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I know this was comedic, but I honestly think commenting (and reading) on HN has improved my employability more than anything besides actual employment. It's o

by jmduke 13y ago

mindcrime 13y ago
I know this was comedic, but I honestly think commenting (and reading) on HN has improved my employability more than anything besides actual employment. It's open my eyes to technologies I'd never learn about otherwise, it's gotten me contacts, and -- most importantly -- commenting is an exercise of writing, and clear communication is arguably the most important skill one can have regardless of discipline. Yeah, I kid, of course. I do learn a lot from my time on HN, both from reading the articles and from the ensuing discussions. I have days when I spend too much time on here though. Sometimes it doesn't matter, because I'm stuck on a client site for my $DAYJOB and they don't have anything for me to do, and there's little I could be doing to advance my goals while sitting there, so I wind up goofing around on HN. Other days, I spend time where when I should be working (like right now!) but nobody can just work, work, work all the time, so I don't mind the occasional "goof off on HN" day here and there. And, like you said, the discourse here is writing practice, and learning to write well is always a good investment. but at the end of the day, arguing too much about JS frameworks is still a better use of one's time than animated cat pictures. Very true.

by jmduke 13y ago

mindcrime 13y ago

I know this was comedic, but I honestly think commenting (and reading) on HN has improved my employability more than anything besides actual employment. It's open my eyes to technologies I'd never learn about otherwise, it's gotten me contacts, and -- most importantly -- commenting is an exercise of writing, and clear communication is arguably the most important skill one can have regardless of discipline. Yeah, I kid, of course. I do learn a lot from my time on HN, both from reading the articles and from the ensuing discussions. I have days when I spend too much time on here though. Sometimes it doesn't matter, because I'm stuck on a client site for my $DAYJOB and they don't have anything for me to do, and there's little I could be doing to advance my goals while sitting there, so I wind up goofing around on HN. Other days, I spend time where when I should be working (like right now!) but nobody can just work, work, work all the time, so I don't mind the occasional "goof off on HN" day here and there. And, like you said, the discourse here is writing practice, and learning to write well is always a good investment. but at the end of the day, arguing too much about JS frameworks is still a better use of one's time than animated cat pictures. Very true.