It has made me more aware of my own ability. It is really easy to see yourself as better than you are when your peers aren't expert, but on Hacker News I don't

It has made me more aware of my own ability. It is really easy to see yourself as better than you are when your peers aren't expert, but on Hacker News I don't have that problem as so many of you are above me. This helps me to keep improving. It has also exposed me to concepts that I wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise. For example, I was introduced to Lisp through Clojure in part through this site. This exposure to other ideas is pretty awesome, since it helps me get a more nuanced picture of the tech world. In my C++ class I have a teacher who preaches object oriented programming as the most revolutionary idea since the wheel (which you can model with object oriented programming..) while online I'm exposed to the many advocates of functional and even event driven programming. I could give more examples. I think some people might find these things to be inconsequential. I mean, it isn't getting a job or a wife. However, these little things are constantly adding up to more intelligent decisions which are leading to other wise choices. I think it qualifies. I think that I can safely say that Hacker News has made me a slightly wiser person. Oh, and god willing I'll be able to get an internship through contacts on Hacker News. Wish me luck. =)