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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

#111

Post by xiaoma »

The single best advice I've seen was from Marc-André Cournoyer: https://youtu.be/ijZ-n5THbEM?t=10m19s

tldr; Instead of pure "learning-driven" activities, tackle side projects. You'll cover a smaller problem space but learn it much better and have something to show at the end. Copy something that already exists, build it from scratch with few to no dependencies, possibly make it better in one single dimension.

Actual examples Marc built that changed his career: Mongrel clone in under 500 lines of code Ant clone in under 400 lines of code

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

#112

Post by gscott »

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…

I should have said so they can use the H1B visa. I wish I had a time machine to go back and correct my mistakes. When I see a long list of requirements for a position I fantasize about creating a resume that says I am an expert in those things because that is just what happens when they fill the position with a H1B applicant anyway, it is faked they meet the requirements then are trained on the job.

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

#113

Post by sp4rki »

I'm gonna regurgitate what everyone is saying. Stop learning "because learning" and start learning to complete a project/challenge. It's like fighting, playing a sport, or writing poetry... It doesn't matter how much you study the topic, you will only get better if you apply your knowledge to some goal.

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

#114

Post by coolvision »

Build something tangible in each of the areas you are interested in, and then focus on the thing that was most exciting.

Btw, the problem you outlined makes a very good answer to the question that is often asked in interviews -- "what's your greatest weakness". Not having deep expertise in anything is not so good, it's a weakness indeed. But excitement about many things and broad experience make up for it.

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

#115

Post by garrettheaver »

vincston wrote: post #94
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 a…

You'll only find out what you enjoy doing by trying it. That means just giving everything a go at least once rather than trying to imagine what you will or won't like. In my teens and early twenties I hated the thought of water sports. "Cold water and exercise? Are you mad?" It took until my late twenties to properly try these things and I fell in love with them.

Getting passionate about something is weird. You can't make yourself do it. You can only discover it. The only way to discover something is to get off the sofa and go looking for it.

Edit: and for what it's worth, I found "computer science" as taught at university the most boring subject known to man-kind. For a lot of university courses, it's the antithesis of "hacking". I love making things and software presents us all with a creative canvas where the only really hard limits are our imaginations and in some cases, access to raw data. I dropped out of university after 2 years yet here I am nearly 12 years later at the peak of my game thus far and I enjoy the fact I still have a lot to learn and the field still has seemingly endless challenges to tackle.

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

#116

Post by eru »

gonzobent wrote: post #93
eru wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

For $1000 you can get tailored in eg Hong Kong.

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

#117

Post by asanagi »

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…

Whats the "American" race? He is obviously talking about citizenship and not race.

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

#118

Post by jrenouard »

eru wrote: post #116
gonzobent wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

For $1000 you can get tailored in eg Hong Kong.

or for half that price online http://www.knotstandard.com/ (yes I work for them)

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

#120

Post by Jugurtha »

d-equivalence wrote: post #55
Jugurtha wrote: post #30

I can relate, except that I still stuck. 1 - What has helped me is to categorize my insterests. Sure, they're connected in my brain and it's not like x is disconnected with y, we can always find a connection.. but I needed to separate them into categories to be able to manage them more easily because I don't need to tell you the state of the brain if you dump all of them in the one and only category most of us have w…

Doing ten pages of mathematics a day is not realistic. Unless you already have been doing mathematics for years and are still relatively young. How about a paragraph per day ?

I think you are operating on a level high enough that you're battling to breathe in rarefied atmosphere, progressing by paragraphs and sentences.

The example I gave was to "learn" Calculus as in a Technical School (Undergraduate level). The material on that level isn't, in my opinion, hard to read. What do you think?

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