* Don't get too hung up on computational complexity.
A lot of times O(n^2) is gonna be perfectly fine. Write it the simple and easy to maintain way first, and only worry about fancy optimizations if it's too slow.
Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?
11–20 of 424 posts
Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?
#12There are few productivity boosters greater than spending time learning the tools you use in and out. This goes for hotkeys in software all the way to quirks about a language.
Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?
#13Some less mathematical / core CS and more cloud / system engineering:
- Exponential backoff
- Jitter
- Consistent hashing
- Gossip algorithm
- Basic “Functional” aspects of a language (map, flatMap, reduce, filter, some, find)
- Putting things in a queue and using a “serverless” consumer
But some of the more day to day productivity boosters: know your development tools (including all keyboard shortcuts, including multi line editing, refactoring, grow shrink AST based selection, know all git / bash commands without googling…)
Know your programming language / framework deeply is also a supposedly simple one that just needs practice and dedication.
Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?
#14How to use grep effectively
Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?
#15Not technical but the self-knowledge of how to put yourself in a productive state. Knowing how to sleep well, eat well, exercise well to allow yourself to perform at a sustained high-level.
Someone may be more technically competent at a problem-space (at the start), but if you are able to work diligently at the problem over a sustained period, you will have 10x better results than those who crash/burnout/lose interest/try to sprint to the finish.
Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?
#16Learning small amounts everyday. Accumulation of knowledge provides compounding return E.g. reading books, curated twitter, https://getsuperpower.com/, https://www.blinkist.com/
Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?
#17Most of these aren't really productivity multipliers, they just enable you to do the thing you need to do. It's unlikely that someone is doing task A without any calculus but another person who uses calculus is 10x more productive on the same task.
I think it's also possible that some of these lead to a I've-got-my-hammer-and-everything-is-a-nail approach to problem solving. You may then find yourself parsing HTML with regexps (https://web.archive.org/web/20111009133402/http://stackoverf...), which is never a good idea.
Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?
#18So the 10 10x multipliers you know make you 10000000000X more productive than a normal software engineer?
That would only follow if the 10 multipliers each covered every aspect of the job, but they don't. I agree with the thrust of your argument though, as the only (occasionally) 10x multiplier I can think of for my work is programming (I'm not employed to write code, but sometimes it helps, and sometimes a lot).
Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?
#19* Abstract Algebra, for when you need to create an Algebra
* Linear Algebra, a matrix can represent lots of different things and lots of great tools around LA.
* Tree searches, 60% of all traditional AI is some sort of tree manipulation ( I made that number up ).
Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?
#20I would like to challenge the underlaying idea:
Asking "what fundamental knowledge" is like asking what telescope makes the best astronomers.
The problem with knowledge is applicability. You can know a lot of fundamental things, but if you cannot recognize the patterns were they are useful is dead knowledge.
My personal experience through my life (30+ years in the field) and observing and interviewing developers in many different industries tells me that curiosity, logical thinking, and emotional intelligence win the day. And these are not pieces of knowledge, but personal characteristics and skills to develop. And they apply to many careers, including software engineering.
I think that more important than knowledge accumulated is your ability to conceptualize and recognize the concepts in a different context. Knowledge is just a side effect of this.