HN Explorer

Ask HN: What do you wish you learned?

9 points by wowzer ↗ HN
If you could go back in time and learn about a certain topic or skill what would it be (assuming you'd be in the same profession you're in now). Please also mention what field you're in.

17 comments

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dalke
Organic chemistry. I now write chemistry software for a living.
a3n
Logarithms as practiced on the slide rule.

Latin.

Software dev and QA.

S4M
I took latin in middle and high school. I can't honestly think of any benefit it has given to me.
wowzer
That's really interesting. I would've thought it'd be useful trying to understand more complicated texts in college.
S4M
I am French, and honestly I can't remember a time when the knowledge of Latin helped me with something, and my undergraduate degree had a small component of literature (like two hours a week) so I had to study a bunch of classical French texts.

I think Latin might be interesting for someone who likes to study languages for the sake of learning them, or maybe for someone who is really into the Bible or the Roman history, but I can't think of much use of it. (You might be able to learn Spanish if you have studied Latin beforehand, but that time would have then better spent on learning Spanish).

a3n
I sometimes glimpse the history of the western world in words. Hibernate. Hibernia.

Stones disappear into the walls, but sometimes it's fun to see where they came from.

lsiunsuex
I don't think it's ever to late to learn something. I'm kinda on the fence about learning / trying to get into theoretical science and physics. I find a lot of the space science stuff happening lately to be very interesting and I'd love to try to prove (for example) black holes exist (or don't)

currently a programmer / sys admin.

lxfontes
UX / UI. Solid usability and design chops.

Dev / Ops at the moment.

xluffy
- DevOps

- Encrypt

- Programming

shoo 

    - business
    - negotiation
    - some basic undergrad chemistry & biology
wowzer
Wanted to wait on my own response so as not to influence peoples' responses. I'm a software developer and I've recently been thinking that one of the skills that I'd like to improve on is writing. Never late to work on, but it would've been great to put a little more effort into it earlier in life.
JohnLen
Mobile apps marketing. The effective approach, channels and strategy.
lfx
- Chemistry - Third language like Russian or German. - More economics.

I'm in software dev and QA.

GotAnyMegadeth
I am an RTL Engineer

I wish I had learnt a foreign language, preferably either German, or one with a cool not Latin script, like Russian

auxym
I wish I had explored more artsy endeavours in high school and college, instead of being such a nerd focused on only science. Litterature, drama, creative writing, music.
mknits
Learning a foreign language like Russian or French. Having good negotiation skills. Alternative medicine. UI/UX Design. Encryption.
backend-dev-33
I expected to see here things like negotiations and literature.

And, absolutely unexpected, I saw "Russian". 3 times.

Would you please explain?

P.S. I'm a native Russian speaker.