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Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

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641–650 of 881 posts

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#641
post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's incredible. Theoretically you could even wear gloves and the saw would stop as soon as it reached tissue. Although, some sort of conductive work gloves might serve as an additional safety layer so it doesn't even have to hit tissue.

In general, it's a bad idea to wear gloves when working with spinning tools. If the glove snags the wrong way, it can pull your whole hand into the tool.

Ditto rings, for the same reason.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#642

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the time when someone loses a finger on a table saw, it is because they were doing something that they know better than to do, or because they didn't know that a particular action is high risk. What really helps is to initially work with someone who knows what and what not to do, so they can correct any bad techniques that you have. Common errors are things like trying to cut a piece that is too large / awkwa…

That you have an opinion on this and know the circumstances seems to suggest you know multiple people who have lost their fingers, which would suggest the risk is actually quite high.

If a completely untrained person bought an entire shop worth of power tools and just started trying to build stuff, the potential for injury is astronomical. However, there's a right way to go about it. Every shop tool has a simple set of rules to follow. Learn the proper and safe way to use things, wear appropriate attire and safety equipment, pay attention, and the risk is very low.

Powertools are made to cut/grind/drill/etc... wood, metal, and even stone into useful shapes. All of these things are significantly harder than the human body. Of course the tools capable of doing it are dangerous.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#644
post #638

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sailboats are a lot cheaper than people think. Did you know there is no technical definition for "yacht"? In practice, it just means "a boat that's nicer than yours". Don't buy a yacht. In Seattle there are plenty of sailboats under 30' that cost less than $10K. The moorage is the expensive part and costs around $400/month.

I've owned several boats and I'm done with that. I now belong to a coop where I pay $650 a year and have access to a 30' Catalina and 24' C&C that I can use almost as much as I want. There is no such thing as a cheap boat. The maintaince is a constant time and money suck.

A former co-worker told his wife, "The next time I say that I want to own a boat, take me out in the yard and spray me with a hose while I tear up $20 bills."

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#645

I would become a full-time MUT runner (mountain/ultra/trail) and adventurer like Kilian Jornet ( http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/adventurers-of-t... ) or Karl Meltzer, who broke the fastest known time on the Appalachian Trail this past summer here in the U.S.

How would your outlook on income be? I'm sure you're quite familiar with Sage Canaday and his girlfriend then. I'm simply a filthy marathoner, but there's so few great personalities that vlog/blog/do social media in the running community. Opposed to our profession where no one is short on opinion about the pros and cons of each and every technology.

I feel like getting sponsored is a must, and even then, it's likely living a minimalist lifestyle (which is fine!). Unless you can compete with the East Africans for prize money or the top dogs in US road races, the money in running is very scarce.

It seems the niche in competitive MUT is conquering the few popular 100 miler races that are put on annually.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#646

Would like to be a back country forest ranger. Someone who does work out in the remote woods. Not one of the rangers that has to deep with the public. The problem like most of us have is that our position and tenure in IT has lead to salaries that make such a change (and reduction in pay) almost impossible. Add kids, etc. and it gets set permanently in the dream category. I know the logical response to this statement…

I would like to do that too, and had thought of something like it when in my teens. I spent a lot of time in forests then.

Around that time I had read this novel (a Western) called The Deer Hunter (not related to the famous movie of the same name, which is about Vietnam, etc.), and it was about a guy who does that work - a forest ranger in the Grand Canyon (of the US). Great story.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#647

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's not necessary to make $100k+ a year to have a solid middle class life Depends on your circumstances. 100k with one salary?

I live paycheck to paycheck on six figures in the midwest. I'm not broke but I'm certainly not living it up. People act like 100k is life changing money. I think it depends more on circumstances before you get to $100k. If I had parents who paid for school I'd probably be living it up too.

Agreed. My parents gave me nothing. Had to pay for school and save up for home loan, car etc.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#648
post #411

Baker. Been baking as a hobby for a few years now and it's the one thing that I keep coming back to, no matter how much life changes.

I came here to say this, what do you like to bake? I am a becoming a bit of a sourdough fanatic and am starting to see some results [1]. Thinking about building a wood-fired oven and baking a little for the farmers market this year to see if it could be a sideline I enjoy (in gradschool). [1] https://imgur.com/a/skH9O

Looks great, a very nice rise to it (although a bit too blackened for my taste eheh).

How did you manage to get those bubbles? Double kneading? Wood-fired oven gives a nice taste to the bread (to whatever you cook in it anyway) but controlling the temperature is a challenge.

With all of that said, when I said baking, I meant cake baking. (although I dab a bit with bread (and can make a nice loaf)). I specially enjoy taking recipes and iterate over them adding twists in terms of flavour to them (last year I went through my vanilla pods phase, currently on a nuts phase[1]).

[1]http://imgur.com/W5oXz67

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#650
post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Obviously kids make this harder..." If you didn't have kids you would feel incredibly rich. You could pay off your house in five years and feel even richer.

Don't forget it's not uncommon for two college grads to have $100k in student loan debt today.

good reminder! I was assuming they were debt free, other than their mortgage.
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