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Ask HN: I am busy with too many things at once

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Re: Ask HN: I am busy with too many things at once

#91

Post by swsieber »

Instead of picking technologies, pick a project. Let your development be project driven. When I needed to inject javascript to scrape a complex static page and change it into an angular app, all of a sudden I learned less and gulp because I had heard about them and they helped for that goal. Choosing a project will let you learn while focusing on one thing, although potentially learning a lot of things.

An airplane pilot once told me that when young airplane pilots experience turbulence, their reaction is to speed up to get through it faster. That makes the turbulence worse. An experienced pilot will slow down because it reduces turbulence and makes the trip enjoyable again.

Edited for clarity.

Re: Ask HN: I am busy with too many things at once

#92

Post by to3m »

lucasnemeth wrote: post #81
gscott wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those job postings are designed to weed out Americans and hire Indians. Real postings are more reasonable.

That is a racist comment. You could had said "in the US they make those job postings catered to a specific person that they want to hire as an H1B" instead, but specifying that it is intented to weed out americans (specially given the fact that no one said we where talking about the US market!!) and hire specifically Indians (and not foreigners, or people in search of a visa) is racist. It shows a specific prejudice…

Other options can be:

- HR requirement that all positions be advertised externally, even when there is an internal candidate who is suitable and people are happy with (similar rationale for the H1B policy but at a smaller scale and less likely to engender foamy-mouthed rantings)

- hiring company is actually an agency who is fishing for CVs

Re: Ask HN: I am busy with too many things at once

#93

Post by gonzobent »

eru wrote: post #66
uniclaude wrote: post #26

As some noted, the fact that you realized what drives your desire is very impressive. It takes a certain skill to understand those things! As someone who's been at it for years, I'll just give you one little piece of advice. If you've already been through the fundamentals, you've done enough. Now, instead of focusing on learning technology, focus on building things, this is what real engineers do. Let me explain. You…

> This is, however, not true with a lot of non-tech companies, where keywords on resume, a professional-looking attitude, and some good sales skills will usually get you better positions. By the way, these things are hackable, too. It only takes a bit of practice to become a better salesperson than most programmers, and only a small amount of effort to look more professional, too. (And a good suite can even be comfor…

A good suit should always be comfortable. If your suit is uncomfortable it doesn't fit. If you spend $1000 on a good interview suit it will help you earn many times that much. It will also last much longer than the same amount of money spent on electronics.

Re: Ask HN: I am busy with too many things at once

#94

Post by vincston »

garrettheaver wrote: post #18

Whatever you're not enjoying, stop. Whatever you are enjoying, keep. A career is too long to be carrying the things which turn it from being "a hobby" into a "real job"™. I've often found that if I tried to do something because I thought it would be good for my long term career prospects I just wasn't that motivated. However I often found myself circling back to the same technology or topic at a later date out of pur…

I'd love to have concrete and applicable hobby, but that isnt the case. Some people (like me) still have no clear thing in mind. Take me for example.

I'm still a student, studying computerscience and I'm almost finished. The problem is, my fun in computerscience is simply limited, sometimes it really makes a lot of fun. Sometimes it doesnt (Majority, since I am really unmotivated). Now. The problem is, I don't have anything I'd consider to do for the rest of my life. Was totally clueless after graduating from school and I'm still unsure. This just doesnt sound like a good future, but I really cant figure.

For now I'll just graduate from university. Any Advice?

Re: Ask HN: I am busy with too many things at once

#95

Post by gonzo41 »

microtonal wrote: post #35

I think you have found two problems that many people will bump into: (1) there are two many subfields to keep track of everything; (2) in any particular subfield there are people who seem to be infinitely much better than you are :). Both are true: there are simply too many subfields if you want to excel in all of them, for any particular subfield there are people who are much better than you are, because most of the…

Its important to remember that the internet amplifies experts, they get a big stage. What you see in tech are lots of very smart people in a very tight bell curve. Very smart compared to the general population. But in comparison to each other there is difference, but not as much as you think. Its easy to say don't worry about it. So i will add. Remember, even the experts only have time for at best 1 job at a time. They have lives to live too, make sure you live yours.

Re: Ask HN: I am busy with too many things at once

#97

Post by logan5 »

tim333 wrote: post #56
collyw wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't get as many job offers by becoming an expert in one area though.... How many job offers do you see looking for a smart Perl programmer. How many do you see listing 10+ technologies, plus experience in scrum? (Does doing a stand up every day make you better at it? )

Depends on the one area. I've got a friend who's good at C++ but not much else and he's not had trouble getting work for the last 30 or so years.

I second that. I've also got a friend who is in a similar situation.

Re: Ask HN: I am busy with too many things at once

#98

Post by throwaway1410 »

deepaksurti wrote: post #88
uniclaude wrote: post #26

As some noted, the fact that you realized what drives your desire is very impressive. It takes a certain skill to understand those things! As someone who's been at it for years, I'll just give you one little piece of advice. If you've already been through the fundamentals, you've done enough. Now, instead of focusing on learning technology, focus on building things, this is what real engineers do. Let me explain. You…

> Let me explain. You'll probably get much better with at least one thing once you ship a real project to the end, and this is where you'll get better. +100. I did exactly this. After working for 12 years, took a break, learnt 3D game programming and actually shipped a playable 3D sport simulation game on iOS. Enjoyed graphics programming a ton. Also prototyped the game in Common Lisp before porting it to iOS. End re…

This sounds very inspiring and it's one of the paths I'm seriously considering for my own future.

Do you mind asking you a couple questions? Where are you based? How does the market look like and what kind of pay can you expect as entry-level/experienced scientific programmer (i.e. is it a significant hit pay-wise when compared to standard enterprise/finance/google developer career track)?

Re: Ask HN: I am busy with too many things at once

#99

Post by logan5 »

brianwawok wrote: post #80
mseebach wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't want those job offers anyway, so don't worry about it. Finding a good job is not a numbers game. (Anecdote: I rejected an offer from a YC startup once because ~60% of the process was them fretting about me not having Ruby on Rails experience. I didn't (and don't) want to work for a CTO that doesn't understand that fundamentals travel between languages.) As the GP said, any CTO or dev lead worth their salt w…

> As the GP said, any CTO or dev lead worth their salt would hire a dev with good fundamentals in the 'wrong' language over one with poor fundamentals in the right one. For sure. You can learn a new language in a few months, but not how to think like a programmer. However, there could be an argument to be made for holding out for someone who is a good programmer AND knows the right language. Especially if it was a fu…

I've been to a few interviews with startups. Some of them didn't care about not having their language on the résumé while some of them did. The impression I got is, you can just tell which one of them are looking for a code monkey and which ones want you to take a bigger role of contributing as a software engineer.
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