HN Explorer

Ask HN: Did reading HN bring anything valuable into your life?

105 points by mdoliwa ↗ HN
I'm trying to figure out my motivations behind specific online habits. One of them is reading HN.

I'm curious if reading HN bring anything valuable into your life or is it just pure entertainment. Did you learn something valuable, found a job, meet your wife. :)

93 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 138 ms ] thread
Kenji
I learned details about undefined behaviour in C++ on hackernews. This was a great help when I looked for a job. I learned about Rust, tensors, Docker, GDPR, Angular, and many many more things. Generally my tech knowledge has become much more well-rounded and broader, but also deeper in several areas.

I also learned a lot about Silicon Valley and the prevailing culture there, much to my dismay. Ok just kidding but my jokes triggered some people and I got hellbanned. Where I come from, people are much more chill and love to share good sarcastic jokes.

dang
You were banned not for "sarcastic jokes", but for taking HN threads into political flamewar—not what this site is for—and ignoring a large number of requests to stop. We told you we banned you and why. But you forgot to include links (https://hn.algolia.com/?query=linkless%20martyr&sort=byDate&...), and HN readers like to make up their own minds:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14960370

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14938232

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14748150

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14453935

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14101988

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14017705

I'm glad to see that your good comments are getting vouched for, though. That is the vouching system working as intended. If you decide you want to follow the guidelines and use HN fully as intended, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com.

[dead] shawn
Why was I banned? I have never been given a clear answer.

for taking HN threads into political flamewar—not what this site is for—and ignoring a large number of requests to stop.

This is an explanation. But your explanations to me always consist of "You're posting low quality stuff."

When I asked for an explanation as to why I was rate limited for this, you hellbanned me for three months. Are you sure this is reasonable?

I think the goal of the experiment was to see whether this increases the quality of my comments. But as you can see from my comment history, the ban has murdered it. I’d be happy to write good comments if they are welcome. There is simply no incentive to write.

In the meantime, what did the Lisp programmer say to his Apple cddr? “I wish I had a car.”

Here’s a better one. I appear to be facing the cons-eqences of my own actions.

[dead] shawwn
Ok, I’ve switched to this account in the meantime. I guess you can ban it too if you want. But I’m just going to write mostly about Lisp, so that would be unkind to the poor cons cells.

https://imgur.com/jNSnTf5 I made a book cover for an updated version of On Lisp I'm working on. I think it's time to revise and combine SICP + On Lisp for 2018. They were written in the 70's and the 90's, and no one gives them much attention anymore even though they present a lot of fascinating ideas.

[dead] Kenji
I see nothing wrong with any of the linked comments of mine, in fact comments like the first one still amuse me, and I still stand 100% behind comments like the fifth one, so I guess I deserve to remain banned for now.
throwaway5250
Mostly entertainment, but occasionally significant tech announcements or scuttlebutt.

Unfortunately, the moderation is mostly unhelpful, I read the raw "new" stream for the good stuff, even though it's noisy.

crobertsbmw
Every once in a while I get a new insight into something I want to learn, or a new book to read. It's also my primary news source. I'm sure I could find an alternative if HN shut down tomorrow, but it's pretty much how I know about what's going on in the world.
jawns
I found a job -- and a new career.

I was working as an editor at a metro newspaper, doing editing half the day and programming the other half. I saw a startup's job ad in a "Who's Hiring" thread and figured I'd check them out. I got hired soon after, and I've been with them for the past seven years!

I've also gotten decent exposure, and some helpful feedback, for some of my side projects that I've posted over the years.

And every once in a while there's a good opportunity to plug one of my books in a comment thread. By the way, have I mentioned what's hitting bookstores this April ... ?

steve_b
I received Experimenting with Babies as a gift and loved it. Looking forward to both Newlyweds and Preschoolers!
jbob2000
Yes. I love reading the comments, there is so much wisdom in this community.

Also, HN has shown me that I seem to have a rhythm to my mental health. I have a few good weeks where I post good comments and get upvoted, then I have a few bad weeks where I post crappy, poorly thought-out stuff and get downvoted. I'm working on it and apologies for using the community to track my personal well being.

yesenadam
Hehe funny. I found I got upvoted in the morning and downvoted at night.
yesimahuman
Reading HN back in college in '08 is what exposed me to startups in the first place and convinced me that starting my own was actually something I could do. I owe my entire career to the world that HN and the early community showed me. Maybe some of that has gotten lost in years since but I'm still indebted to it.
omot
Smarter, less-sensational form of news-entertainment. It's a good alternative to Fox News/ CNN, even better than NYT/WSJ. I also like the focus on tech/start ups, I feel like I'm being slightly more productive.
zeroego
Believe it or not, I found a very useful workout program in the comments on HN called Stronglifts 5X5. I kept seeing people talk about how great it was for beginners and I've failed to keep a regular weight lifting regime in the past due to feeling overwhelmed by having to memorize form for dozens of exercises. I've been doing Stonglifts for 2 months and I feel great.

The wiki and the app are super useful. I think the founder is a little bit of a salty dog, and his subscription model for the paid version of the app is just plain silly. That being said, he's given a lot away for free in terms of information and the free version of the app is still great, so for that I thank him and the people on HN for introducing it to me.

tarruda
Also been doing this program for almost a year. Before that, I've never managed to do regular exercises

What I like about it is that it requires very little equipment to fully implement the program. A couple of months ago I bought a power rack, barbell and bumper plates, and have been lifting from home (usually when I take a break from work in the middle of day)

zeroego
That sounds great! I wish I could also do that. Although, I do worry a lot about my form, so one advantage to going to a gym is asking the coaches to check mine and make sure it's good. How do you make sure you're lifting properly?
tarruda
I watched a lot of videos and also read a lot. Stronglifts 5x5 is actually a rip-off from "Staring Strength" so I recommend reading the original book (there's also some videos from the book's author on YouTube).

At first it is very easy to do the exercises in bad form, but as you progress in weights, you will "feel" if you are doing it incorrectly (and probably won't be able to progress much).

For example, as I progressed in squat weights, I started feeling knee pain. This should NEVER happen, if you are feeling knee pain, you are not activating the proper muscles. In general, if you are feeling any pain besides sore muscles, you're probably doing something wrong.

I started doing this program in a normal gym, but the coaches were terrible and couldn't offer any advice besides things like "this exercise is very dangerous, I don't recommend it". Yes, free weight can be dangerous, but it is also the most effective form of workout.

My general advice is: be conscious about form and always visualize in your head what you're going to do before starting a set. Also do regular reviews of your form (ask someone to record you on smartphone).

zeroego
This seems like great advice. Thank you. I ran into some resistance with doing free weights as well. Luckily there was a powerlifting gym in my area that had just opened up and free weights is about 90% of what they do there. Now I never have to wait for a squat rack!

When you say pain in your knees after squating, do you mean while doing the actual squat or afterwards? It’s funny you should mention that as an example as my knees have been feeling a little sore from Friday’s workout this weekend, which is a first for me.

prostoalex
Long time ago somebody somewhere on HN recommended Starting Strength.

I started researching, read the book, and then one day a certified gym opened in my area. Healthiest I've felt in years.

zeroego
I've been meaning to look into that program. I've heard a lot of good things about it here and various other places on the internet.
Apreche
Yes. I was once young and naive. I wanted to work for a cool startup or a big tech company like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, etc.

Thanks to HN I learned that silicon valley culture is toxic and all those companies and startups are full of scumbags and people who were as naive as I once was.

This saved me from making some very bad decisions.

This post is not sarcastic.

na85
HN has helped me realize the staggering extent of the ethics problem facing software as an industry, and realize that most people are not inclined to do anything about it.

This post is not sarcastic either.

gameswithgo
agreed. I've seen a lot of sociopath style thinking here. it is good to be aware that this is so common but it does make me sad.
toomuchtodo
Don't be sad. Better you know what you're up against, than not know.
mooseburger
Alternatively, it helps one see to what extent the tech-industry is a culture battleground, given the ongoing clashes of different moral systems.
mitjak
I'm not certain why you're getting downvoted, other than a difference of opinion which is a lame reason IMO.
gatsby
This seems bitter and certainly exaggerated. For one, the three companies that you listed have almost 1m employees and clearly not all of them are naive or scumbags.

Serious question: what did you decide to do instead of working at a startup or a big tech co, and why do you feel that your life now is better than it would have been otherwise?

I know that comes across a bit rude, but I'm genuinely curious.

toomuchtodo
I don't think it's exaggerated. Here's someone's experience as an early employee at PagerDuty, and I can find these examples all day long, both on HackerNews and Quora.

"Right, but OP said he was fired before he had options vested. "So he took 2% options at a 50% pay cut, but then got fired and that screwed him out of the 2% options before he could vest. Welcome to the valley." -- bb88

If you're a founder, you'll either fail, do well, or succeed spectacularly. If you're a startup employee, you won't do better (except in the rarest of circumstances) than you would somewhere else. Be a founder or a tech worker somewhere established with market rate pay, but do not be a startup employee (unless you're desperate for experience and literally have no other options).

My opinion and advice would change if the value proposition to startup employees changed substantially, putting them on par with founders.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18064745

carapace
I spent two years at one of those companies. It's bitter but I don't think it's exaggerated.

The folks there were about 10% scumbags, 30% jaded, and %60 naive. The scumbags cause the B.S, the jaded folk work around it, and the naive don't notice it.

The scumbags are a problem (at all levels... Project Dragonfly) but they tend to get weeded out if they make too much trouble, or too many mistakes.

The jaded folks don't really care about the B.S. around them, they just want that paycheck. The Stanley Hudson character on the American version of "The Office" is the archetype: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Hudson "This is a run-down-the-clock situation, just like upstairs." I worked next to that guy. His name was Deepak and he was slightly warmer, but otherwise he was pretty much the same guy.

The jaded people are useful if you don't let them waste their time. They do not care what they do, as long as they don't get in trouble, so they will happily spend weeks or months solving the wrong problem.

The naive folks seem innocent and sweet, and they are, but it's only their naivete that lets the whole thing keep running.

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[dead] nikkiofearth
This ^^. As a woman entering late into the field, it was often the comments on HN that guided me away from bad environments and tools and towards the like-minded data-driven places where I can thrive.
Real_S
I often find interesting research and/or tech advances outside of my immediate field of study. Also, articles on startups here may have influenced my journey as a founder ;)
jakecodes
I saw the Who's Hiring for GitLab in 2015, became an early employee, still here, not leaving. Best job ever.
sivaramom
I am curious about how to develop skills to get those jobs. The descriptions are far fetched
jamestimmins
I found a great freelance client, and on the more mundane level, I often find nuanced responses to typically hyperbolic news stories.
brixon
I learn a lot. I'm the one management goes to when people ask to use a new tool or process. 95% of the time I have already heard about it and have a basic understanding of it due to HN. I describe what it is, how it relates to other stuff we already use and if it has merit to try out. I look super smart when I can answer on the spot. HN is a good filter to focus me on tools and processes that people might actually use or want to use.
enimodas
I feel like I'm gaining less and less from it every year. Maybe that's me getting older and more experienced, more having seen everything already, or I am oversaturating myself, or the quality is declining.
schappim
I think overall diversity (not just gender/race) is an issue. The same domains/voices keep on popping up.
gatsby
I signed up for HN eight years ago yesterday.

Back then, I was working at a mind-numbing job in private equity and hating every minute of it.

HN encouraged me to move to SF, learn new skills, join a startup (where I met my wife), which led to an acquisition, which led to joining a YC company as an employee, and eventually starting my own company.

For a bunch of strangers, this community was, and still is life-changing.

Slackener
Wow that is a long time.

Congrat man.

vertline3
No not yet, but I hope it will soon :)
lochlan
Two companies ago I posted in the “Who is Hiring” thread. I ended up only getting a couple responses (while other channels got much more activity) but I ended up hiring one of them. Though I’ve since left that company, my former employee has become a good friend and confidant, and ended up following me to every company I’ve jumped to.
blakesterz
I learned about Docker and Ansible here, and we use them both in production every day.

I've used many comments and stories for material for presentations I've given.

I've learned so much I'm not sure I can list it all of the things!

sergiotapia
Here since July 2012. Nope - this site is just filler during slow days for me.
zafka
I have been reading HN for 8 years now. It is currently my number one source for news. I have learned many things, and I believe it is helping to prepare me for my next big adventure.
simplyinfinity
it gave me perspective and a broader visibility into other fields and in tech. 7 years later i still visit several times every day.
Slackener
It lets me discover things I would have never discovered.

All in all I am finding myself spending a lot of times on Hacker News

zwieback
Yes, as a news feed it's been interesting, especially to get a pulse of the tech community. The discussions, not so much, sometimes there's a useful link or quote but the back and forth is a bit strained and there's a severe lack of a sense of humor. I don't want it to turn into reddit but there are too many narrow-minded commenters.