besasam · HackerTrans

8 yıl öncediscuss

Maybe try to find tech groups and hacker spaces around you. Here in Europe we have the Chaos Computer Club, there's probably equivalents where you live. Or join hackathons. I've always found it easy to connect to people at places like these and you might find someone who can guide you a bit.

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

Kudos for the question generator, one of my profs did that too and it was such a lifesaver.

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

Right now I'm working on a suite of tools for calendar/schedule/to-dos, money expense tracker, etc. All for myself because the available tools are either too bloated, or don't have the features I need, or cost too much.

So look at all the tools and apps you use and think of the moments you thought "It sure would be cool if it could do this instead of this or if this looked different" and build your own. I feel like this method is especially good for someone just starting out because you can take inspiration from other software and don't have to build everything from the ground up.

Or maybe browse GitHub and see if there are some open source projects you could contribute to. :) If you see something you like, look if there are open issues and try to fix them.

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

>you would have have to create a feature for feature better product, and offer it at a lower price point.

Have you tried out Affinity? I'm not sure about the features yet, but it's definitely just as visually appealing at a fraction of the cost (and non-subscription).

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

I'm hopeful for the new GIMP release. There was a thread about it yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16686941

Sadly, when it comes to things like context-aware fill, Photoshop still outperforms any alternative I've tried, so I'm probably going to stick to it for a while longer.

Bit off topic, but if you're still looking for a video editing software, try Hitfilm Express: https://hitfilm.com/express

It's non-free but doesn't cost anything, and it's really powerful but still really easy to use.

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

I really enjoyed that too, this is exactly how you do unobtrusive ads. I'd maybe put them on gradient backgrounds too, since the black disrupts the visual flow a bit.

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

Went to university for 4 years, learned some basics and lots of mathematics and theoretical stuff. I could tell you how an operating system works, how data is transferred between networks down to the physical layer, calculate the best and worst case performance of an algorithm, but if you asked me to write a simple program I would not have been able to do it.

Then I got a trainee job, had someone mentor and teach me, and within a month I was building my own server applications and web interfaces.

But the longer I'm at this, the more I realize how much I just don't know and how much there is to learn. It's hard to pinpoint an exact moment where I would say "yep, I'm a true programmer now" and I'm sure I haven't even reached that point yet by a long shot. But as long as I keep learning (and collecting green squares on GitHub), I'm satisfied with my work.

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

There's a difference between being an introvert and having (clinical) social anxiety. It's an irrational fear and no amount of "realizing" will help with that. Cognitive behavioral therapy however will teach you to recognize thought patterns and channel them elsewhere, but that's something entirely different from "stopping giving a shit".

Source: extrovert with lots of anxiety who loves the public but still gets irrationally scared of it at times

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

There was also a study done on rats that showed they would not seek out drugs when in an a nurturing and stimulating environment. Kurzgesagt have made a great video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8L-0nSYzg

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

Those names are really something. Love it.

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

It's a bit of a dilemma, isn't it. I would love an alternative to Photoshop or Affinity that actually offers the same features and has a nice UI (let's be real, it's something most free applications really lack... and the look and feel of the software I'm using has high priority for me) but those who actually want these things aren't the ones developing, and the ones developing apparently don't place a lot of importance on it.

We really need more interdisciplinary developers and free software enthusiasts. I know I'm already working on it as an artist-turned-coder :D

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

Usually get up between 6 and 7am. My body basically forces me into bed by 11pm, often earlier.

It's not as fun as staying up until the am every night, but I sure don't miss feeling tired and sluggish all day.

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

You deeply underestimate the wealth of the infamous "1%".

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

Hadn't really considered the natural sciences there, you're right! I was talking mainly from a tech/engineering perspective and at least in my generation (filthy millenials) and among my peers in uni I've observed the opposite.

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

>if you have only a bachelor, people assume something went wrong. The target at university always was a Master's degree.

What? This is definitely not true in Germany, at least not anymore. Unless you want to go into research or teaching, it's commonplace for graduates to start working right away.

I think a much bigger problem that contributes to the devaluation of university degrees is the fact that students that don't really need a degree still get pushed to attend university - and that's definitely because of current recruiting practices where you really have no chance without at least a Bachelor's. I've met so many people in university who only really wanted to code and got no use out of learning things like automata theory, complexity, higher mathematics. Not saying it isn't important to learn these things, but you gotta differentiate between coders and computer scientists. And if coder positions require a computer science degree, well... Of course you're going to end up devaluing those degrees.

Edit: Adding to this, I attended university for 4 years before switching to a more practice-oriented college. In those 4 years I had one programming lecture (which only introduced three different language paradigms and didn't go into depth) and a system programming lab (admittedly, this was really cool). Everything else was mostly theoretical computer science and mathematics. Now, I chose this university because people told me of its good reputation and I felt like I had to attend a prestigeous school to get a good job, but it didn't really teach me any practical skills at all, so even if I had graduated I would've had a hard time landing that "good job" due to complete lack of experience.

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

Same. There really needs to be a good alternative to manage and discover events in your area, but most will probably fail due to the missing userbase/users' reluctance to switch to a new platform.

Some organizers/venues in my area put you on their guest list and have lower entrance fees for people who are "going" to their Facebook event. The only way I see a switch happening is if they agree to only offer those rewards for users of the new platform. But some of them are already showing dissent and setting up their own mailing lists/group texts, so I still have hope!

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

Yep, that's what I thought. What works best for me is keeping it as natural as possible most of the time - lots of fruits and vegs, legumes, full-grain bread, rice, sometimes a bit of meat. Pretty much balances out the once-in-a-blue-moon junk food or sweets binges. Never understood those insanely restrictive diets.

Cutting out dairy after I found out I'm lactose intolerant probably had the biggest effect on my quality of life - I'd urge anyone with digestive problems to get tested for it, it's a lot more prevalent than one would think.

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

When you say "no sugar at all, especially added sugar", do you include natural sugar in fruit (and some vegetables)?

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

1. Telegram.

2. You tell them it has cooler stickers.

besasam

8 yıl öncediscuss

Being a 100lbs female, caffeine seems to have a much stronger effect on me than most other people. I get jittery and anxious, and when I have coffee after 12pm I have a hard time falling asleep in the evening. The little bit of wakefulness wasn't really worth it for me - instead I've been working on fixing my sleep schedule. And if I do need a little pick-me-up, I now drink green or mate tea instead.

This has the added bonus of having literally zero tolerance for caffeine, so if I do need (or want) to stay up long into the night, 1-2 cups of coffee or an energy drink will see me through until the early morning hours.

comments