Just Your Handyman
plough.com
Just Your Handyman
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Re: Just Your Handyman
#2Wonder how many on HN are like this, but with software or other industries.
I'm not building sky scrapers (next triple AAA game engine), I'm fixing the leak in the ceiling (bug with some in-house corporate gui). It can be a little soul-draining, but do it for the kids.
Re: Just Your Handyman
#3Wonder how many on HN are like this, but with software or other industries. I'm not building sky scrapers (next triple AAA game engine), I'm fixing the leak in the ceiling (bug with some in-house corporate gui). It can be a little soul-draining, but do it for the kids.
I’m always driven to reach for more, in my career. I don’t think that’s ideal for happiness. Maybe it’s not always even ideal for my career.
Through COVID, I’ve had a lot of obvious gains. I used to commute four hours a day, and now I work from home. I’m paid more. I’m working with more interesting technology. Despite all of that, I still alternate between putting a lot of effort into finding my next step to a bigger career or feeling bad about not putting enough energy into it.
The handyman must be less restless.
Re: Just Your Handyman
#4Although the overlap is minimal in many ways, I was strongly reminded of Wes Cecil's series on the Philosophy of Building a house[1].
Cecil's purpose is a bit different, but beyond the obvious theme of using the building of a house for philosophical reflection, I do think there's some cross-over in insights, if not in focus.
I recommend it to anyone, ESPECIALLY anyone thinking about, or in the process of, building a house. And his channel in general is excellent fun.
[1.1] https://youtu.be/GDg194s5tnQ
Re: Just Your Handyman
#5Although the overlap is minimal in many ways, I was strongly reminded of Wes Cecil's series on the Philosophy of Building a house[1]. Cecil's purpose is a bit different, but beyond the obvious theme of using the building of a house for philosophical reflection, I do think there's some cross-over in insights, if not in focus. I recommend it to anyone, ESPECIALLY anyone thinking about, or in the process of, building a…
Thanks! I want to build a house in the future and I want it to anticipate my psychology and be functional and yet have a timeless design if that makes sense. Also needs fung-sui.
Re: Just Your Handyman
#6> My kids get regular doses of “No limits!” and “You can be whatever you want!” in school, and I resent it because it simply isn’t true. You cannot actually be whatever you want. That’s harmful, sentimental garbage. Fact is, the real world is chock full of limits.
This is the danger of participation awards. It's how people end up in careers they aren't suited to.
As a society, we owe it to our children to be honest with them and guide them down paths that will satisfy the aspects of life that are important to them. It's a balancing act between ability, aptitude, drive, and personality.
Doing well in math and science does not necessarily mean that the child will be happy in a career that require those skills, especially if they actually enjoy music, art, or shop class more.
Unfortunately many of these trade-offs are presented financially to kids; that doing what you love may result in a financially challenging life, and ignore the satisfaction and mental health benefits that would derive from such a choice.
Re: Just Your Handyman
#7Great read.
Several parts resonated with me. This one early in the article stood out:
> But the vast majority of what I know in my work has come from continuously saying “yes” to jobs I’ve never done before – I decided I could figure them out by being careful.
I learned something like the above from my dad — watching him jump head-long into things he knew nothing about (or very little about).
When I was a teenager and travelled to Alaska to visit him he had just got a job there running the water treatment plant in Homer. He took me up to the plant where he showed me how yeti all works — the huge osmosis filtration system, the small laboratory onsite for insuring the city water quality. He showed me how he draws water out and runs various tests on it. Dipping a test tube first into a bath of HCl acid (with his bare fingers) before rinsing it, filling it with sample water, then into an ultrasonic bath to release any dissolved gases, then into a device that measures the water turbidity by shining light though the glass vial and measuring the scattered light.
I knew he had taken Chemistry in college but running a water treatment plant did not seem to be on his resumé to my knowledge. "How did you know how to do this?" I asked. He pointed to a three-foot row of binders along one counter in the lab and said, "I read the manuals they keep here."
"But how did you even get the job?"
"Told them I had worked as a chemist (true), and said I could do it...."
This was a small town in Alaska so maybe things were a little looser — but still, I admired his fearlessness. Knowing him I suspect too if I had asked him what the consequences would have been if he had failed or been "found out" I am sure he would have said, as he often did, "What's the worst thing that could happen? I get fired."
I was also amazed then to see him adding a room onto his small home in town. I was not shy to add weather stripping to a door or window but once you are pouring a footer, framing, hanging drywall you were, in my mind, firmly in pro territory. Somehow my dad just jumped into it and figured he could learn it (best to learn on your own house, I guess).
What's the worst thing that could happen? He would have to hire someone to come in and finish his mess.
Since then I have tried not to have pre-supposing mental barriers as to what I can and cannot do. And in a lot of ways the world of possibilities began to open up for me.
I mention all the above because I have found throughout my life that most people seem to be like I was before my encounters with my dad started to change my perceptions. I want other people too to be unafraid to try doing a thing themselves.
Re: Just Your Handyman
#8> My kids get regular doses of “No limits!” and “You can be whatever you want!” in school, and I resent it because it simply isn’t true. You cannot actually be whatever you want. That’s harmful, sentimental garbage. Fact is, the real world is chock full of limits.
I've long observed that modern culture and media seem to be really stuck on this idea that kids everywhere are having their dreams held back by evil adults who just want to crush their dreams, for no good reason in particular. The archetype in many movies is that some adult is telling some kid to abandon his dreams.
I always found this interesting because no one ever attempted this with me. As suggested, they attempted the opposite, and told me that I could be whatever I wanted. Ultimately I think this was well-intended, but harmful advice. Most of the things I like or care about aren't just infeasible careers -- they're not jobs at all. The things I'm "passionate" about are just not career-worthy. I like reading books, playing video games, doing house chores while listening to podcasts, and talking to friends. It might sound stupid, but as a younger adult (18-25) I really had the mistaken impression that I didn't enjoy work because I hadn't found a good job yet. Really, there was nothing I enjoyed in my life which could actually survive the transition to a career. What I just described is really all leisure, and can't count as work.
Yes, you can technically make a career out of the things I listed, but they cease to bear much resemblance to how I participated in them. Casually playing a video game occasionally is much different from developing or writing, or reviewing games. Occasionally reading a good book is much different from being able to write a book, or reviewing books for a living, etc. And a proclivity towards enjoying a book every so often says nothing about one's ability to make a career out of books. I suppose the point I'm trying to drive at is that there is a wide berth between what someone is interested in, and their ability to make that into a career.
I would have benefited from being forced into the workplace sooner so that I could realize that all jobs out there are "work," even if there are some enjoyable aspects to them. ie, that there are fundamental differences between work and leisure, and that a kid who enjoys some hobbies is totally incapable of identifying his "passions." But, no one really seems to want to tell that story, at least in popular media. They want an easy good guy and bad guy. They seem fixated on the idea that as a child I truly knew myself, and in some sense was pure -- and that the world was an adulterating influence, bitterly set on holding me back. The opposite was true: as a child I barely know myself, and the world was ready to teach me important lessons, but mentors and media kept trying to protect me from learning about the world.
Re: Just Your Handyman
#9> My kids get regular doses of “No limits!” and “You can be whatever you want!” in school, and I resent it because it simply isn’t true. You cannot actually be whatever you want. That’s harmful, sentimental garbage. Fact is, the real world is chock full of limits. This is the danger of participation awards. It's how people end up in careers they aren't suited to. As a society, we owe it to our children to be honest w…
Yes, although... don't underestimate the mental strain of always struggling financially and worrying about bills and rent
Re: Just Your Handyman
#10> My kids get regular doses of “No limits!” and “You can be whatever you want!” in school, and I resent it because it simply isn’t true. You cannot actually be whatever you want. That’s harmful, sentimental garbage. Fact is, the real world is chock full of limits. This is the danger of participation awards. It's how people end up in careers they aren't suited to. As a society, we owe it to our children to be honest w…
You may not be able to do whatever you want, but you can often get a lot further than you think. The first few years after school are the time to shoot for the moon.