Be in a field where tech is the limit • Hacker News Board

Re: Be in a field where tech is the limit

#21

Post by whateveracct » Fri, May 07, 2021, 9:49 PM UTC

rawtxapp wrote: post #12

whateveracct wrote: post #2

i think going in a field where they'll pay you plenty without noticing you barely spend time working is the play the brightest don't spend their time & energy making others wealthy

Use your free time to build stuff, save the money to bootstrap and when your project gains traction, leave and build your own things so that you're not making someone else wealthy. The brightest absolutely do spend their time and energy making others wealthy (ex: I would consider most senior eng at FAANG to be bright and although they are definitely rich, they are not wealthy). I suspect that's because of the cycle o…

The thing about FAANGs and BigCos is they have more money than they know how to spend. The majority of that headcount spend is just to capture "talent" so others don't have it.

I've seen millions of dollars-worth of software development waste as FAANG and BigCo. Nobody bats at eye. Because it's a bizarro world with no consequences. All you gotta do is not get wrapped up in it and collect checks ;)

Re: Be in a field where tech is the limit

#22

Post by tobr » Fri, May 07, 2021, 9:49 PM UTC

I’m not convinced by this - “Innovation happens in fields where our ideas are limited by our means to pursue them” - but it’s written as if it’s self-evident. Why would it be like this and what is the argument that it is? By what measure is computing stagnant today compared to the 60’s, for example?

Re: Be in a field where tech is the limit

#23

Post by d3ntb3ev1l » Fri, May 07, 2021, 9:49 PM UTC

I worked in bio tech for 4 years. Amazing people and problems.

Worst pay, top heavy salaries.

When a phd makes 80k a year and a “ML/AI” data scientist is lucky to make 100k you won’t find any progress like software

They need to cut the top heavy executive bloat, respect the mid tier with better pay

Re: Be in a field where tech is the limit

#24

Post by d3ntb3ev1l » Fri, May 07, 2021, 9:51 PM UTC

Taek wrote: post #7

Why is there no innovation in healthcare? Because better technology won't get the entrepreneur a satisfying reward.

Because you can literally make millions of more guaranteed dollars if you just go work at Facebook or Google in easier problems serving ads.

Re: Be in a field where tech is the limit

#25

Post by frazbin » Fri, May 07, 2021, 9:51 PM UTC

> Innovation happens in fields where our ideas are limited by our means to pursue them. Software is no longer such a field, our brightest minds should be going elsewhere.

As a relative dummy, I guess I'll remain in software.

Re: Be in a field where tech is the limit

#26

Post by theodric » Fri, May 07, 2021, 9:55 PM UTC

ArtWomb wrote: post #19

"Software is simply the encoding of human thought, and as such has an almost unbounded design space" https://twitter.com/cdixon/status/1385928617943838721

This reminds me of Harry Mulisch congratulating authors for being very, very smart in _De ontdekking van de hemel_

Re: Be in a field where tech is the limit

#27

Post by rdtwo » Fri, May 07, 2021, 9:58 PM UTC

carabiner wrote: post #17

wcerfgba wrote: post #3

I am interested to learn about fields where software engineers can help to bring about innovation and push those fields forward, providing some of the tech that is missing there. I would like to apply my skills in a transdisciplinary manner and work on projects that are not just B2B SaaS products. One option is research software engineering, where SWEs team up with researchers to produce better code for models and si…

Mechanical engineering is one. The problem is gaining buy-in from the old guard that your newfangled tech will make their lives easier, not harder. To do so, you might need to get a mechanical engineering degree and work as one for a few years. Reminds me of how FarmLogs was started by someone who grew up on a farm. Ultimately the block is communication/persuasion, not technical though.

Mech e problems are more regulatory and data driven. Lack of testing data and consensus amongst experts are what good back innovation. Mechanical stuff kills people, even if it’s has software people blame the gun not the bad software

Re: Be in a field where tech is the limit

#28

Post by rdtwo » Fri, May 07, 2021, 9:59 PM UTC

Taek wrote: post #7

Why is there no innovation in healthcare? Because better technology won't get the entrepreneur a satisfying reward.

No reason to innovate insurance pays the same regardless

Re: Be in a field where tech is the limit

#29

Post by giantg2 » Fri, May 07, 2021, 10:01 PM UTC

I've always loved science. I wish I could switch to biotech, but that would mean basically starting over.

Re: Be in a field where tech is the limit

#30

Post by z3ncyberpunk » Fri, May 07, 2021, 10:02 PM UTC

tobr wrote: post #22

I’m not convinced by this - “Innovation happens in fields where our ideas are limited by our means to pursue them” - but it’s written as if it’s self-evident. Why would it be like this and what is the argument that it is? By what measure is computing stagnant today compared to the 60’s, for example?

Because the largest industries are adtech and a million and one companies cranking out useless apps? technological innovation in the computing space is been stagnant for 10 years almost. what was once AI has just been co-opted by marketing types and redefined to mean machine learning, which is glorified brute force pattern recognition. we stifled innovation and I've been going on a trend of bloated uselessness for quite a while.