Join the Engineering Leisure Class • Hacker News Board

Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class

#151

Post by jasonkester » Fri, May 08, 2015, 6:37 AM UTC

twic wrote: post #99

angrybits wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So relocate to bumfuck, england and do your work there. I don't think the idea is to ditch your job and still pay $3000 a month for an apartment.

What work? There are no jobs in Bumfuck, and not enough companies that hire remote workers for this to scale. As i understand it, the situation in the US is that there is Silicon Valley, where the salaries are high and the rents higher, and then half a dozen other places where there are significant concentrations of software jobs, and more reasonable living costs. This is not really the case in the UK. There's London…

You're mistaken about how easy it is to find remote developer work. Upon moving to bf Lake District, I had no trouble picking up a gig for an American company at my Bay Area rate.

There are enough companies hiring remote workers these days that I can't understand why anybody in England continues to put up with comically low and out of touch with reality London rates.

Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class

#152

Post by hspak » Fri, May 08, 2015, 6:48 AM UTC

vinceguidry wrote: post #21

> Luckily, there’s a corner of the Internet dedicated to breaking the link between “comfort” and money. The problem with this is that it moves in the wrong direction. You spent all this time learning how to earn more money for your time. Then what do you do after you earn a bunch of money? Figure out how to trade your time for money again, just in different arenas? Why, so you can avoid having to spend more time doin…

Reminds me of the fisherman story: http://www.noogenesis.com/pineapple/fisherman.html

Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class

#153

Post by solveforall » Fri, May 08, 2015, 7:13 AM UTC

tomjacobs wrote: post #142

solveforall wrote: post #93

I am currently doing this. I am much more productive compared to having a corporate job, but it is really hard on your family. There seems to be an arms race on doing everything for your kids these days. That means moving to a good school district (usually in very expensive places), paying for and driving to tons of activities, organic food, nice stuff. I have realized none of these things are possible while we are l…

Try telling us about your projects and updates on Glitch Club, this is exactly what it's for: http://glitchclub.com

Sorry, I'm a bit old school in that I prefer text over videos, and desktop apps over mobile. Text on desktop can more easily be edited and perfected before being sent out. I like the idea of a community feedback platform though -- would definitely use it if it were multiplatform.

Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class

#154

Post by HaloZero » Fri, May 08, 2015, 7:25 AM UTC

ChrisLoer wrote: post #24

rifung wrote: post #16

This is actually exactly what I want to do, although I just started working so for obvious reasons it isn't a reality yet. How long does it take to save up enough money that you wouldn't need to work though? Also, it seems like eventually you'd run out of money unless you can just retire early, in which case, you have the issue of explaining why you've been out of work for so long and proving you still are up to the…

- On how long it takes to save up enough money that you don't need to work: depends on your assumptions, but yes it takes some years of work. There are lots of people who write on this, I especially like: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/ - I don't personally have enough money to pay for my current living expenses for the 70-odd years I hope to remain alive. It was an important shift for me when I stopped thinking this…

Wow, you live out in 29 Palms? I grew up in Yucca Valley.

You can live pretty cheaply out there but you also have to deal with all dumb crap out there. It wasn't very pleasant growing up in the schools there.

Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class

#155

Post by Kaizyn » Fri, May 08, 2015, 7:32 AM UTC

marktangotango wrote: post #49

neilk wrote: post #8

I did this. I advise against this. I had money saved up, and for visa reasons had to spend a year outside the USA. Seemed like a perfect time to indulge in some risky ideas, especially those which were a little idealistic. It ended up being incredibly depressing and I got very little done. It's hard enough to build a product when you're in a startup or a smart team. In my opinion it's nearly impossible if you're goin…

I did this too, and I agree. IMO anything worth doing is non trivial. The project I took on had some really hard parts. Example: something akin to defining a relational schema for maintaining a model of c/c++ source code, before and after preprocessing (not exactly, but same idea minus the difficulty of parsing c++). This was one of about 5 'hard' problems. I got bogged down, and with no one to bounce ideas off, I be…

I bet you now know a lot about parsing and the relational schemas and managing models now. You'll hit a problem again where this turns out to be valuable knowledge. Even a failed experiment if the problem is interesting enough is fruitful for improving your thinking about hard problems. Once you get past being disappointed over the experience, you'll probably find that a second attenpt at cracking the problem gets you further.

Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class

#156

Post by smikhanov » Fri, May 08, 2015, 7:53 AM UTC

rifung wrote: post #95

marktangotango wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this too, and I agree. IMO anything worth doing is non trivial. The project I took on had some really hard parts. Example: something akin to defining a relational schema for maintaining a model of c/c++ source code, before and after preprocessing (not exactly, but same idea minus the difficulty of parsing c++). This was one of about 5 'hard' problems. I got bogged down, and with no one to bounce ideas off, I be…

I'll have to respectfully disagree with the idea that "anything worth doing is nontrivial." This might certainly be the case for you, but I would love to just spend some time learning Haskell, writing an OS for fun, reading papers on Theoretical Computer Science, or trying to find security exploits. I don't think these things are hard, at least they certainly aren't things I would doubt myself to be able to do. These…

    > I would love to just spend some time learning Haskell,
    > writing an OS for fun, reading papers on Theoretical
    > Computer Science, or trying to find security exploits.

What you describe sounds like what students do in a university. Maybe you should consider another degree in CS?

Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class

#157

Post by smikhanov » Fri, May 08, 2015, 8:13 AM UTC

gohrt wrote: post #81

ChrisLoer wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, he's a pretty impressive example of independence, although I don't think either the million dollars or the parrots are truly necessary!

RMS is not independent. He is interdependent. He relies heavily on the community for housing when he travels.

Who is RMS? First results on Google are "root main square" and "Risk Management Solutions".

Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class

#158

Post by dasmoth » Fri, May 08, 2015, 8:15 AM UTC

marktangotango wrote: post #49

neilk wrote: post #8

I did this. I advise against this. I had money saved up, and for visa reasons had to spend a year outside the USA. Seemed like a perfect time to indulge in some risky ideas, especially those which were a little idealistic. It ended up being incredibly depressing and I got very little done. It's hard enough to build a product when you're in a startup or a smart team. In my opinion it's nearly impossible if you're goin…

I did this too, and I agree. IMO anything worth doing is non trivial. The project I took on had some really hard parts. Example: something akin to defining a relational schema for maintaining a model of c/c++ source code, before and after preprocessing (not exactly, but same idea minus the difficulty of parsing c++). This was one of about 5 'hard' problems. I got bogged down, and with no one to bounce ideas off, I be…

How much trouble does the resume gap cause you?

The idea that everyone should want to have a job all the time seems like a strange distortion in the labour market.

Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class

#159

Post by dagw » Fri, May 08, 2015, 8:16 AM UTC

smikhanov wrote: post #157

gohrt wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RMS is not independent. He is interdependent. He relies heavily on the community for housing when he travels.

Who is RMS? First results on Google are "root main square" and "Risk Management Solutions".

Fourth result and first person (at least for me) on Google is Richard M Stallman.

Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class

#160

Post by _yosefk » Fri, May 08, 2015, 8:18 AM UTC

jtzhou wrote: post #113

vinceguidry wrote: post #21

> Luckily, there’s a corner of the Internet dedicated to breaking the link between “comfort” and money. The problem with this is that it moves in the wrong direction. You spent all this time learning how to earn more money for your time. Then what do you do after you earn a bunch of money? Figure out how to trade your time for money again, just in different arenas? Why, so you can avoid having to spend more time doin…

> Why, so you can avoid having to spend more time doing what you specialized in? Yes. Part of enjoying life -- at least for most people -- is taking part in challenges and endeavors in a wide range of activities. If you can work for 4 hours a week and maintain a high income, this would fit the bill but probably not realistic for most people (do you have suggestions besides managing a portfolio of capital, or free-lan…

I pity the hog butchered by a computer programmer (though except for Zuckerberg I heard about few who tried.) I pity as well the programmer honing his hog butchering skills.

If you want to make the most money to be able to work the least hours over your lifetime, then focusing on those skills making the most money at the expense of other skills (and paying someone else with those skills when necessary) is the best strategy by far.

If you enjoy fucking around with plumbing, then by all means fuck with it all you want. But if making less money and fucking with plumbing is your plan to free up the most time for other things (neither making money nor plumbing), then I think it's just plain dumb.