HN Explorer

Ask HN: Am I suffering sampling bias?

2 points by n_ary ↗ HN
With graduation(MS) on Summer 2019, I started looking for jobs(in EU).

Reading HN for a long time, specially the comments. I formed an impression that typical "web-dev" jobs are not real engineering & native softwares are the true things rising/interesting, which piqued my curiosity because most of the jobs I find on StackOverflowJobs or Monster for any given week, given 10 postings(generalised),approx.:

  x6 = backend/front-end/swe = ~web-dev
  x1 = datawarehousing/SQL admin/similar
  x1 = ML/AI
  x1 = embedded
  x1 = QA/Testing/infra/mobile(varies by week)
I looked around local govt. job boards & those are mostly PHP dev or infra. I rarely see any postings for native softwares(except legacy things) & even if I see a handful, they are looking for senior (10+ years experience!) and they are mostly ERP.

I've done little bit of web-dev(backend), mobile-dev(Android apps in java), ML(basic banking stuff) & embedded as internships or part-time gigs & found all of those interesting in their own ways.

However, I have yet to find anything that does large scale native softwares & given it's rarity it has become more appealing to me(added with HN comment section glamorisation) yet the rarity of such jobs makes me confused.

Am I falling into sampling bias due to echo chamber effect of HN comments or are job sites putting me into filter bubble?

P.S. My intention is to try out as many things as I can before I settle into something that I find interesting.

edit: prefixed Ask HN in title.

5 comments

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itamarst
Hacker News also glamorizes cryptocurrencies, even though it's 90% fraud and 9% uselessness. I wouldn't choose a career based on what random people on HN said is cool.

Choose something you enjoy, or which will help you make money, or which will make the world a better place. It's your goals that matter, not random people on HN.

n_ary
Thanks for the kind words! So, in conclusion, any professional should try to pursue at least 3 primary goals: 1) makes enough money to live a decent enough life, 2) work on something that is enjoyable and 3) work should make the world a better place/make someone's life a little easier.
itamarst
Sorry, it's not that easy. In the end you need to decide what you want. Maybe you don't care about money, or maybe you do work you don't particularly enjoy because the outcome is worth it for you...

None of us can decide what's best for you. You need to figure out your goals on your own.

sp332
People hate on web dev because it's so popular and the barriers to entry are pretty low, so everyone has experience with bad examples. But that doesn't really change the fact that it is super popular, and of course it's possible to do real engineering and make well-designed web sites.
n_ary
Thanks! Web-dev appears to be quite popular(number of jobs are staggering). I understand that this is a blanket term which includes anything from putting together static html,css to large scale e-commerce with complex and robust systems. I am just curious if when people say it is boring, they mean the basic parts or total as a whole.