is all abstract arguments. I should use concrete examples, but have trouble thinking of them. That's why I'm writing critical comments in Internet forums and not blogging.)

I get what you mean about how storytelling is sometimes a contrary indicator, though. When there is too much storytelling and the stories are too simple, it comes across as fake.

I think the best writers want to tell stories with additional complexity even when it doesn't entirely fit the point they're trying to make, because the world isn't really story-shaped. Stories are better when they're not too polished and the author isn't afraid to include contrary evidence.

Re: You must read at least one book to ride

#130

Post by BugsBunny1991 » Sun, Dec 01, 2024, 5:47 AM UTC

What about those very capable engineers that do not read books? I'm talking about the independent and original thinkers that solve problems their own way. They exist and I'd prefer to be them, actually. I haven't quite figured out how to engage with the craft at that deeper level so, instead, I read books...