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Most tech content is bullshit

aleksandra.codes

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Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#161

Post by jedberg »

aledalgrande wrote: post #47
leetrout wrote: post #34

I’ve said this for a long time: The people actually doing the work don’t have time to talk about it and the people spending all their time talking about it aren’t doing the work. Of course there are exceptions but I’m extremely skeptical of a lot of stuff I read. Also that the HN bubble will always make readers feel behind when in reality 90% of the industry hasn’t even begun to catch-up. I felt behind with K8S in 20…

Thumbs up for this. It is just a physical limitation of time, if you're writing you're not coding. I love when Aaron Patterson writes a post once in a blue moon, because they are so interesting.

> if you're writing you're not coding

Do you code 16 hours every day? Or do you do other things with your time in addition to coding? It's possible to spend your "free time" writing about coding instead of writing code. Humans can do both well if they choose to.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#162

Post by MattGaiser »

ryan29 wrote: post #99
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personal brand building is another major contributor to search engine content dilution. Whenever I Google for something in hot new languages or frameworks, I have to sift through 10s of Medium articles from beginner developers who are trying to establish themselves as industry experts. I don't want to read some junior developer's Medium post full of animated GIFs and a pseudo-tutorial that is really just entire sourc…

There's so many bad examples online that I can't imagine trying to learn development from scratch these days.

If it runs, it ships!

It shouldn't be this way, but it frequently is.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#163

Post by jdauriemma »

I agree with the problem presented by the author, but not necessarily with the solution.

If blind acquiescence to random blogs and forums is a sin, then so is blind acquiescence to one's own limited experience. Most categories of software problems have already been solved. Being a "creator," in the truest sense of the word, is therefore rare. Most of the time, when we endeavor to "create" instead of "consume," we are just reinventing the wheel. That's often a good use of time, but it can also lead to bad code.

Instead of abandoning "consumerism," I try to challenge others to refer to prior art. It is only by filtering through books, documentation, and yes, random tech blogs, that we can get a sense of how much of what we're doing truly needs to be "created."

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#164

Post by vbezhenar »

arp242 wrote: post #116
tuyguntn wrote: post #4

I believe part of problem is Google SEO. Tech content maybe bullshit, but marketing content is even more bullshit. I remember times when we had slow internet and/or only subset of blogs we read from time to time. Most of development was done by reading books, specification of devices for writing drivers and so on. Now, literally everyone is trying to do SEO and use lots of words in articles, kind of creating content,…

The internet is a big bucket where everyone drops all sorts of stuff in. Some people drop in gold nuggets, sometimes even diamonds, many other people drop in less valuable materials, and some dump in a torrent of bodily fluids. Our current solution is to rely on magical black box algorithms to give us the diamonds, but it's been creaking for a while. I'm not sure how to make this better: one person's turd is another…

Old school links might be a solution. I remember back in the day those blog websites which contained "links" page to the websites that owner likes and recommends. It's true P2P solution and does not require anything to invent. If you own a website and know some rare but valuable gems, just share them. Someone will find them. I think that's how Internet should really work.

As a side effect, it should really help Google and other search engines to rank those websites. External links of good quality still the best SEO.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#165

Post by jwr »

This is very true. I think I'm breaking at least several dozen "Rules for How It's Supposed To Be Done" in my fairly large software system (self-funded SaaS). But each and every time I thought carefully, considered it, and then made a decision. It's worked out great each and every time I did that.

My takeaway is the same as the author's — rational approach is king, things should not be taken for granted and "best practices" might be good ideas, or they might just be the current fashion du jour.

Think for yourself.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#166

Post by rchase »

I'm 51 years old. Think I was about ~40 when I realized the dipshits I went to high school with (and thousands more like them) are running the world now. That was an absolutely terrifying realization. The author's point about tech content is true in my opinion and experience, but the larger point also applies to most every aspect of our society. 'Appeal to authority' indeed.

Fuck everything about that.

My friend from middle school, Mike 'the douche' W. is now the MAYOR OF A FUCKING CITY. Just no.

BECOME an authority on a given subject (takes a little longer, is much more valuable long term.) This also means you have to pick your battles... life is only so long, pick your shit and get good at it.

All that being said, community knowledge is a GOOD thing. We don't exist in an isolated state, the tech. community in particular. There's no one person who knows how all this shit works anymore, so thoroughly documenting what we do know, and sharing it globally is also incredibly valuable in a communal sense. None of us makes this stuff happen, whether you like it or not, we're all working as a team.

Oh, and also, passing on some wisdom here... never trust a contractor with clean boots.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#167

Post by shill_predictor »

LockAndLol wrote: post #147

> There's bullshit everywhere The words of George Carlin ring in my ears: > Bullshit is everywhere. Bullshit is rampant. Parents are full of shit, teachers are full of shit, clergymen are full of shit, law enforcement people are full of shit. > The entire country is completely full of shit

That was my thought as well. It's hard to define something to not appeal as bullshit but so many people do not care or can't comprehend the outcome/judgement on the reader side. A few comments above mentioned hackernoon and I saw that on our slack a couple of times. Now that I checked it its a complete shitshow with people just starting in the sector or shilling their crypto coin.

A bit hard to get around the whole thing when up to senior engineers seems to enjoy this type of content.

And thats why I am enjoying HN and more unfiltered channels like /g/. You can have a somewhat anonymous review/judgement/comment on topics which you would never came across on these blog posts.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#168

Post by MattGaiser »

tuyguntn wrote: post #33
anthony_romeo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or those fake how-to tutorial pages. Often when I’m looking up, say, error codes in Windows, I need to wade through pages of “Step 1: Download the MyNewFreeComputerCleaner.biz app”

after working at couple of startups, I also noticed worrying trend. * 21 years old marketer writing about life crisis in 40s * fashion blogger explaining is Teflon harmful or not (come on, fashion and chemistry?) * 18 years old student who never immigrated to another country or studied abroad writing about how difficult is immigrant life and what to look for in different country and many more similar content.

You go on Upwork and you will find all sorts of requirements for artificial content.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#169

Post by rdiddly »

tuyguntn wrote: post #4

I believe part of problem is Google SEO. Tech content maybe bullshit, but marketing content is even more bullshit. I remember times when we had slow internet and/or only subset of blogs we read from time to time. Most of development was done by reading books, specification of devices for writing drivers and so on. Now, literally everyone is trying to do SEO and use lots of words in articles, kind of creating content,…

Of all the people who got all excited that the internet would "democratize information," most seemed to be thinking on the demand side. And it did come to pass, but very few seem to have anticipated that it would democratize the supply side too. Turns out the much-maligned elitism and gatekeeping of the past were actually performing (with imperfect fairness perhaps) the quality-control function they always purported to be performing.
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