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I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | sri: Try something totally different. It could be a totally different technology: say Ruby on Rails or maybe Flex/Flash & Actionscript. How about becoming a designer? Something you have never considered before or never thought of as worthwhile. Something that brings back the "lightness" feeling you seem to be missing. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | mahmud: Take one month's expenses, move out your pad if you're renting and go teach English overseas until you get your senses back.Everyone needs their 2-years of fucking around backpacking before they hit 30. I am just coming back from mine; 20 countries in 2 years and stories for a life time. Cost me less than 10k a... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | vorador: How about learning something else ?
You've got time, why don't you learn a musical instrument ? |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | oliverkofoed: You're gonna live a long time, you've got time to change direction. Find a junior job doing something completely different, or even start studying something, anything.Only things that can happen are that you become happy for you new job, or you fall back in love with programming.Another option: I know an ... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | edw519: "My neck has been hurting for two years for spending so many hours in front of the computer."Is is possible that you feel crappy and are blaming your work environment?I've been sitting in front of a computer for 30 years and my neck never hurts. In fact, nothing does.No matter what you decide, you must take ca... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | haseman: Go to the gym every morning. Ride a bike, get active. For some reason an 8-10 hour day in a chair is nearly unbearable unless I've done some sort of activity in the mornings. It may be a low risk thing to try. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | sarvesh: Travel, take a break. Seems like burntout and you need to take a vacation and then decide whether you really want to quit this industry. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | revdmv: I'm certain you'll get this comment in spades, but as a relatively young an unencumbered person you should go away and do something else.I spent a year on "sabbatical" in my mid-20's after being laid off from another company with a great future that didn't quite get there. Best thing I have done.Did traveling, ... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | bjmarte: Stop |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | uptown: Get a:a) Girlfriend
b) Dog
c) A hobby that doesn't involve electricityAllow your job to become just one part of your life ... not what defines your life. |
I want to pay people, not just accept payment. What are my options? | rms: I have heard that ACH transfers are much more common in Europe. How do they do it there? |
Startup, Project, or something else ... | yan: In my experience, it mostly depends on the amount of the start-up kool-aid the author consumed (or 'founder') and rarely so the nature of the actual project. Thus, you get some people hosting 'sites' that are very profitabl, self-sustaining and add value to society, and others creating tiny twitter apps (twart ups... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | jtuyen: make random things. use your creative side and have fun with it. I do it all the time when I'm struggling with a problem or taking a short break. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | synnik: Yes, this has happened to me.
I found a part-time gig, and worked 20 hours a week, while hiking in the Rockies with all of my free time. I then disconnected completely, and did manual labor for a year.In short, turn off the computer. Find other interests. Determine your true priorities. Once you have done that... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | tjic: It's spring.Go hike the Appalachian trail all summer.You living expenses will be food + replacement socks + fuel for your camp stove.Four months from now, you'll be wonderfully destressed, and will have barely touched your savings. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | icey: Do you know what you'd rather be doing instead of writing software?Because, if you do, then you should probably make a list for yourself. On that list you do this:#1: Job I don't like.#10: Job I want.Steps #2 through #9 should be the next N things you need to do to do whatever it is you'd rather be doing.Software... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | progLiker: I'd recommend some hard physical work, be prepared not to work amongst your peers, but do level with them.
It can be most rewarding doing physical work, and see society through different eyes for a while. |
Startup, Project, or something else ... | noodle: you serve yourself in a cafeteria. you have a server in a restaurant.you have a project until you form a company. then, you have a start up. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | mattdennewitz: welcome to burnout. its absolute hell. before depression sets in and you become irreversibly emotionally detached and drained, you have to branch into hobbies that bookend your life as a hacker.personal advice: buy a synthesizer or a nice digital camera. or a bike (but you have to use it though, that par... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | Slzr: Follow Norm at Inc Magazine advice: go 3 hours away from home, and think of how do you want your days to be.After you have a clear image of what you want think of the type of business that would allow you to live that way.Probably in your case you also need to fall in love. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | kqr2: Recent thread of burnout may have some helpful advice:http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=626616 |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | jlees: Totally second the travel, move to a strange place, do something random like work in events, theatre, a coffee shop, meet new people, get stories. I was in a similar depressed/burnt out situation & moved and it totally rebooted my life.Could also try moving away from CTO to a CEO type role if you want to stay in... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | quellhorst: Quit hacking? You should know better what to do with your life than anyone else. Find what you love. |
Python cloud hosting? | mshafrir: Definitely go with Google AppEngine (GAE). I started off with zero Python experience and an interest in checking out GAE as well as learning Python, and rapidly picked up both thanks to the ease of developing and deploying on GAE. Just go through the Getting Start Guide (http://code.google.com/appengine/doc... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | delano: Don't burn your bridges and get a manual labour job for a few months. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | caffeine: If you play an instrument, then make music! It's time for you to join a band and hit the road, my friend.If you have a passport, as others have said, get the hell out of dodge. Get your shots though, you don't want to come back with broken kidneys.Have you considered attending Hedonism II? It's a lot of fu... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | symlogic: I don't think you were as successful as you made it out to seem. Shouldn't you have a nice cushion to sit upon and practically retire (: |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | pkaler: Start by fixing the physical pain. I started getting pain from sitting 12+ hours in a chair, too.I improved my posture by taking Alexander Technique classes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Technique
http://www.vancouveralexandertechnique.com/Then I improved my flexibility by taking up yoga. I've dropp... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | jokull: Read "Scar Tissue" (Anthony Kiedis' autobiography) |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | johnconroy: I'm surprised at some of these answers. You obviously need a serious break.some arbitrary suggestions:
1/ go and teach web stuff in Africa for 6 months2/ travel and be a bum for a year3/ go back to college and get a masters/phd/degree in philosophy/whatever4/ go work in some kind of low-stress environment f... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | ahoyhere: Take a break, dude. You don't have to backpack around questionable countries but 6 mos of living expenses will give you a comfy stay in lots of places.I spent 6 weeks in New Zealand last year, almost totally offline. NZ is super cheap right now, safe, and they speak English... not a huge culture clash, but st... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | phil_collins: I'm surprised nobody suggested.. keep doing that crap. Maybe you'll get lucky and your site or your employer will have a liquidity event.I've been burned out on worthless web software, programming, etc for a long time now. There's not much new and exciting as there was when I was a teenager, learning Linu... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | aditya: Go to school, and learn a new skill, something that has always fascinated you but that you've never pursued. Meet new people, expand your horizons. Defer your student loans.Also, if you're good at what you do (and it seems like you are) - you'll probably end up coming back to it, but just need the time out to r... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | kingkawn: Do Emergency Medical Technican Basic training at your local community college. Most places have night classes that can be completed in about 3 months. Usually you can find a job or volunteer, and before you know it you'll be faced with life or death situations. Its much easier that going to Iraq to escape ... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | imd: Sort of a meta-comment, but why do "Ask" threads on websites like HN rarely have the OP participating in the discussion beyond the original post? |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | juliend2: 1-Take a long walk (walking helps a _lot_ to think about problems)2-If you find a library, stroll inside3-Find a book or two by using your immediate taste/intuition. anything will suffice.4-Let it flow. You will eventually find something to do.I would be very surprised if you don't find anything this way. |
New Web Customers and Ballpark Estimates | run4yourlives: Why aren't you charging for your proposal work? I'm dead serious.There is little downside to doing this once you get over the shock of such a "callous" suggestion that the customer actually pay for your technical and skilled analysis of their particular problem.First, anyone who won't pay for the problem... |
New Web Customers and Ballpark Estimates | trapper: Ask them what budget they have to work with, and provide two options - one within their budget and one that goes over. Understanding their budget and who pays is important.
Provide a value proposition. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | Dilpil: If you want to apply your quantitative skills to a more active outdoor environment, you could consider some type of structural or civil engineering. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | jonah: A List Apart just posted an article on burnout: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/burnout/[edit: dupe sorry.] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=626616 |
Python cloud hosting? | CyberED: I prefer AWS/VPS. That way I have root access to a virtual machine and can pick and choose what I install. Personally I prefer Ubuntu environments, apt-get is so convenient. I do my development on a personal system and upload working code for testing / deployment. From my experience GAE imposes constraints... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | chanux: Happened to me, though I'm not having a long history like you. Every once in a while I get that exhausted feeling. But fortunately my mind says what should I do. Mostly it's going to parents, go & meet non-techy friends, going on a trip to countryside etc. |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | tjr: Sure, I've only posted perhaps 1/2 to 2/3 of the comments I've written. They weren't necessarily inflammatory comments, but just didn't add anything useful to the conversation. |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | aneesh: Plenty of times. Sometimes I even submit them and delete them a minute later.I felt like I had something interesting to say, but when I actually articulated it, it didn't add much to the conversation. If you noticed PG's essay that he wrote with Etherpad, he had entire paragraphs in his draft that didn't make... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | edw519: Rarely.I gave up long ago trying to judge my own comments and submissions.I often submit what I think is a great article and it dies on the "new" page without any votes. Or I'll make what I think is a good comment and no one cares.OTOH, sometimes I'll just throw something off the top of my head and it gets som... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | lallysingh: All the time. This is the only place I do that. Mostly the quick joke I'd submit to /. or reddit. |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | ChrisXYZ: Yeah, I do it fairly often.If I find myself putting too much work into a comment I think to myself, "How many people are actually going to read this? What effect is it really going to have on anything? Do I really want to do all this work for something that will disappear into the internet ether?"I really o... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | devin: Definitely. I don't usually submit comments unless something gets my goat or I feel like there is an important angle that isn't being articulated. Basically, the question I ask myself is "Am I adding value to this conversation?" If the answer is no for any reason I either modify the comment or skip it altoget... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | siculars: i would say it is more common than not. i find that writing out the thought often helps crystallize your thoughts and at that point what you thought may not be worth submitting after you actually see it in front of you. |
how to unit/integration test app that sends email? | jedediah: Since you're writing a web app, there are very likely many well-tested libraries for sending mail. I suggest using one of these, then stub the interface to the librart and make sure your code is using the correct API when talking to the library. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | khangtoh: Work on an IPhone game instead :) |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | jwilliams: Certainly do. What I do lately is I tend to stay logged out when I read YC.I find the activation energy to log in is high enough to be useful -- so I generally only log in and comment / post when I really have something to say. |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | lunchbox: The number of people answering "yes" to this post might be underrepresented by selection bias :) |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | erlanger: # withholding long-winded reply |
how to unit/integration test app that sends email? | SwellJoe: You don't need to get clever here. Any SMTP server will deliver locally if you just give it a username.So, any mail server will do. Just configure it to only accept mail from/for localhost. I know that Perl and Python both have good small SMTP servers available, and I imagine most dynamic languages would a... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | paulgb: I do this on other sites more often, but occasionally on HN as well. It's usually when I'm not satisfied with the way I worded the comment.More often what I do is write a several paragraph reply, and then cut it down to a few sentences. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | zenocon: Yea - so, I have a family which eats up a lot of my time, but beyond that, not long ago I would spend all my living free minutes reading tech books and writing code on projects I never finished...really just to keep myself sharp. I've done this for 10 or so years. It was a passion/obsession, whatever. In som... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | jsz0: Sure, all the time.Sometimes it just doesn't add anything interesting. Sometimes it's just too big of an idea to explain in a couple paragraphs. Sometimes I'm just not not sure my opinion is well informed enough to commit to the Internet forever. |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | Silentio: On Hacker News, definite yes. Other sites, not so often. But I am not moved to comment on other sites as often as I am here. |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | ryanwaggoner: Ironically, I'm virtually certain that I wrote this exact question and then decided not to submit it :) |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | sunir: I'm the reverse. I stopped commenting online a long time ago, but Hacker News is the only place that I bother. Conversations here tend to go places. |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | barrybe: Yeah, fairly often.I think the most common reason for me to cancel a comment is just knowing how internet people are. People on the internet, especially software people, are really really critical. I think there's a certain group of people that browse forums with the sole intention of pointing out how other pe... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | donaq: Yes, but then I do this for every site I participate in, because Goddess forbid I am wrong on the internet. |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | slmbrhrt: Most of the time, yes. |
Would you pay for these services I'm thinking of building? | nickb: #1 will never work well for the simple fact that when people know that they are being asked to pick something without actually going through the mental process of evaluating options and picking a goal, they will not pick in a way that correlates with a larger population that doesn't know it's being tested.The be... |
Would you pay for these services I'm thinking of building? | vaksel: #1 and #2 are more or less the same thing. I'd phrase the service as A/B testing, and then give #1 and #2 as some of things users can do with it |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | mattchew: Sure. Sometimes I have something I'd like to say, but I can't say it well enough to be satisfied with submitting. Other times I decide my comment, or the whole conversation, just really isn't that interesting. |
Why does TweetDeck consume as much RAM as my web browser? | codeslinger: IMHE, all AIR apps "leak" over time (meaning, absorb more and more RSS as time goes on). This is regardless of whether they were written with Flash/Flex or HTML/JavaScript or a combination. I wrote a really small AIR app (one pane with some JavaScript, no images or other media) and it starts off at 100MB o... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | msb: Did it three times on this thread alone. Here's hoping for 15! |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | jganetsk: I usually DO submit my comments, and regret it. This a tough crowd, and the system works very effectively. |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | raganwald: At least once before submitting this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=629784 |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | Radix: Yes, but more often I'll spend some time writing a comment then fret about word order a bit before submitting it. Immediately after submitting it I'll realize my fretting has mangled my intended message and I'll have to edit the comment.After I'm content I'll realize that my comment doesn't really add anything ... |
Would you pay for these services I'm thinking of building? | javert: You need a way to narrow down, among all the people using Mechanical Turk, people who actually fit the user's target demographic. You need this right from the get go.e.g. What people in India think of my craigslist add for something in North Carolina is totally irrelevant.Also, I agree with another poster, who ... |
Would you pay for these services I'm thinking of building? | oldgregg: I kind of like it. I've worked in contexts where the "decision makers" write terrible verbose copy. It would be nice to quickly see "but here is what the data shows"For that matter, forget mechanical turk. Get some really bad ass copywriters working freelance for you. Give me a text form where I paste in my A... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | charlesju: This is such an awesome post!I am doing fairly well too and I have hit this exact same problem. My plan of attack is 5 prong, feel free to use any of them.1. Minimize visual stimulation outside of work hours. No computers, no reading, no tv.2. Pick up hobbies that require you to socialize or be active. My pe... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | hagusmcfee: I remember seeing this on digg, and reddit.This thread is a call to arms for idiots everywhere. Hell, I never would have post if it were not for this thread. I never post, but I enjoy reading the good posts here that people put thought into making. Beware, HN! |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | azanar: Relatively rarely. I usually try to develop an intuitive sense of where my argument wants to go before I start typing, and I'm sure many a potential comment has been culled this way. When I'm typing along and find that I hit a contradiction, or something indicating something in my intuition has gone afoul, my f... |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | dlevine: I was in a similar situation a few years ago. I worked for a couple of top software companies, and had a job that most people would have loved. But, somehow I was unsatisfied. It got harder and harder to do productive work. After some soul searching, my conclusion was that I just didn't want to be an engineer.... |
Would you pay for these services I'm thinking of building? | huhtenberg: Re #1 - drop monthly and increase per-use fees (to $10-20) and your idea will find its audience.Monthly fees drag the customers in a long-term relationship that they most likely don't want to be entering. Setting the per-use fee that low serves no purpose. If you want to go after customers with no money, yo... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | keefe: No, I go to internet forums so I can suffer run of the mouth disease with impunity. I do proofread and edit my posts carefully to avoid making an undue ass out of myself, insofar as 1 minute of proofreading can do. |
I'm Tired of Hacking. What Do I Do? Please Advise. | keefe: Dude, it sounds like you are really stressed out. Consider the situation you are in (eerily similar to my own, but I haven't left to work on my webapp yet) : lots of job hopping, obvious talent for CS, staring in frustration at being unable to execute a dream, bit of money saved up. I think you need to recognize... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | chanux: Yeah I do. I've deleted one comment RIGHT after posting too.Never deleted comments which are being judged (Upvoted(obviosly) or down voted). I am man enough to bear the judgments.One thing this community do for good is they only let quality comments in. |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | hellweaver666: Frequently. I know for a fact that I'm not as articulate or as clever as half the guys on HN so I figure sometimes it's better to say nothing at all than to say something stupid. If I want to post dumb comments, I go to Reddit ;) |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | ErrantX: I just wrote a reply to a comment in this thread - then decided not to post.I'd say I write as many non-comments as ones I post. :)(someone else talks about flawed arguments: I have the same thing, often what Gut spews out in response to a comment sounds like total BS to head when you read it back properly :))... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | skwiddor: I've often wondered which websites might track all your keypresses and send them with the submission so they keep a record of your typing, and display only the final edit. Wouldn't be too hard to turn keypresses into ed commands. |
Why does TweetDeck consume as much RAM as my web browser? | gaius: It's insane when you consider what AIR applications actually do. The Facebook AIR client polls your newsfeed for updates and displays them in a rich text widget - 150M resident on this Windows PC after a few hours use. To put that into perspective I have a Tcl/Tk app that does more things (not FB, internal data ... |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | zandorg: Yes. Sometimes I don't want my ramblings on public record, or I may think it's way off topic. |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | quellhorst: No. I resist the temptation to not submit them. Even on this one. |
Do you use PHPMyAdmin as an alternative to your app admin? | ivanstojic: It really depends. There are some scenarios where it's impossible to administrate an application by fiddling with the database - for instance in cases where the application uses caching of any kind.My revelation regarding administration interfaces came when I realized that my admin interfaces do not have to... |
Do you use PHPMyAdmin as an alternative to your app admin? | jncraton: I generally like to use frameworks that take care of the admin interface for me so that I don't have to worry about it. Django is a good example of this. |
What's up with Red Bull's pricing strategy? | davidw: If you drink a lot of that junk, you need something like this:http://journal.dedasys.com/2008/10/17/programmer-fuelI think I paid 2 euro for that whole bottle. Wow was I wired that day... |
What's up with Red Bull's pricing strategy? | jgrahamc: Perhaps Red Bull takes into account some discrete pricing jumps that people might have. For example, suppose a single can of Red Bull costs $1.50 (you haven't given that price, but I think it's important) and I go in and see that 4 cans cost $5. So I see that it's a good deal and it's just a five dollar bil... |
Do you use PHPMyAdmin as an alternative to your app admin? | nreece: I have used phpminiadmin ( http://phpminiadmin.sourceforge.net ) as the app admin alternative once before. It worked out pretty well. |
Do you write comments, and then not submit them? | tailingoff: Yes. I was heavily downvoted for a couple posts defending an unpopular opinion in a busy discussion. I didn't flame but got flamed. I sincerely posted my views and I guess everyone decided I was an idiot or a troll. Because my account is trivially linked to my real name I've been posting fluff to push the ... |
Help me to chose a mobile plattform for development | arien: You should probably check on the usual suspects: what apps do you want to make, who are you making apps for, what kind of mobiles does your target market usually have AND (maybe more important) what influences their decisions on acquiring phones (trends, utility/job, available apps..). Studying what your future ... |
Do you use PHPMyAdmin as an alternative to your app admin? | SwellJoe: I use the Webmin MySQL module quite a bit for this on our Drupal site.I don't see why it would be recommended not to use whatever tool fits the situation. If you understand your application well enough to hit the database directly, you probably understand it well enough to not break its integrity by modifyin... |
What's up with Red Bull's pricing strategy? | chanux: In local stores (in my country) a Redbull costs me around $2.5. Looks like you guys are very lucky :) |
What's up with Red Bull's pricing strategy? | progLiker: It isn't legal were I live! :-) |
What's up with Red Bull's pricing strategy? | lacker: 1. You can't compare Walmart to Amazon and expect the same prices.2. Although larger quantities are usually cheaper by the unit, sometimes that is not true. Maybe the store is running low on inventory for the larger one, or high for the smaller one. Maybe they cut the price on the smaller one to act as a loss l... |
Home Automation businesses? | noodle: i think that the only way that it will become a seriously profitable business that will be useful to the masses, not just the rich and famous, is if someone could justify it via a cost-benefit analysis. prove that whatever you're going to do will be worth the customers' money.otherwise, if its just frivolousne... |
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