Hacker News Reader

solidiston Work is work, in which returns diminish (2020)

Software is "nice" because I can flex muscles and achieve things independent of "work." Many endevours require groups of humans to do; it is tablestakes.

Writing is the same, and hence why I like it so much.

solidiston Handbook for Writers (2015)

Can someone provide the important cliff notes?

solidiston Rethinking indoor air chemistry

I wouldn't overthink it. Opening windows frequently is a good thing. Doing it during winter is even better. Oh and use crbon/hepa air filtering in bedrooms while sleeping.

solidiston Almost half of cancer deaths are caused by smoking, alcohol, or obesity

Everything in moderation. Those who are conscientious achieve longevity but trade off with less than ideal experiences of anxiety.

solidiston So You Want to be a Writer (2016)

Well, don't use ellipses in the title then.

solidiston Americans still think they can make money flipping houses

But a roof is the "main cost event" to maintain a single family home in a decade timescale. With decades/century timescales and the flux increase appreciating nature of housing, these type of costs are pulverized to the ground. $27/month really became at least half that on inflation alone (seeing the past thirty year on the dollar), coupled by increases equity of the house, renos done on borrow, and over its course of time it becomes cents or disappears into an upside.

I think it will be more interesting with "basic structure integrity" at the century scales. Do we really know economic impacts when tract housing/wood structures are tested well? I'm thinking past time scale of the electric and plumbing overhauls at the 50-100 year marks. There is a ton of housing out there that is less than a century old.

solidiston AI is discovering patterns in pure mathematics that have never been seen before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyOEwiQhzMI&t=8s

solidiston Old video game advertisements

Did the publisher Manning get book cover inspiration from "INTERACTIVE MAGIC?"

https://retrocgads.tumblr.com/image/663605323106582528

solidiston Some career advice (2019)

Well written. Well said. What a timeless post.

solidiston How to gain more from your reading

Sharing on own reading habits: https://link.medium.com/4a2hr1VE6hb

I liked the part of reading everyday - even just a page or two. I found through my own experience to be rewarding in time.

Another one I've learned is being open and immediately committed to reading suggestions for others, it's personally opened my perspective(s)

solidiston My thoughts about the Principal role

Nice. Here is my attempt following a few years partnering as an eng manager:

https://dev.to/solidi/what-is-a-principal-engineer-anyway-55...

solidiston Technologies I thought my son would never use

"only now 30 years later are we starting to see virtual reality"

As Tom Hall said (paraphrase) "No one wants to strap shit to their face". I'd bet it's still very much a novelty in 30 years.

solidiston Writing advice should stop targeting people who hate to write

Some years into habitual writing, this is all I've got:

https://dev.to/solidi/recognizing-remote-romantic-bibliophil...

It guess what I learned is that each piece is about a "concept." Say it clearly. And enjoy it years later by reading it again. And finally publish something, no matter how small once monthly.

solidiston Write Simply

I've failed at writing. In its cathartic process I sketched.

https://medium.com/@solidi/the-one-about-blogging-cd9e65a205...

solidiston Product Manager vs. Product Marketing Manager vs. Product Owner

ihmo

pm: "watch this" po: "this over that" pjm: "predict this"

I haven't much experience with pmms. What are they like?

For those who are interested in what I observed in working with these roles: https://dev.to/solidi/what-is-a-product-manager-anyway-3pc4

solidiston NES.css – NES-Style CSS Framework

It doesn't look like how I remember it.

solidiston Rollerball Pens of 2021

Some things to rate next time:

1. "smudge factor" - does this ink dry quickly? 2. "dropped pen on point from distance" - is the pen resilient when dropped on/close its point? 3. "consistency factor over time"- does the pen deliver flow throughout its lifetime?

For #1, the experience is immediately soured if the pen is lifted onto my hand seconds after writing. Some brands have this problem - and it sucks. Ex: if writing quickly in a pocket moleskine, close it, and then open to find lifting on the other page.

For #2, most pens dropped on their head distorts the roller ball action. I've lost a few pens to this problem.

#3 some pens I've had in this list will not last the whole way through - either the ball rolls too much ink, or jams over the lifetime, rendering the remaining experience less than ideal.

I've been journaling for a few years, daily, and always carried a roller pen of various brands. My go to continues to be the uniball vision, which is good, but still is subjected to all above.

solidiston The Cabal: Valve’s Design Process for Creating Half-Life (1999)

from the mod makers pov, circa after they launched in 1999:

https://medium.com/super-jump/building-a-popular-half-life-m...

Mod making was a digital cabal concept, with local leads forming fiefdoms. They were opinionated to a design/delivery. Sometimes straying to other mods, but mostly focusing on one concept at a time.

solidiston Technical debt as a lack of understanding

A metaphor I like on technical debt is a reoccuring monthly power utility bill that is mailed to the team.

Everyone pays bills, so there is no abstratcion.

Teams prefer to keep it constant and portitonal to the utility of the structure standing and building.

Every so often it goes up and phoning it "in" to the company to pick up discounts.

If the bill is unchecked, eventually it will sap away all of the monthly expentiure.

When the rate is unmanageable, the team members look at each other in disbelief.

solidiston Discipline Doesn’t Scale

Discipline Doesn't Scale, Defaults Do.

solidiston What is expected of a engineering manager?

I appreciated the write and liked how some references back to high output management - excellent book. I wrote a similar contemplating piece, being in the role for some years now. Here: https://dev.to/solidi/what-is-an-engineering-manager-anyway-...

The management role is challenging and has affected me to the part where I go on continuous daily walks, thinking about what to do next. I mess up and have broken down on numerous occasions about tackling challenging topics that play out for both the business and the individual in contra. I still care.

Some things I missed doing well: Being a shield. Do this more. But more importantly to me: to leave engineers better than I find them. Ratcheting is the metaphor. I understand that I'm always asking for more.

It's a lot of meta and reflection while the delivering is or isn't happening.

solidiston The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity (2017)

The Presence of One’s Smart Friend/Coworker Increases Available Cognitive Capacity (always)

solidiston Classic books for tech leads or those aspiring to be

https://dev.to/solidi/what-is-a-tech-lead-anyway-483p

Well said.

solidiston JavaScript for Impatient Programmers

JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford. Note that this was written in 2008 but still holds up well.

https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockfo...

It may be a perfect time for a revision.

solidiston Personal OKRs for Success

Indeed. And we do what we value.

solidiston Software reuse is more like an organ transplant than snapping Lego blocks (2011)

Fred Brooks had a similar take, in an opinionated way, with the concept of "lead surgeon". Motivation to re-read the chapter in mythical man-month.

solidiston My experiment with clear and direct communication

Thank you for sharing.

solidiston If I could bring one thing back to the internet it would be blogs

A very short post (a graphic, really) about what I learned about blogging over the years.

https://medium.com/@solidi/the-one-about-blogging-cd9e65a205...

The discovery? I am interested in humanist side of software development. With writing once every 2 months for 3.5 years, this small but impactful finding changed my life and focus.

solidiston The Rule of Three (2017)

https://kentcdodds.com/blog/aha-programming/

AHA is the trope of the rule of 3. Albeit this post was written some time after this post.

I remember it this way: avoid making things dry that they become brittle.

solidiston What is the engineering hiring bar?

The word "experience" only appears twice in the 26-minute read.