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Comment by busterarm | Hacker News Reader

Add me to the list of software developers who desires to switch to woodworking/machining.

Less machine learning, more learning machining?

Less training models, more model trains

Add me too. Somehow the joy of seeing things being built from raw materials in the real world equates that of complex software being created out of nothing. But the finite element of the real world has that extra satisfying element: no dependencies to update, (mostly) no security patches, generally less maintenance, and it lasts longer.

No undo button. CTRL-z is the thing you will miss most in the real world.

True, for immediate things having this ability is a godsend. But as software and bugs "dry up", it can get just as hard to chisel out as physical material.

Timber framing here. That's woodworking.

I too would love to do it. It irks me to this day that I was taught nonsense such as latin in school instead of woodwork or metalwork.

In my High School I didn't learn Latin, but I did learn some wood and metal working, and also a little bit about engines.

At the end of the day, we're people who build stuff and problem-solving/analytical skills are transferable.

The draw to these seemingly not-so-adjacent fields is strong.

Serious question, didn't anyone else' school have shop class? I was a college prep, NHS, cross country, all AP core courses kind of guy, and I took it all four years of high school.

Or was there some kind of restriction on taking it at your school? Or maybe your parents didn't let you?

Genuinely curious as to why someone with a professed interest would not have taken shop?

At my high school shop was at the same time as band and other music classes, so you couldn't do both.

Lots of schools don't have the classes though, probably mostly because of funding.

And insurance.

There was a special program at my school that gave you more shop classes. They did everything to discourage me from joining it, because it's where they shoved the struggling kids. I really enjoyed it, and really can't see why it was just for struggling kids.

This was the last year before the school reform. They ended that program. In fact they ended shop class altogether.

High school was 20 years ago for me and no shop classes.

It was over 20 years ago for me, and we had shop classes. It's amazing how heterogeneous the US school system has been, and continues to be apparently.

It was only offered in certain types of secondary school. Mine was considered 'posh' and so we wore blazers and learned latin, whereas other schools didn't have blazers and offered 'trade' subjects.

Primary school a little of pottery and woodworking. Secondary school sewing and cooking. High school nothing.

Shop was heavily discouraged for college-track students when I went through high school, both by the administration in terms of guidance counseling and timing of the classes, as well as through heavy social reinforcement by peers.

Perfect example of why so many people hate high school. "Avoid this thing you're interested in because it won't help your career prospects. Also it's a waste of time."

Pretty much this at my high school as well. They had a shop class and auto repair class. I really wish I had taken those (I did take shop in middle school though).

Largely we had to choose -- take the college prep classes (AP whatever, languages) OR trades classes. There was definitely classism -- "trade classes are for poor kids". =(

I would much rather schools require things like: financial literacy, and building/repairs/cooking. They are lifelong skills and very useful. There's no reason its an either or proposition.

I don't think mine did. Maybe. I remember hearing one classmate mention shop once, but maybe I misheard him or he was joking or something. If we did have a shop class, it wasn't advertised, I don't know who taught it or where the shop was.

Mine did, but in my sophomore year, they were cut due to budget constraints that failed to meet a referendum. Industrial tech, foods, automotive, and welding all got the axe. Music and sports only stuck around because of the boosters. The Cisco and CAD classes stuck around because the local community college sponsored them, which is how I ended up where I am today I guess.

'Design & Technology' (woodworking, little metal, textiles, food, etc.) is on the curriculum in the UK, so I did that. Had to take one variant at GCSE, I did electronics. (Having waited practically my entire school life to have a lesson that was electronics and only electronics!)

But it irks me to this day that the language I opted for, Latin, was dropped that annus, because not enough others signed up.

You can't please everyone. (I did like wood/metal work though, just not as much by far as electronics. I'd be much more interested now though - I watch an awful lot of it on YouTube.)

To be completly honest, we had a lot of classes of metalworking, woodworking, textiles, etc in our school before the '89 Revolution in Romania.

I really enjoyed it and it made me love working with materials and building physical things.

Still writing software...But renovating my house was a nice way to remember all that lost skills.

I wish I had taken anything but latin in HS. Only reason I did it was because of colleges requiring foreign language classes, and by the time I had graduated, I didn't have any plans of going to college.

How about robotics? It would allow you to combine mechanical engineering with CS.

A lot of modern mechanical engineering practice is building and using software.

Source: am a mechanical engineer who works on my industry's software

I like to build synthesizers.

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