33 ms·

There’s definitely a pervasive belief here that a challenging and complex topic completely unrelated to software development can be intelligently discussed, und

There’s definitely a pervasive belief here that a challenging and complex topic completely unrelated to software development can be intelligently discussed, understood, and potentially “solved” by software developers. But imagine Marketing News where the same topics are discussed by marketing professionals. What would HN commenters think of the discourse there?

matt_s 5y ago
I don't see how this topic is challenging or complex. The building had a catastrophic structural failure. Having expertise in software tends to associate with analyzing skills. Just because we can analyze things doesn't compensate for being completely ignorant of structural engineering or other unrelated topics. You know how you can read an article in a newspaper about software and find a bunch of incorrect or misunderstood concepts that lead you to believe the reporter is misinformed or doesn't know what they're talking about? That's because you have deep knowledge of that topic. Then you turn the page/click on another article about a building collapse and feel empathy that its a problem that could be solved. Just because we have problem solving skills and can analyze things doesn't mean that transfers to other disciplines. If I want ignorant commentary on news I can go nearly anywhere online and find it. I'd rather have HN on focused topics than popular news topics discussed by hackers. I'm just pointing out the question of: where does the line get drawn? If there was a Marketing News site, would a building collapse be something discussed? I imagine a venn diagram of Marketing and Software has overlap (e.g. SEO, search engines, etc.), whereas Structural Engineering and Software probably does not.
- paulcole 5y ago
  > I don't see how this topic is challenging or complex No offense to you, but this is HN in a nutshell.
jjk166 5y ago
There are plenty of people here who aren't software developers. I for one am a mechanical engineer. And further you can understand and have intellectual discussions about topics outside of your profession.

matt_s 5y ago

I don't see how this topic is challenging or complex. The building had a catastrophic structural failure. Having expertise in software tends to associate with analyzing skills. Just because we can analyze things doesn't compensate for being completely ignorant of structural engineering or other unrelated topics. You know how you can read an article in a newspaper about software and find a bunch of incorrect or misunderstood concepts that lead you to believe the reporter is misinformed or doesn't know what they're talking about? That's because you have deep knowledge of that topic. Then you turn the page/click on another article about a building collapse and feel empathy that its a problem that could be solved. Just because we have problem solving skills and can analyze things doesn't mean that transfers to other disciplines. If I want ignorant commentary on news I can go nearly anywhere online and find it. I'd rather have HN on focused topics than popular news topics discussed by hackers. I'm just pointing out the question of: where does the line get drawn? If there was a Marketing News site, would a building collapse be something discussed? I imagine a venn diagram of Marketing and Software has overlap (e.g. SEO, search engines, etc.), whereas Structural Engineering and Software probably does not.

paulcole 5y ago
> I don't see how this topic is challenging or complex No offense to you, but this is HN in a nutshell.

jjk166 5y ago

There are plenty of people here who aren't software developers. I for one am a mechanical engineer. And further you can understand and have intellectual discussions about topics outside of your profession.