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Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?
What are some skills (technical or not) you think someone should consider acquiring in 2020?
- haidrali 7y agonot sure about others but I am looking forward to invest time and energy in video editing
- 1337biz 7y agoThought about doing the same. What's your plan to learn it?
- alasano 7y agoI'm helping my girlfriend produce videos, usually for social media and such. In the process I'm learning a ton about my camera, lighting and also software. Currently using DaVinci resolve which is amazing and free. I think as in other things, just trying a project and learning as you go is the quickest way to get started.
- 1337biz 7y agoAh yes, played around with DaVinci resolve a while ago as well. Guess I have to work through a few more tutorials. I sill don't get the lut concept and find it much fast to just upload them on my phone and run the video through Vsco.
- haidrali 7y agoI am wathcing davinci resolve youtube tutorial series to start with.
- hijinks 7y agoKubernetes.. almost all the companies are on it or looking at it in one way or another.
- yawgmoth 7y agoI like Docker, I like microservices, but I feel like I'm just not excited about Kubernetes itself. There seems to be a "bullshit complexity" that people add to it that I really don't think is going to stick. But, I really do like the "GitOps" experience. A merge to a master branch is a deploy. Should I just get over this perception and learn Kubernetes, or could I find joy and professional usefulness out of another tool?
- vpEfljFL 7y agoDon't get why you got downvoted. Kubernetes is the right tool for some type of issues. If you want to host low complexity infrastructure like a simple website but still want to use containers go with nomad / docker swarm.
- collyw 7y agoIts over used right now. Probably why the downvotes were given.
- unnouinceput 7y agoDon't worry, it will pass, just like 2 years ago all the rage was blockchain.
- cercatrova 7y agoYou can get the same GitOps approach with something like Dokku, which is just one container I believe. It acts like a self hosted Heroku.
- auspex 7y agoKubernetes has some complexity but with some time investment it becomes clear. You should learn this. Almost every company moving to the cloud with containers is leveraging it. I'd start with something simple like a GKE cluster on Google Cloud. Deploy a website using nginx and go from there!
- jimbokun 7y ago
- ArtWomb 7y ago"eBPF is the New Linux" http://www.brendangregg.com/bpf-performance-tools-book.html http://www.brendangregg.com/bpf-performance-tools-book.html
- SirHound 7y agoAttention
- rozularen 7y agoDevOps trend is only going up with new tools emerging everyday...
- bbody 7y agoI think improving communication skills, particularly technical topics to non-technical people will always be advantageous regardless of where your career takes you in tech.
- JJseiko 7y ago"How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie is very good. The title is absolutely terrible, but the content is as good as the title is terrible (in my opinion at least)
- throwawa66 7y agoLearn some scheme and go through SICP. Real eye opener!
- thedayisntgray 7y agoMarketing is a big one for me. Building a great product means nothing if you can’t reach your target audience. And I don’t mean learning how to used Facebook or Google to run ads, I mean the theory behind marketing. I would like to read more books similar to the 22 immutable laws of marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout
- al_ 7y agoAgree, how do you plan to go about it as a developer (I presume)?
- zentropia 7y agoI recommend watching thefutur (Chris Do) youtube channel. A lot of useful info.
- nojvek 7y agoStarted an small solo business, would love to be well read. More book recommendations are welcome.
- rchaud 7y agoThere is no universal theory behind marketing, it's going to be different depending on the customer demogrpahics, the product type, the part of the world you're in, etc. You might actually learn more by running a Google ads/FB ad campaign for a side project. Put some money on the line and I can almost guarantee you'll be more committed to learning than if you were just reading a book.
- patwalls 7y agoYou might like marketingexamples.com
- kerkeslager 7y agoStarting conversations with strangers. Squat and deadlift. Eating healthier. Doing something kind for someone else every day. Honesty. Listening to people you disagree with. Driving safer (this is the most dangerous thing we do on a regular basis). Meditation.
- heinrichhartman 7y agodeadlift's are quite dangerous for the untrained. Start with "Fix Rounded Shoulders" and "Fix Anterior Pelvic Tilt" if you have not already done so. Plenty of great advice on YouTube on those topics.
- dangus 7y agoThat’s why I’d say to get trained. Trainers are worth the money. There are also more economical options like small group training classes.
- Dumblydorr 7y agoI train deadlifts by using the lightest possible weights and doing 2 sets of practice reps. Focus on keeping the spine stable, use legs to push the weight up. Don't add weight until you video record yourself and ensure your back and hips are on point. Back needs to not bend, and hips need to thrust forward, bar path vertical, close to the body as that's our center of mass. Ensure your sternum stays on the same plane as your stomach and neck, keep the upper back from rounding.
- davedx 7y agoIf you're starting out doing deadlifts then I'm almost certain you're at a gym where there's someone experienced enough to show you how to do a deadlift.
- texasbigdata 7y agoEven then not necessarily sufficient. Source: worked with a trainer on this for months after pulling my back at a crossfit years earlier and still having lingering effects. Sitting a ton creates, or can create, large hip inflexibility, tight hamstrings, etc. If budget and space isn't a material constraint, get a hexbar... it will lessen some of the impact on your back. Deadlifting (and squatting) is arguably the most important full body exercise you can do, and the staple of every single marvel super hero body transformation, but the risk threshold is fairly high for a beginner. If you want to stretch, try ROMWOD. A bit intense but likely the most impactful in terms of results.
- nikanj 7y agoIntrospection, communication, soft skills
- adamnemecek 7y agoRust. WebGPU (the WGPU implementation is nice https://github.com/gfx-rs/wgpu-rs https://github.com/gfx-rs/wgpu-rs). Also ECS.
- shaggie76 7y agoWhen I read the latest "who is hiring" post I was overwhelmed by the amount of Python listed; I've always used PERL but I seem to be the only one at the office left who can.
- unnouinceput 7y agoSo you're becoming a niche developer. Congrats, now is time to shine and rack in the big dough. While everybody flocks to Python, go search jobs for Perl and ask for big buck. I bet there are plenty of legacy projects for Perl.
- dylan604 7y agoI would not be surprised to find that many of those new Python gigs are rewriting the legacy Perl.
- NiceUsername 7y agoThere are at least 3 somewhat big companies that have huge Perl codebases and a lot of Perl developers (>2k each) - Booking.com, Ebay, PayPal. Source: worked in one of the companies above myself till this year. I am pretty sure Perl developers cannot ask for big bucks just yet, perhaps in 10 years?
- collyw 7y agoI moved from python to Perl in 2011. I miss writing Perl but career options are a lot better using Python - there are more of them and the money is better.
- pikzel 7y agoBecause of ML...
- ezzzzz 7y agoInterestingly enough, one of the reasons I'm learning Python is because I don't know Perl, which is used at my workplace. My experience is that Python works well as a 'glue' language for doing systems things. EDIT: I should mention, I'm not just refusing to learn Perl, I'm just choosing to use Python where Perl would have been used before. No other Devs on our team are Perl experts, all our Perl code is Legacy.
- rubenabergel 7y agoThe ability to be true to yourself in social interactions! youtube.com/c/socialanimal
- probably_wrong 7y agoIs this your channel, or are you affiliated with it in some way?
- rubenabergel 7y agoThe ability to be true to yourself in social situations! -> https://www.youtube.com/c/socialanimal https://www.youtube.com/c/socialanimal We are surrounded by opportunities for real human connections Every day, we go through dozens of situations that encourage light, authentic interactions with the people around us. All these moments when someone is next to you, and YOU feel like you want to interact… but you don’t …you are working at coffee shop and there someone next to you. You share a smile, you look at each other a few times, you want to say something… but instead you convince yourself that you are too busy and leave wondering what if… …you are standing in line, someone in front of you looks cool, you like their vibe, you could give them a compliment but you are not sure, what are they gonna think, whats the point anyway… whatever… …you go out to a bar to meet people. They are people all around you, you feel tonight could be fun but instead you order a drink and talk to you friends all night… Opportunities are all around us, but instead of diving into the moment, we hesitate… We second guess ourselves and overthink our intentions until before we know it, the moment passes us by. Maybe we make up an excuse why it didn’t happen, or maybe we just accept the fact that we are just not “that kind of person” Either way, we censor ourselves, a moment here, a moment there, constantly moving further away from the connections we so desperately crave and building comfort on the sidelines of the life we could have. These interactions could lead to our next friendship, job or romantic encounter but the most important realization is that its not about the outcome, it’s about you. The real question is who would you be today if you had gone for it even half the time in the last few years? What you lose is not only the moment and the potential connection, but the personal evolution that this moment would have brought you. We are so focused on the outcome that we forget the initial intent of expression, the desire to say something, we forget about the process… I used to judge my interaction on the outcome, I made a friends, I got her number, I went on a date etc… until I realized all this is irrelevant. The only question that matter is: “Did I express myself or did I censor myself” Why? Because overtime, being committed to expressing yourself will simply give you more experience. You’ll be more comfortable expressing your truth, you’ll meet more people, you’ll just have so much more experience which will impact how you relate to people, how you express yourself… which in turn impact your new interactions. I realized that I should be able to talk to anyone with the same ease and presence I have when I am with my best friends. All the frictions you can experience are just opportunities to better understand yourself and your perception. Interacting with people is first and foremost about you. It’s about expressing yourself, the rest takes care of itself. The only thing you need is to let your true self shine through. That’s what people want to see, and it’s the only way find real people to share your life with. -> https://www.youtube.com/c/socialanimal https://www.youtube.com/c/socialanimal
- throwawa66 7y agoHaving less stuff both phisically as in stuff at home and mentally as in single down on fewer things to pursue.
- bloogsy 7y agoI want to second this. Decluttering is definitely a huge way to improve your life, and physically removing things from your home also helps to removes mental distractions. I made a conscious effort to really consider what I need before purchasing things over the last 6 months, as too often over the years it felt like I was drowning in a sea of crap! Sell your old unwanted items on ebay/gumtree/wherever and save that money. 'Tidy desk, tidy mind' isn't just an old wives tale.
- neivin 7y agoIs this basically the Konmari method? Does this spark joy?
- yaman12 7y agoLearn a another human language. You don’t have to be good at it or even able to converse. Languages are systems of thinking as much as they are systems of communication. Some thoughts only make sense in a given language! The process of learning a language builds cognitive skills and perhaps fights cognitive decline. If you have absolutely no “ear” for human language start with Esperanto and work your way to additional languages from there.
- silicon2401 7y agoAs a fellow language lover I second the suggestion, but not the reasoning. What's your evidence for "some thoughts only make sense in a given language"? From what I've read, this isn't agreed upon in the linguistic community. As for Esperanto, it's heavily biased towards Western speakers, so it wouldn't necessarily be easy to start with for someone whose native language is non-Western.
- BlueTemplar 7y agoOn the most superficial level: It's easier to talk about snow or numbers in languages that have more words for these concepts than in languages that have less.
- bluGill 7y agoLanguages with lots of words for snow tend to be used places where there is lots of snow to talk about. Languages with few words for snow tend to be used in places that don't get much snow and thus don't need to talk about it. In short, if you need to talk about any subject learn the local language (whatever that is) so you can talk to the locals about the topic.
- isaachier 7y agoHaving recently listened to John McWhorter's lectures on the history of human language, I was surprised to find out that there is no reliable evidence for the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (that language affects thought). The Wikipedia article on linguistic relativism states: > The strongest form of the theory is linguistic determinism, which holds that language entirely determines the range of cognitive processes. The hypothesis of linguistic determinism is now generally agreed to be false.
- mkettn 7y agoUnderstanding statistics (and how to cheat with them).
- wespiser_2018 7y agoIMO, the key to understanding statistics is learning how to quantify uncertainty over datasets. The key to cheating is to either downplay, (or overplay), the interpretation of this uncertainty as it pertains to the conclusions you can draw.
- atyppo 7y agoCan you elaborate what you mean by this? Are you referring to something ethical?
- mkettn 7y agoI see a lot phrases like "studies show that" these days. Somehow in our science-based, sophisticated society everybody likes to throw studies at each other to prove their own narrative. But I don't understand them. I am not that statistical illiterate, I know the difference of mean, mode and median and stdev (and when to use what). When I dig deeper into one study I'll find hypothesis testing methods like p-values, r^2 and whatever ("our hypothesis was proven because p > 0.9"). But here my knowledge ends. If p>0.9 is that good? or did they just tune the data to get that high p-values? or is the whole method garbage and the study could not get replicated with the same p value? And I want to know how to cheat with statistics, because since these studies are made by people, whom might get paid to prove a certain point (e.g. "My institute gets paid by Mars, hence I'll downplay the effects on health of sugar in daily nutrition and amplify the positives effects of <some chemical found in chocolate>"). or they just want to show significance for their research, because they worked the last 10 years on it and it's "their baby".
- Andromeda88 7y agoWhere to start?
- mkettn 7y ago
- softwaredoug 7y ago- Speaking and writing skills - Listening and soft skills - how your business operates so you can have a bigger contribution - learn to get to know your colleagues as people - learn how to present technical topics to decision makers - learn to let go (and empathize with the other POV) if a decision doesn’t go your way
- roland35 7y agoHere is my personal list as an embedded developer: Embedded Linux: seems to be a growing field in embedded engineering as single board Linux computers are getting smaller and cheeper Amazon IoT core: there are a lot of capabilities to understand! Luckily Amazon does seem to have some training available. Advanced C debugging and building: with embedded c it is pretty easy to let the IDE hold your hand when building and debugging, but I would like to learn more about makefiles, linker scripts, and scripting gdb for advanced debugging.
- unnouinceput 7y agoYou mean Raspberry Pi? While Raspbian is a variant of Debian Linux, you can also install Android on RPi and Windows IoT. Which means you can definitely use your normal mobile and/or desktop environment for targeting RPi devices as well. Good luck.
- ryneandal 7y agoI'm fascinated with how many embedded linux emails I've received lately. Definitely seems like the field is growing like mad.
- loriverkutya 7y agoplay the bagpipe
- arexxbifs 7y agoIf you don't already know how to, learn to cook. Start slow with the basics and work your way up. Try new things and combinations. Nothing is quite as satisfying as being able to create something delicious from the remnants in a friend's pantry, or preparing a delicious meal for someone you love, or a date, or just yourself.
- miganga 7y agoLearn to accept death and read the myth of sysphus if you haven't read.
- wry_discontent 7y agoread more philosophy in general
- bayareabronco 7y agoSurvival skills. Global warming, unprecedented fires, coronavirus, rise of fascism, and on and on we go.
- unnouinceput 7y agoyou'll die within a month if modern society collapses. Just focus on making a difference on current society instead of becoming a fatalist.
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoSome will. Some of us already live relatively independent lives. Not a lot, to be sure. And it can hardly be done in a city.
- unnouinceput 7y agoAgree, some will. But none of HN crowd. We'll all die, me, you, him.
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoWell, not me. That's my point. I live in a well-stocked rural setting with independent food, water, energy.
- unnouinceput 7y agowalls? moat? traps? guns and a lot of ammo? because you answer "no" to any of that, your well-stocked rural setting going to be visited by the hoards fleeing from city and depleted in a week, leaving you to die of starvation in next 3. So that month I was talking about, still going to happen
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoWell, not to reveal too much, but we're not going to be giving anything away to the 'hoards'.
- bitexploder 7y agoI will share one that has served me well for over 20 years: learn RDBMS and SQL. Learn normal forms, good schema design, and how to write complex queries. NoSQL adopters often avoided schemas like the plague and ended up with unmaintainable messes after a few years. I have seen more than a few NoSQL -> SQL conversions by now. Data is the most important thing in your app. Give it a great design. Plus databases like Postgres have key/value and JSON data types. Once you are sure that is what you need it’s still there. Rob Pikes 5th rule of programming: Data dominates.
- collyw 7y agoAgreed, though interviews seem to focus on trendy framework of the month plus some random algorithm that I learned 20 years ago then forgot as I never needed it.
- bitexploder 7y agoSame as it has always been. Experienced teams will always value the right things. Just have to learn when to play the game and what game to play :)
- Mister_Snuggles 7y agoTo expand on this, learn about some of the neat things you can do within a SELECT statement. Learn how the JOIN syntax works[0], and how to use OUTER JOINs. Learn about WINDOW[1] functions and what kind of problems they can solve. In particular, many reporting needs can probably be solved with WINDOW functions instead of tracking state as you loop through a result set in application code. Learn about Common Table Expressions[2]. While these usually aren't necessary, they can make your queries a LOT more readable. The thing about learning this type of stuff is that it doesn't matter what database you learn on, you can use it on virtually any SQL database (possibly requiring minor syntax changes). [0] https://www.postgresql.org/docs/12/tutorial-join.html https://www.postgresql.org/docs/12/tutorial-join.html and https://www.postgresql.org/docs/12/queries-table-expressions.html#QUERIES-FROM https://www.postgresql.org/docs/12/queries-table-expressions... [1] https://www.postgresql.org/docs/12/tutorial-window.html https://www.postgresql.org/docs/12/tutorial-window.html [2] https://www.postgresql.org/docs/12/queries-with.html https://www.postgresql.org/docs/12/queries-with.html
- himynameisdom 7y agoEmotional intelligence. Specifically: self awareness, self management, social awareness, and relationship management.
- shouldimove2 7y agoAny recommendations for material to read on those topics?
- fbrncci 7y agoSales and marketing.
- smabie 7y agoLearn an array language like APL, J, or k/q. I’d personally recommend k/q. It’s not as strange as APL or J and pretty easy to learn. Writing in q is the most fun I’ve had in a long-time. And the code and language is beautiful, I love everything about it.
- mcv 7y agoGraph Databases. Most companies have problems where graph DBs are a great solution, but people who have experience with them are rare.
- maayank 7y agoDo they though? Haven’t seen many companies with graph problems at such scale that require a new solution integrated, leaving aside the social network trope
- mcv 7y agoYou don't need scale to make graph databases useful. As soon as relationships between items are more important than the data within a table, graph databases make your data easier to navigate than joins upon joins.
- balfirevic 7y agoIs it so substantially easier to justify keeping (and maintaining) another copy of your data in the second database? Or, alternatively, to keep your data split between several different databases and invest all the required effort to keep them consistent? Sometimes it is, of course. But not often.
- maayank 7y agoI feel like I’m taking imagination-b-gone pills. The only potential uses off the top of my head that I’ve witnessed are credentials management and financial instruments arbitrage, and in both cases it was solved well by other measures. I’m sure there are projects where it’s useful, but not “every company” useful like SQL or even a server supervisor framework. I would be happy to be proven wrong.
- mcv 7y agoI've got a friend who claims that nearly everything you can do with SQL, you can do easier with a graph database. I'm not sure that's true; as long as you need only one or two tables at a time, and/or automatic validation against the database schema is vitally important for you (that's probably the big one), then SQL databases are probably still better. But as soon as relations start to matter, and the number of joins in your queries starts to grow, a graph database becomes much nicer to use.
- vasco 7y agoSome less usual things people do that I think are very high value but boring (hence why they're not usually done): - Understanding taxes, the importance of savings and baseline personal finance literacy. - Reading the political programs of a few parties running for elections in you country - Reading a few yearly report / financial statements for a public company, an NGO/non-profit/state agency/local government and trying to understand them - Reading a few top research papers in a field you're interested in and work through them
- aratakareigen 7y ago> Reading a few top research papers in a field you're interested in and work through them Why reading a research paper rather than the more standard approach of reading a textbook?
- jimbokun 7y agoRecent research papers are the stuff that hasn't made it into textbooks yet.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- balfirevic 7y ago> Reading the political programs of a few parties running for elections in you country I too recommend reading more fiction in 2020! (Sorry, I was just a little bit struck with how little this would matter in some countries, mine included).
- brlewis 7y agoPolitical parties are highly skilled at telling people what they want to hear. Reading their programs will keep you current on what people want to hear.
- rchaud 7y agoIf it doesn't matter in your country, you could look at the voting records of the people running for leadership positions, and thereby separate their words from their actions.
- kruasan 7y agoLearn how to make more friends. Communicate. Learn how to talk with people, how to be adaptive and contextual. Learn about yourself as much as you can, either via introspection or from other people. Learn what your values are, and what makes them satisfied. "You are your own ally, when you make yourself an enemy even though you should trust yourself, you become the victim hit the hardest". Learn agency. Remember that you are a person, and you can take initiative. Learn that another person's behavior toward you is just a reflection of their relationship with themselves rather than a statement about your value as a person. Learn to genuinely tell people that you love them. People are precious. Last of all, actually learn how to use knowledge of all of the above in your situation.
- snarf21 7y agoI've come to believe that introspection is the one true real superpower. Here is an exercise for the reader. Every year on your birthday, write down what you "know" to be true about life, work, love, politics, money, meaning, happiness, environment, etc. and then seal it. Now read what you wrote last year and see how dumb you used to be.
- bryanmgreen 7y agoRight now I’m completing an “In My 20’s” document tracking numbers of big things (is: how many countries visited, music festivals attended, pieces of furniture built, jobs had, dollars saved, etc), feelings, observations, lessons and questions. It’s pretty powerful. I can track my progress, see the speedbumps, but I think the biggest thing is that despite having all this data, it is not predictive. I have zero idea what my thirties will look like. Will my goals and priorities change? If so, in what direction and how much? The biggest takeaway for me in this process is really wrapping my head around how I have no control over tomorrow, only the actions I take today, and that whatever happens, that too shall pass.
- 38932ur98u 7y agoI'm interested in this. Do you have a template?
- Jahak 7y ago- Learn C - Learn Reactive Programming - Learn Linux Kernel https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/latest/source https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/latest/source - Learn DevOps - Learn Distributed systems
- eralps 7y agoUsing search engines efficiently not just Google. Tracking your online privacy and personal information.
- Jenz 7y ago> Using search engines efficiently not just Google For this I suggest taking a look at Gwerns Internet Search Tips: www.gwern.net/Search
- RocketSyntax 7y ago- Statistics - Spiking neural nets - Convolutional neural nets - Paragliding - Mountain biking
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- friedman23 7y agoMachine learning. I used to think it wasn't worth learning but I was recently convinced otherwise. ML is one of the few skills that can enable an individual to make a 10x change to a business.
- dajo 7y agoWhat convinced you? I'm also in the skeptical bracket.
- friedman23 7y agoSomeone at my company drove a 10% increase in revenue by coming up with a new way to apply a model. There is nothing I can do short of creating a new product in my free time (which at that point I should be doing that for myself) that could drive that kind of revenue increase.
- vekker 7y agoLearn to dream again. Nightly dreaming that is, not the wishing-kind. Specifically, lucid dreaming, i.e. being conscious and awake while physically asleep in the REM state.
- rafaelvasco 7y agoThis. With training you can dream without sleeping. Once you're sufficiently skilled at meditation and visualization you just close your eyes, concentrate and the images start appearing. I can do it to an extend and it's amazing;
- Blaiz0r 7y agoHow do you get started?
- akeck 7y agoIn my personal experience, a good place to start is knowing your personal sleep length need (long, medium, short - note this may change over time). I found that I don't dream when I sleep under 7h or so. So to get substantial dreams I need 7.5-9+ hours. Also, bedroom air quality can be a factor. A HEPA filter next to your bed with a new filter can improve dreaming and sleep quality in general.
- TechBro8615 7y agoI recently stopped smoking weed for the first time in a long time. After about a week I was having incredibly vivid dreams. I never even realized I had missed them.
- chrissnell 7y agoSome suggestions: - Build something. A new workbench for your office. Fix up an old car. Build a pull-up bar in your garage. Use your hands, cut some wood and metal, and treat yourself to a new tool or two. Do this with every project and you will have a nice tool collection before you know it. - Learn to take pictures on a manual camera. You can do this with a modern automatic camera if it has a manual mode. Learn about ISO, f-stop, and shutter speed and the interplay of those three variables. There's a fantastic multi-part tutorial on Reddit that can help you learn these things. I don't have the link handy but you can Google for it. - Set a goal of cooking for yourself at least two nights a week and eating leftovers two nights a week. Buy a binder and some clear inserts and start to put together your own book of favorite recipes. - Take a nightly walk. - Listen to classical music. This one didn't come to me until my 40s but I finally realized: there's a reason that this music has been popular for 300 years. Opera is great, too. Listen to Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro". Download the KUSC app and listen to the amazing Metropolitan Opera broadcast every Saturday morning at 10 AM Pacific.
- inform880 7y agoThe cooking thing really hits home. I work in a high stress, banking environment at a fortune 500 company, and I eat out most days. I know theoretically how to cook, but between the time it takes to shop, cook, and clean, AND I'm doing well financially it's so hard to convince myself to cook. Living alone doesn't help either.
- a_bonobo 7y agoIf you have the money (and it sounds like you have), there are quite a few recipe box companies which send you boxes of ingredients and recipes every few days. It's a nice stepping stone towards fully cooking for yourself as it cuts out the shopping/deciding part.
- inform880 7y agoAnyone have suggestions for these?
- forgotmypw 7y agoMeditation and emotional control How to cultivate empathy
- maayank 7y agoWould personally be happy to see more skills of which the importance has rapidly risen in 2020 or expected to rise. Exercise has always been important. So has connecting with people or marketing.
- jccalhoun 7y agoCritical thinking. Media literacy. Healthy skepticism. The ability to admit you were wrong.
- grouchoboy 7y agoFor non English speakers, English. For English speakers, learn at least a second language.
- alasano 7y agoNo matter what you choose to learn, it's good to learn how to learn. You have the free "Learning how to learn" course on coursera : https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn And I'm currently reading a book called "Ultralearning" by a guy called Scott H Young who I imagine is the type of person to be on hacker news and be like "Hey, thanks for recommending my book!" https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/ultralearning/ https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/ultralearning/ The book so far is great, there are certainly some principles which may seem obvious but in reality they need to be acknowledged and used effectively. Overall it's a clear read and gives a pretty clear way to get started on learning a ton of things in a short amount of time. No shortcuts though, still a ton of effort involved.
- tlapinsk 7y agoHighly recommend the "Learning How to Learn" Coursera course. I took it late last year and believe it is a must for anyone interested in continual learning. It can be cheesy at times and seem like common sense, but the material is highly applicable to your daily life.
- jlelonm 7y agoWhat % of Learning How To Learn is covered by Ultra Learning?
- yters 7y agoLearn about intelligent design theory and how it impacts biology and computer science. Google papers by Dembski for the mathematical underpinning. I recommend his papers 'search for a search' and 'specification: the pattern that signifies intelligence'. Read Winston Ewert's paper 'Dependency Graph of Life' for an amazing application of CS to bioinformatics, and 'algorithmic specified complexity in the game of life' for a fun application to artificial life. Read 'Evolutionary Informatics' for a very accessible overview of their work.
- iron0013 7y agoYou’re suggesting that OP devote his or her time to learning pseudo-science. Hard to think of anything that could possibly have less value than that.
- yters 7y agoHave you read these papers, or are you just repeating something you read online?
- iron0013 7y agoI mean, I haven’t watched every 9-hour-long flat earther video on YouTube either, but I’m still pretty certain that the world’s not flat.
- yters 7y agoIs flat earth promoted by mathematicians and scientists with PhDs from Princeton and Cambridge, and published in mainstream IEEE journals? At any rate, you seem to be saying you have not read any of the relevant papers. I encourage you to look at least at one of the papers I mention (not just the criticisms others have written), and make up your own mind as to its validity. Most are free PDFs hosted online, and are not very long reads. The game of life paper is the most accessible, IMO. You can even reproduce the results yourself if you become interested enough. At that point, you'll be in a better position to dismiss the work. Even though I agree with you on flat earth being a pseudoscience, I have at least read some of their arguments to see what they are claiming. Same with 9/11 truthers and holocaust denialists. I at least read their arguments, so I can debunk their arguments myself. There is always the possibility that some position I vehemently disagree with might be correct.
- saadalem 7y agoSense-making. Social intelligence. Novel and adaptive thinking. Cross-cultural competency. Design mindset. Virtual collaboration.
- have_faith 7y agoThe question is very board and most responses seem overly specific and only useful by chance (not to dig at anyone trying to be helpful). Spend more time doing what makes you happy. Learn some things that make you useful to others and learn to identify what both of those things are. It is unlikely that global technical trends, fads and HN users preferences will be the answer to your local problems. If pushed for something specific that is broad enough to apply to most technical people I would say learn how big picture pieces fit together in your niche. I'm a front-end dev so this means for me to learn networking, dns, packets, tcp, etc. Get a broad understanding of the big picture stuff in your niche. It often pays off.
- agentultra 7y agoKeep a journal. If you are in a technical role and you lead or design systems consider learning a model checker like TLA+ or Alloy; or a proof checker like Agda, Coq, or Lean. The extra clarity is worth it on its own and you might end up finding and fixing vulnerabilities or performance problems that save people a bunch of money and headaches. Learn strategies for improving your emotional intelligence.
- ptero 7y agoInterpersonal skills. Those are usually in very short supply at tech companies. This wide spectrum with many sweet spots. For example, if you can learn what a developer is doing without pissing them off or boring them out of their minds and translate from techno-babble to humanspeak and back you can quickly make yourself appreciated in many tech companies. Time management skills. Learn to rest, really rest so that you feel good, curious and re-energized after it (probably means turning your phone off as a first step). My 2c.
- posedge 7y agoCurious, what else would you recommend to really rest?
- Infinitesimus 7y agoMy 2 cents: 1. Have days where you sleep early and wake up without an alarm 2. Spend some time doing a whole lot of nothing periodically. Sit and think, read something you've put off, draw, daydream, whatever 3. Remind yourself that most things aren't urgent. Maybe turn off notifications for a stretch or time These things are pretty difficult to do when you have dependents or a very busy schedule but I've found it so rewarding in the pockets I've been able to get
- ShteiLoups 7y agoRelax with intent. Relax with the sole purpose of relaxing. Meditation would be the extreme case, I think. No scrolling, no consuming media. Do something that involves little mental or physical capacity, but provides some holisitic benefit. Things that make you feel good on the whole. In summary, do something where the point is to do it in order to relax, and not for any other point at all. Remove all mental load of stress about outcomes and instead immerse yourself in the present moment of relaxation. Some methods that seem to work for myself and others are a good walk or a journaling session. A physical notebook to write in can be a bit more holistic than typing an entry into a keyboard. It can be hard to start, I just start with "captains log", then a date, and then my stream of thoughts. Playing with small manipulatives can be good fun as well. Lego, K'nex, etc. I hear some people like painting models. Playing an instrument is also fantastic. Guitar is absurdly simple to learn the basics of (a servicable one can be had at a pawn shop or amazon for reasonably cheap), and then it's just a matter of grabbing some sheet music and practicing. If you let go of how good you actually sound, and instead assign value to the act of practicing, it is a great way to refresh. Another great way is to read. A good book and a cup of tea is a very relaxing experience. I'll note that this should be pleasure reading, and not technical reading.
- james_impliu 7y ago- First-principles based reading. I fell into the easy trap of just reading business books that cover tactics. Read biographies of people who've accomplished a lot. Read how computers and electronics work at a more fundamental level, not just how to code. Basically, just apply some conscious thought to the kinds of books you read, and don't think of books as an instruction manual for right now. They're part of your general education. - If you're a developer, become friends with the sales team at your work. Seeing things through a less technical lens will make you much more effective. - Learn the mental skill of endurance. If you can walk 2 miles, try 20. Once you can cycle 20, you can do 100. The difference is mental more than physical.
- sanderjd 7y agoI have a lot of trouble finding first principles resources. For instance, I'm trying to build up my expertise in business intelligence / analytics. I have found it basically impossible to find anything that isn't at the "for dummies" and / or temporarily dominant technology level. Do you have strategies for finding these kinds of books?
- akeck 7y agoI once rowed a "half marathon" on an erg (~21km) on a whim (with a "slow and steady" strategy). It was amazing to me how much of finishing it was mental - especially the last third.
- tekkk 7y agoSinging, improv and performing in general. It will pay dividends in everything you do, not only just relationships and holding powerpoint presentations. Once you do it long enough your personality starts to shift more towards your "performer personality" and your manner of speech, way of making up conversations becomes a natural part of you. I recommend this especially to those who suffer from social anxiety. It is the ultimate treatment that no psychologist, no drugs can offer
- samelawrence 7y ago+1 for improv as some of the most excellent social training of my life. Really changed a lot about how I feel in front of groups, meeting new teams, and even in 1:1 conversations.
- vijucat 7y agoSleeping. Your health, your immune system, acuity, your very sanity, depend on it. This often means uncomfortable decisions such as saying "No" more often. Deep Sleep of Your Neural Network, not Deep Learning of Artificial Neural Networks, is the new craze, hopefully :-)
- bluGill 7y agoThere are more good answers to this question than there is time. Since prophecy doesn't seem to be a skill you can learn you will need to make some educated guesses. Dead skills are still in demand for someone, but if everybody learns them it was a waste of time for most - unless they did it purely from interest in the subject and not usefulness.
- teraku 7y agoIn the light of this comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE
- thrownaway954 7y agolearn that it is OK to ask for help and admit that you have a problem. it doesn't make you weak to admit that need help in what ever area of your life and you will have more support than you will ever know. the first step is on you to ask though.
- nonseobeliever 7y agoI challenge you to build a model RC airplane. You'll use your intelligence, hands and learn from material resistance to aerodynamics, airfoil design and power management.
- geocrasher 7y agoLearn how to provide proper customer service. It mostly comes down to having a form of empathy that isn't really empathy: Understanding perspective and motivation. If you understand anyone's perspective and motivation, you're in a much better position to help them. Also learn who your customer is (It's everyone) and learn how to listen to them. It doesn't matter if you're a dev who spends 2/3 of the day behind 10 screens with earbuds-a-blasting. Whoever is commissioning you or motivating you to sit there and code is your customer. Treat them like it, and do it for them. On the other hand if you have a job where you deal with the public, it's more direct- but the same principals apply. With technical skills becoming easier to come by, set yourself apart by being a customer service pro. It makes all the difference in the world.
- davidajackson 7y agoLearn to play an instrument and improvise on it if you enjoy it. It's a talent you can share with other people.
- komali2 7y agoI pirated Ableton a while back and turns out after actually learning how to use it through the in software tutorials and a couple YouTube videos, I really enjoy producing music. Starting out can be as simple as laying out beats which is very entertaining. They do a 30 day trial but I don't think that's enough time to figure out if you wanna drop 800$ on it. They have some 100$ package that in hindsight probably had everything you need if you buy serum as well (another 100$ iirc).
- 87zuhjkas 7y agoCategory theory
- collyw 7y agoAnswers like this might be useful if you explained where it is useful and how it might benefit people.
- temporama1 7y agoPorn
- ravenstine 7y agoHere are my suggestions: - Learn to fast. I'm not talking about intermittent fasting, one meal a day, or fake fasting like juice fasting. I'm talking not eating for 48 hours, 72 hours, or more. With electrolytes, it becomes a lot easier than you think. Once you can comfortably achieve 72 hours of no eating, it will seriously change your perspective on food. You'll realize that you've been throwing your money away every few hours on food you didn't need to eat, and that everyone around you is wasting resources. You'll lose weight better than any diet there is. Trust me. When you do choose to eat, because you've saved your money, you can eat better food. You will become healthier in general because fasting actually gives your organs a rest and heal. Once you've done a few fasts, you may find that you're able to sleep a lot better. Fasting is a skill because it takes discipline. - Get to know your neighbors. This is really not that difficult at all, but we avoid it because we see new social connections as "work" to maintain, whereas it's just easier to go home and watch Netflix alone. I've realized that having a small social network wherever you live is nice and makes you feel connected with your community. One of my best friends used to be my neighbor, whom I wouldn't have had lots of great experiences with had I not talked to him, like most people. - Learn to cook sous vide style. You can do this the poor man's way using hot water and a thermometer, even with your dishwasher. But I suggest just getting an automated sous vide circulator and using that. You can make steak, pork chops, eggs, etc., that taste like they're made at a restaurant, or better! It's clean, which is good if you live in an apartment, and very difficult to screw up. Unlike barbecue, you don't have to pay close attention to it. You can pan sear your meat afterwards, or even sear using a George Foreman grill for even easier cleanup. Because sous vide will help you cook tasty food, you will find yourself cooking at home more. People will be blown away by how good your steaks are. - Learn about emergency planning. Most people(Americans, anyway) are woefully unprepared for emergencies and disasters, and even a lot of those who think they're prepared are mistaken in thinking that a few granola bars and a flashlight will save them. Learn what it takes to get yourself and your family prepared, and you will feel a sense of security when the day comes that a violent storm comes, or an earthquake hits, or your home is in the way of a wildfire, or there's civil unrest, or worse. This is not a fringe idea or "doomsday prepping". President Obama told everyone to prepare for these possibilities, and the Department of Homeland Security encourages us to prepare. The website ready.gov is a good place to get started. Same with the LDS Preparedness Manual.
- langitbiru 7y agoHere are what I am learning in 2020. I try to be a holistic person. So I am learning technical skills, business skills, and social skills. Technical: Blockchain programming (mostly on Ethereum). I believe Ethereum is the future. Programmable money. How cool is that? However if you think blockchain is fad, you could replace it with cybersecurity. Business: Corporate finance (stocks, bonds, future contracts, options, etc). This is related with blockchain because I believe a lot of financial applications will move to blockchain platform. However if you think blockchain is fad, corporate finance itself is a useful skill for investment and analyzing company's finance. Just now, I learned that you could make two bonds with different risks and yields into one security which you can divide into senior tranches and junior tranches. It's very interesting. Social: Negotiation. I am reading Chris Voss' book (Never Split The Difference). He has a class in MasterClass as well. Coursera has a couple of negotiation courses. In the past, I received the shorter end of the stick because I'm not good at negotiation. So I'll try to change that. Happy acquiring skills!
- falcolas 7y agoSomething of an aside, and not a dismissal of any of your points. > Programmable money. How cool is that? It's actually really, really scary. Money is already volatile enough, I would rather we not add a bunch of new bugs and security vulnerabilities to it.
- sanderjd 7y agoHow are you studying corporate finance? What are the canonical / first principles books?
- langitbiru 7y ago"Finance Theory" from Prof. Andrew Lo (MIT). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdHlfiOAJyE&list=PLUl4u3cNGP63B2lDhyKOsImI7FjCf6eDW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdHlfiOAJyE&list=PLUl4u3cNGP... He used "Principles of Corporate Finance" by Richard Brealey, Stewart Myers, and Franklin Allen as the text book. I bought it from Google Play. For accounting, I use Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-accounting https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-accounting https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-financial-accounting https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-financial-accounting https://www.coursera.org/learn/uva-darden-financial-accounting https://www.coursera.org/learn/uva-darden-financial-accounti... There are other courses about finance in Coursera and Youtube but I haven't checked them out. But the ones I listed here are good based on my experience.
- fnord77 7y agolearn to write poetry
- kd22 7y ago1. Being a good listener. 2. Patience. 3. Agreeing to disagree, and not taking it personally.
- IgorPartola 7y agoLearn to ride a motorcycle. It will change your life and make you happier. It’s not cheaper than therapy but definitely more fun.
- nojvek 7y agoBe a decent human being. Don’t be an asshole. Make a tiny part of the world a better place than you had found it.
- cushychicken 7y agoI'm trying to write more! I forget where I originally read it, but I think Ben Horowitz said something to the effect of "Clear thinking is best expressed in writing, so you can refer back to it later and see if your logic was correct." Been blowing up Confluence at work like a fuckin' fiend, and been blogging a lot more on my personal site. I don't have any objective measures for this, but I think it's helped me a lot - it gets my head straight about the "why" of actions I've taken. That's valuable, if not terribly measureable!
- bsmitty5000 7y agoI just found this blog post a couple days ago that seems relevant to your post: https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2018/12/14/think-better/ https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2018/12/14/think-better/
- ryanstorm 7y agoThere's this blog post: Writing is Thinking: Learning to Write with Confidence https://blog.stephsmith.io/learning-to-write-with-confidence/ https://blog.stephsmith.io/learning-to-write-with-confidence...
- imaginaryturtle 7y agoI wrote a reaction piece to that one! https://kishorbhat.com/writing/2019/10/14/the-words-dont-flow.html https://kishorbhat.com/writing/2019/10/14/the-words-dont-flo...
- billfruit 7y agoWatercolour painting, the paints, brushes, etc can be quite inexpensive, and it is an activity that allows one to get lost in it entirely, that you forget all other things during that time.
- ivanche 7y ago1. Investing 2. Sales/marketing
- whalesalad 7y agoHardware. Start playing with hardware and sensors and i2c, spi, uart, etc... because that space is going to rapidly accelerate.
- taherchhabra 7y agoI am learning Autodesk fusion 360 so that I can create 3d designs for 3d printing
- stevefan1999 7y agolearn how to use kubernetes :) or get involved in the container orchestration scene to make it better
- jkgoldst 7y ago- Japanese (< 15 min Duolingo over morning coffee) - Computer Networking (Bradfield CS)
- ada1981 7y agoLearn to feel your emotions. Holotropic Breathwork Learn how to hold space for someone. Non violent communication Tribal Leadership How to grow magic mushrooms How to have a challenging conversation
- yewenjie 7y agoWhat are some best ways to feel your emotions (and not run away from them)?
- ada1981 7y agoSomatic inquiry / therapy; Gestalt practice with a men’s group; Noticing where you have an impulse towards dopamine triggers (blame / criticism / drugs / sex / food / work ) and take pause to see what might be beneath it.
- localhost 7y agoI would say focus on building a solid, functional body vs. say focusing on goals like "how much can I lift?" or "how much do I weigh?" or "how fast can I go?". Those goals, while laudable, can also cause you to break down your body in your quest to achieve them. An example from literally yesterday. Over the past few months, I struggled with medial knee pain that was limiting my ability to walk up stairs and do other activities (see other list of goals from above). I had a bunch of observations (pain only when going up stairs, pain goes away oddly enough when running up stairs, clicking noise in knee before onset of pain) but I hadn't spent time trying to root cause it. I had done a bunch of Google searches but to no avail (with scary things like surgery showing up on the list). But then of all things the YouTube algorithm came to the rescue and recommended this: [1]. Turns out it was a weak Gluteus Medius that allowed my femur to rotate medially which in turn caused the kneecap to track in an unnatural way. Once I knew this, I "fixed" it in a day. But it won't stay "fixed" unless I focus on strengthening that muscle. Figure out what you need to do to provide you with sufficient functional strength, focus on root causing pain and then addressing it. Don't ignore the foundations of your body. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbe_DqMJfzg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbe_DqMJfzg
- nautilus12 7y agoRock climbing and/or swimming are great ways to achieve these goals. The nature of the sports are such that it pushes the body hollistically. Plus rock climbing is fun and mentally challenging, like chess with your body.
- TheHegemon 7y agoI would second this. I took up bouldering and it's amazing how much more energy I have. My lower-back pain from sitting has nearly disappeared. It's a true full-body workout (including the brain).
- valtism 7y agoIt's not so good for lower body or cardio. Supplementing it with something like cycling can really help get the whole shebang.
- aaronbrethorst 7y agoBecome a better communicator: spend time polishing your ability to speak and write.
- songzme 7y ago1. Lasting mindset. Recently I've looked around me and realized, everything around me is new. There are no memories around me, I have chased marketed products until my whole apartment is lined up with useful products. Some of the people I admire the most carried around the same water bottle for more than 10 years, wore the same watch for more than 20 years, used a phone for more than 3 years. They can point to anything they owned and talk about the rich emotional history behind each item. I think more people should acquire the skill to use a product and maximize its life rather than to throw and buy the next cool thing.
- AchieveLife 7y agoSelf awareness - Identify your values - Measure your behaviors and thoughts against your values - Build a network of people who will give you genuine feedback
- sequoia 7y agoImprove your ability to participate in the democratic process!! Our (Americans') democratic "muscles" have atrophied so much in recent decades. People can hardly disagree without thinking the other is evil. I've found that even in small groups (such as school-parent coop), people struggle to do things like negotiate different priorities, listen to one another, and come to a compromise. This is a very dire condition for a democratically-led society, as these skills are essential for such a system to function. No one is going to fix this for us, but we can all contribute to fixing it together! To quote a recent New Yorker article on democracy in crisis[0], "Don’t ask whether you need an umbrella [if you need to prepare for failure of democracy]. Go outside and stop the rain [fix it!]." How? Make an effort to reach out to people with different views. Commit to listen to them and be willing to agree to disagree in a friendly manner. You'd be surprised how quickly the name-calling can stop and the shared humanity can be found when you really listen! For inspiration & guidance, read one or more of the following: * Don't Label Me by Irshad Manji (lots of practical democratic advice, if you pick only one pick this one) * The Coddling of the American Mind by Haidt & Lukianoff * How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie The second book has an overly-confrontational title–rest assured the book itself is level headed and thoughtful. The third book will help you in business & your personal life, and may improve democracy as well! Let's (Americans) roll up our sleeves and take on The Big Challenge in 2020: improving our own democratic skills to get our society back on track. 0: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/02/03/the-last-time-democracy-almost-died https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/02/03/the-last-time-...
- tgauda 7y agoMicrocontrollers. Pick an interesting project (google Arduino for beginners) and try making it work on an Arduino Uno. Once you get a full understanding of how hardware works it makes you a much better software engineer by far.
- dkersten 7y agoLearn to get a decent and consistent amount of sleep.
- Balgair 7y agoHN specific: How to write a good comment on an internet message board. https://smartblogger.com/blog-comments/ https://smartblogger.com/blog-comments/
- iansowinski 7y ago- First Aid - if you don't know it, you should learn it ASAP. - History and theory of modern and contemporary art - then it's easier to understand everything in the museum and you won't ever say "I don't get modern art" and "Modern art is a shit". - New language - I believe trying and learning only few words is worth it! - How to dress (including how to buy clothes). I still have a lot of misfitting shirts in my wardrobe and this old masculine perfume my grandma gave me when I was 16. I see why I wasn't comfortable with these. It takes some time, especially if you don't want to spend a lot of cash at once. But when you know how to dress, you feel more confident look good and feel better with yourself. By "how to dress" I mean finding your style, not having suit 7 days a week. Here is a nice article about fabrics: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/climate/sustainable-clothing.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/climate/sustainable...
- jjohansson 7y agoBuild your personal brand through blogging (on a domain name you own).
- jnericks 7y agoLearn and adopt a flexibility routine, perform all or some of it before doing a workout or just at night before bed... I suggest the Limbar 11 as a starting point https://youtu.be/FSSDLDhbacc https://youtu.be/FSSDLDhbacc
- amai 7y agoLearn how you can lower your CO2 foot print: Get used to using a train instead of a plane. Use public transportation instead of your car. Use a bike more often. Stay in home office and do more remote meetings. Eat less meat. Learn about and use solar and wind power energy generation for your house. Learn about the thermal insulation of your house and how to improve it.
- franze 7y agoNo-Code Automation.
- simplify 7y agoProlog. You'll discover what it feels like to have a language that actually does hard work for you (except string manipulation...), instead of having to guide it through every little detail. Logic programming isn't actually that hard, and more people learning it will help move the state of programming forward.
- chatmasta 7y agoI took a class that used prolog in college. It was so confusing at first. Then one day, I was doing an assignment with definite clause grammar, and everything clicked. It wasn’t just my understanding of prolog that benefitted, either. Suddenly I also internalized how regular expressions work. I remember it distinctly because it was such a good, almost euphoric feeling that seemed to drop randomly on top of me. When people say that learning a new, different language will give you benefits that carry over to the rest of your abilities, I remember that moment. There is definitely a lot to be said for stretching your programming brain in new ways.
- kiterunner2346 7y agoAll your suggestions are nice but I was thinking this topic should seriously be more along the lines of "How to Get Laid". Cooking? Fixing an old car? Shakespeare? Get to the crux of the matter.
- valw 7y agoWhat I would call "quantitative environmental consciousness" - things like estimating energy consumption and carbon footprints. Topics like energy policy and CO2 emissions will become increasingly critical in our lives, and yet you don't find many people reasoning about them in a lucid and informed way. A great place to start is the SEWTHA book by MacKay: https://www.withouthotair.com/ https://www.withouthotair.com/
- master_yoda_1 7y agoC++ for quantum computing ;)
- aynyc 7y agoSkiing: learn to carve like a racer and ski mogul like a pro. Technology: build stuff instead of reading about stuff. Personal: be a better husband and father.
- gautamdivgi 7y agoMy skill to acquire for 2020 is to learn to delegate well. It will free up a lot of time for you and give others a chance to bring up their skill set.
- fma 7y agoGuess this is about non-tech skills :) I've wanted to learn basic sewing. I even bought a sewing machine from Costco that's gathering dusk. I'm a slender guy and the only thing that fits me well are "slim fit" shirts. Not everyone sells slim fit shirts or well fitting pants. Knowing basic sewing I can make adjustments and have clothes that fit well.
- gumby 7y agoIn parallel to chrissnell’s suggestion on classical music: read some classical literature. I mean the Greek and Roman greats. As with “classical” music, theres’s a valuable survivorship bias — nobody bothered to preserve the crap. As with the music, there’s a lot to choose from (I put “classical” in quotes because in both cases the term spans centuries of work and innumerable styles and themes). And don’t worry about what other people like: enjoy what you do. Personally I don’t really listen to Mozart as he mostly wrote pop music and spectacle (were he alive today he’d be onstage with lady Gaga). Some fun to listen to but for me doesn’t “stick to the ribs”. Other’s think he’s fantastic — and we’re both right! (Do love his Requiem, though as my then 17yo said, “should come with a warning label”). In the case of the greats I love Plutarch, don’t care for Thucydides, think Plato is a jerk but do read him, Aristotle was kinda a jerk too, but so was Cicero. Sophocles: fantastic! Speaking of survivorship bias I read little fiction by living authors. If it’s still in print, or discussed, after a gap it’s more likely to be interesting. As with music, open a book and if you don’t like it read something else! It’s not a duty. But there’s also a lot of meta commentary on the older work and that can change your view and taste for what you read. Have fun!
- stakkur 7y agoMarcus Aurelius' Stoic idea of winning the morning. This means doing your best to make the most of the first part of the day: arise early and jump into doing the most important tasks of the day. Practice good habits. Then, as the day expands and becomes less in your control, you've 'won' the morning. I use 'win the morning!' almost as a mantra, and just that single, simple idea been life-changing.
- sq1020 7y agoGreat advice. Waking up early at the same time every day even the weekend does wonders.
- sdinsn 7y agoI agree with this- my day is always more productive if I get started early.
- seddin 7y agoI highly recommend watching this lecture about Marcus Aurelius https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5897dMWJiSM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5897dMWJiSM
- mygo 7y agoThank you for this
- Havoc 7y agoI don't recall seeing that? Do you remember what chapter that is in?
- stakkur 7y agoBook 5 of Meditations.
- cactus2093 7y agoI like the sound of this but what does it look like in practice? By "arise early" are we talking like 4 or 5am, or just early enough to get to the office slightly before 9am and be the first one there by a few minutes? By "jump into the most important tasks of the day", would you consider working out to be one of those? It's important in the long run to do consistently, but on a given day it's not usually what I would list as my most important task. I guess what I'm saying is, I feel like if you put the right spin on almost any series of morning activities you can call it winning the morning. So it's not very prescriptive advice that I can use to be more productive. It's almost a tautology - to be more productive, start your day by being productive.
- joeldg 7y agoWelding is a handy skill to know.
- gordon_freeman 7y agoOne of the goals I've set for myself in 2020 is to adopt a philosophy of minimalism and use budgeting tools (can be as simple as a spreadsheet) to be mindful of where my spending goes and try to rein in the excess spend.
- webdva 7y agoSkills to acquire in 2020, ye Hacker News reader? A wee bit of abstract mathematics knowledge, so that you can better think in abstract terms when solving problems. The hardest of problems require the usage of and familiarity with advanced abstractions. Abstract mathematics knowledge provides that great—and profound!—capability.
- smegma2 7y agoWhat kind of abstract mathematics?
- webdva 7y ago> What kind of abstract mathematics? Ah, a curious intellect has approached! Know that every “What kind?” is the desire for a common ground of understanding. So the student must first ask themself which understanding would they like to pursue. What be your choice? A choice that only your heart’s love can ultimately know.
- danaur 7y agoI think the op was asking because you had their interest and they wanted to know directions they could go in. Your post seems to assume people know of the different directions they could study
- webdva 7y ago> I think the op was asking because you had their interest and they wanted to know directions they could go in. > Your post seems to assume people know of the different directions they could study Ah, forgive me as I am blind to my appearance, especially blind to my appearance’s appearance to the sight or eyes of others. I too do not know what directions there may be in the pursuit of truth, as a master or sage must not claim to know. Only thus then does the master know true knowledge. ...For doth not truth be vast in size?—oh! but I do not know of truth’s size!
- Kiro 7y agoThis thread reads like something straight out of a lifestyle magazine, with the first technical advice being on page two. I miss the days when true hackers were proud to sit in their dark basements and drink Jolt Cola, at most caring about their Unix beards.
- whatitdobooboo 7y agoJournaling every night - journal about anything - just write
- ShteiLoups 7y ago"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one." - Marcus Aurelius
- schnevets 7y agoLearn how to engage with your local community, especially in a way that you believe improves a "greater good". Tech people are too preoccupied in the global community that they don't think about neighbors and the community around them. I used to think someone else was thinking in my best interest with local politics, culture, and social issues, but I have recently learned about to be more assertive and engaged. I wish I started a lot sooner, and I wish more Millennials/Gen-Xers (especially those in tech) would push for something they believe in.
- jldugger 7y agoHere's what I'm considering for the year: - typing with Colemak (-dh?) - Statistics 102 (calculating sample sizes, t-tests, etc.) - Tensorflow
- esch89 7y agoMeditation! So many mental, emotional, and physical health benefits!
- rapfaria 7y agoWatching threads like this makes my anxiety go trough the roof with all the exciting new things I could possibly learn, but probably never will. So one skill to acquire in 2020 can be let go of FOMO.
- starpilot 7y agoIs anyone trying to give skills specific to 2020? This thread so far sounds like standard self-improvement advice (get in shape, eat healthy, manage stress).
- m3kw9 7y agoLearn some time management, track where you use your time the most. Learn finance management, track all your finance and learn where your money goes. Learn to cook a meal that you would always eat and easy to cook. Learn about How to be a good listener. But all the above must be done in practice to be learnt
- burfog 7y agonunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills
- allie1 7y agoPick up a non-fiction book on a subject completely unrelated to anything you know but find appealing.
- eranation 7y agoTaking a risk of being boring and staying technical... I would say - cloud, distributed systems, security, security, security and then some more security. Then AI/ML on the "how to use it" level (the math can be fun, but unless you plan to be a data scientist, knowing it from a developer perspective is great too) In the cloud technologies, I would focus on serverless. I see serverless as basically just another abstraction layer beyond containers. You shift the burden of managing all that to the cloud provider. Even if you are fluent in k8s, using managed services / databases and letting someone else do the heavy lifting while you focus on just code is very rewarding.
- Gonzih 7y agoEmpathy, patience, understanding.
- brlewis 7y agoI'm surprised at all these great non-technical suggestions and few coding suggestions. I'll supply some web-focused ones for the next 3 years. In 2020 learn TypeScript really well. Learn all the ways to compose types. It's earned its popularity. In 2021 learn deno. It's going to be big. In 2022 learn the best way to structure a CSS project. I think we will have figured out what it is by then.
- jjcm 7y ago++ to typescript and deno. Deno might not end up being the runtime, but at some point we're likely to see a dedicated typescript runtime. Getting on top of it now and understanding the implications is worth being aware of. One other thing I'd add to this is learn webcomponents. Likely we'll see things like React/Vue/etc use them under the hood in the future, but it's worth learning what they're good at and what they aren't.
- noncoml 7y agoIf you are a software guy, get a breadboard and a few micro-controllers and start tinkering. So much fun!
- robertlf 7y agoBoy, did this conversation veer off-track or what?
- garysieling 7y agoAWS
- johnmorrison 7y agoThis one's a bit niche but if you're between the ages of 13-21 and not sure what to specialize in but you care about important issues and like engineering, please consider learning and specializing in an area related to molten salt reactors, chemical separation of fission products, or anything in the intersection of chemical eng, nuclear eng, and electrical. The world needs clean, reliable, scalable energy more now than ever before, and we have a serious shortage of talented folk who have previous experience in the skills necessary to develop liquid fueled fission reactors. So, if you're in highschool or entering university soon, consider this. By the latter half of this decade, there's going to be a lot of demand for these skills.
- sr3d 7y agoYou should invest your time to learn how to invest and trade stocks. I spent 8 months learning trading and it has been a very challenging but rewarding process. Learning Options trading is another thing you can do once you become more familiar with the stock markets, and hopefully you can start trading options using your profits from your wise investments. These 2 skills, stock trading and option trading, in my opinion, are the most critical skills for someone, especially software engineers to generate more incomes and become financially independent as an alternative path to founding/working at a startup. You can start small to learn but invest 1 good year and you'll be amazed at the knowledge and freedom you have gained.
- f0rfun 7y agoCare to share the online resources that helped you the most? I'm also trying to trade stocks but am fearful of the current market outlook esp with the possibility of an impending pandemic.
- mygo 7y ago3M sells face masks. Purnell sells hand sanitizers. Would be interesting to see how their stock does during a pandemic. Note: I’m not saying buy 3M and Purell stock. I’m just saying, if there’s an impending pandemic, there are probably businesses who will see a rise in demand due to the pandemic. What’s going on in the parts of China right now where there are quarantines? How has that shifted demand for goods and services?
- DrNuke 7y agoAt professional level, liberal arts intros to be able to combine technical proficiency with historical savviness and social awareness; at personal level and if relevant: drop stinginess, the most alienating attitude when dealing with acquaintances and friends in public.
- themodelplumber 7y agoProfessional communication skills are worth a look from time to time. Understanding how to keep your personal fears out of your next message or email, and yet keeping after your concerns with appropriate management of both technology and emotion. Learning how to be assertive without inadvertently raising the stakes. And keeping a project on track without causing a blame-fest. Another one is learning to set boundaries for your personal growth. Do you have a learning and skills-updating standard which helps prevent FOMO, unfair feedback from your inner critic's voice, and related career anxieties? This is one example of a boundary that can be designed to help you stay on track without becoming bitter about your past experiences and future prospects. It's impressive that you asked. Best of luck to you.
- kamaal 7y agoCan you recommend a good book to learn this?
- lwhalen 7y agoTake a cue from Uncle Bob (Heinlein) and start working on his list: A human being should be able to: - change a diaper - plan an invasion - butcher a hog - conn a ship - design a building - write a sonnet - balance accounts - build a wall - set a bone - comfort the dying - take orders - give orders - cooperate - act alone - solve equations - analyze a new problem - pitch manure - program a computer - cook a tasty meal - fight efficiently - die gallantly Specialization is for insects.
- mehh 7y agoSpecialization is for insects...nice!
- Uptrenda 7y agoWork on your math skills. Math is at the heart of everything, and the more techniques you know- the more tools you'll have in your arsenal to build and invent cool things. Practically there are many business reasons why you would want to develop mathematical knowledge, but I'll list only one: most of the ground-breaking research requires high level math knowledge to understand and so much of the knowledge in academic papers would work as a viable startup business. There is actually a staggering amount of knowledge locked away in papers that is just waiting for entrepreneurs to take the next steps and bring it to industry. But this tends to happen very slowly! Part of the reason is a lack of qualified and motivated people willing to execute. Since the researchers themselves are more focused on research and tend to move on after experiments and PoCs. It's up to us to take that work and build products that solve real problems!
- darkjedi_emacs 7y agoCould people suggest something from technical aspect as well? Something which is a bit more specific than being abstract like the below points: Picking up somethings from what's the buzzwords these days: 1. Rust (ownership concept and immutability) 2. Haskell Functor, Monads, Monoids and applicatives 3. AI ML (Not sure about this field)
- raj140889 7y agoLearn,understand and appreciate Art build something from wood learn a new programming language improve my maths do a backflip a foreign language
- ed_balls 7y agoI want to build an electric go-cart. Any good books on that? :)
- croo 7y agoLearn how to make bread. It was one year of fumbling until I got it right consistently but nowdays I can make better bread than any commercial bakery around me.
- DrAwdeOccarim 7y agoLearn molecular biology and how biotech uses it. The 20's are going to be a huge inflection point in biotechnology.
- jerome-jh 7y agoWell cooking and woodworking definitely won. May I suggest: keep a tidy desk, cupboard, storeroom, backyard? I can achieve the first one, definitively not the others.
- diehunde 7y agoHow to build habits. We have a lot of resources today to learn how to create good or remove bad habits in a consistent manner. If you learn this, you can easily acquire other skills such as reading, exercising, less procrastination, etc.
- Rzor 7y agoI just want to second this and endorse how important it has been for me since I heard[0] about it in the beginning of this year. I'm still finishing the book, but so far so good. I was well aware of the importance of giving myself some sort of prize or award, but the whole framework has been working wonders, especially the idea of celebration and arriving at change by feeling good, not by feeling bad; I didn't expect a change in mood to reflect so much in my objectives and the tiny successes definitely helping add fuel to my well being and overall positive attitude, which invigorates the habits even more. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21920556 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21920556
- jotjotzzz 7y agoLearn a foreign language such as Spanish or Mandarin, or whichever language you fancy and stick with it until you're conversational. Learning a new language opens you up to other ideas and cultures. Being bilingual should be a prerequisite -- our culture would be more accepting of other cultures instead of becoming a xenophobe.
- jackkinsella 7y agoLearn how to break information addiction. Just because you _can_ Google it, doesn't mean you should. Embracing ignorance is liberating.
- ctrager 7y agoI try to choose activities that also will increase my social circle. So, like, with learning an instrument, avoid piano, which tends to be more solitary, and go with viola, which, if you get decent, will put you in demand. Or if studying a language, pick one that people actually speak (I studied ancient Greek in college).
- oklol123 7y agoFind ways to sustain and improve your mental health. The future will get only more stressful and the thing between your ears will largely determine if your life is well lived or not. So far I have seen three areas that you should really look into. Sleep, meditation and exercise. In that order. They all do one thing well and that is to reduce stress and increase your resistance to stress. All other areas in your life will improve, but it’s a slow process which results are only visible after roughly two months of consistent effort.