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Comment by MrBuddyCasino | Hacker News Reader

Get a hobby (woodworking), something physical where you work with your hands (woodworking) and is easy enough to start but has near infinite depth (woodworking). Could be anything.

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As I've become older and now own a house, I've really become a lot more interested in most trade work, such as electrician, plumber, construction, mechanic. I love getting my hands dirty and fixing/creating something physical... sure beats sitting in a chair.

Buying a house definitely inspired me to become more handy largely because most of the work is straight forward and it can be cheaper to do some repairs yourself. The caveat here is some can be more expensive cause you do the work twice or three times or hire a pro after you mess up. But that is what we call learning.

I agree, and will that said hobby is likely to be more effective if it partly, but not entirely, engages the same analytic & creative knowledge work skills that you've already honed by getting into tech in the first place.

for me, it's writing the dragon-as-protagonist fantasy novel I wish someone had already written.

There's a creative side (the world is whatever I say, mwahaha) but if you introduce the discipline to say 'my story should be publishable if i decide to go that route' then the analytic side comes up because there are relatively defined criteria a given story needs to contain in order to be publishable (total length, sequencing of action / reaction units, building scenes & sequels, viewpoint rules, description curtailments, etc.)

So - what is something that is not coding, but has a creative & analytic side to it that you could do as a side hobby? Woodworking is definitely that, writing a book is that, some people even seem to do side-gigs as their hobby, I'm sure it's even possible to make a video game hobby or a tabletop RPG hobby into those two pieces as well.

Just don't make your hobby 'I stare at the TV' level. 'I stare at the TV then blog about it' would even work.

Cooking has these qualities, too.

Absolutely. Or baking. I learned how to make sourdough last year and am now at the point where I make all the bread our family needs. Sourdough is especially deep because the steps are so simple on paper yet so full of nuance to explore. Easy to learn hard to master sort of situation.

Agree. Pizza baking is kind of the same, it is impressive how deep down the rabbit hole you can go with it.

can confirm - did exactly this. Plus big+immediate quality of life improvements from the work you do! Note: "woodworking" also includes composites and some plastics (metal and paper are different). Laser cutters and 3D printers add fascinating options, e.g. laser cut a template for use with a handheld router.

there's also an egalitarian community in "builders" and you'll find all sorts of friends who just-so-happen to also have interest/skills in this stuff.

I second this. My thing is pottery. I started in January of 2021 and have been doing it ever since. It cost me 50 dollars for a few hour-long courses at a local studio and it has been an absolute godsend. The pure cosmic joy of seeing and feeling something come into existence quite literally in your hands is unparalleled.

> Could be anything.

How about something like woodworking?

Or they could start working with wood.

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