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Comment by jeron | Hacker News Reader

I always thought this problem was better thought of as software engineer/farmer problem - it's easer to teach a software engineer about agriculture than the other way around

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Now I'm really wondering if that's true or not.

Software engineering can be self-studied very cheaply, lots of free resources, mostly you just need time and motivation. Failure is usually cheap.

Farming on the other hand requires more local, implicit and hands-on knowledge, capital requirements are high, feedback cycles are slower and failure is expensive.

Yeah one doesn’t sound obviously easier than the other to me

I really, really doubt any of these examples.

The guys pressing buttons are REALLY confident going into this one.

I small scale farm (done everything from windowsill to a half acre and back), crops and veggies only, no animals.

It’s much more difficult than software engineering, in every way.

I would argue the same is true of farming as well, you're just comparing differences in final outcomes. You can start learning basic farming techniques with a few pots, some seeds, water and a sunny spot in the same way you can get a raspberry pi and a keyboard sourcing information for both from YouTube fairly effectively.

There might be an argument for cost at the highest scale in each field which few in either profession really make it to but I'd bet even then its pretty on par.

I've been a huge fan of comparing the complexity or cost of a profession. We as a species specialize because doing these tasks in the most efficient way requires managing large number of details that are not obvious at first glance.

Really? You think someone who spends all day building systems with software will have an easy time studying and gaining a CDL, learning about soil quality, drainage, fertilization, crop strategies, financing agreements (lease to own agreements, commodities futures, even forex), working with hired labor and managing contractors, engine repair and small scale fabrication? I think the farmer would undoubtedly get bored of being cooped up inside all day at a computer, but they wouldn't have a hard time understanding how to create a system from small moving pieces that they can direct.

Substantiate your claim! A farmer is much better generalist than a "software engineer". FFS, the engineer doesn't even use science and the farmer does.

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