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Growing up poor and having an engineering mindset, I was all about DIY until about a year ago when my wife pointed out that DIY comes at the expense of "done."
by xyzelement 5y ago
Growing up poor and having an engineering mindset, I was all about DIY until about a year ago when my wife pointed out that DIY comes at the expense of "done." It's easy to get sucked into repair projects and eventually figure out how to DIY but meanwhile the family goes w/o the thing working, which could be remedied by a quick trip to the store.
The thing that I think is important is to have the confidence and ability to know that you could DIY even if you aren't choosing to in a given situation.
- bluefirebrand 5y agoThis is a very similar thing to what we face in software, honestly, with the choice between building it ourselves or using a library. It's always tempting to build it ourselves but it often means we're now building the library instead of the thing we wanted to build on top of the library.
- matheusmoreira 5y agoDIY is important when you need control. Sometimes the libraries just don't do what you want the way you want it.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- mavhc 5y agoLuckily software replicates for free, unlike physical work
- 8note 5y agoI think of that as a constraint on when to diy. If you have a clear view of what done is, and the way you get there, diy is great. Eg. Fixing my socks by darning them is great.
- Jnr 5y agoI am sometimes working on DIY projects, be it electronics or home renovation things, for the same reason I started programming - it seems interesting and I would like to understand how things work and possibly make something awesome. I guess it is part of engineering mindset. While my interest in computers resulted in IT career, I don't have the same expectations for all the DIY things that I do. I understand those are just hobbies that make life more interesting. And I think that I still understand when to buy instead of DIY. :)
- igetspam 5y agoSame. I'm currently building an office. By that I mean I've done all the work to coordinate building an office. I also ran the network wiring and will do the drywall. I built a few of the framing panels and contracted out the rest. I LOVE building things with my hands but it's been a year and my office isn't done. I have a kid and a job and pets and a million incomplete tasks. Sometimes I do it because I was poor and think about money and other times I just want to know I can. When things finally need to get done though, the cost benefit analysis is usually done pretty quickly. Nobody is paying me to do framing and the time I get to spend with my family is finite, so I pay.
- swader999 5y agoDrywall is one of those things that isn't a bad idea to hire a pro if you can find one. I'm guilty of not doing this and it was a time sink. Happy with the result at least.
- swader999 5y agoI just have two dishwashers. One is often getting fixed.