Ask HN: Learning the technology/tool/stack that you don't like | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Learning the technology/tool/stack that you don't like

4 pointsLLcolD4 comments

I've liked old Google Analytics. I don't like GA4. I can't even force myself to start using it. It just isn't user friendly.

So I'm looking at alternatives now. And I wonder. Which ever tool I end up using, I'll still have to learn it. Maybe it is better to force myself into embracing GA4 than to learn new tool. Like it or not GA seems like a standard tool that everyone is using. When I was looking at job adds almost all mention GA by name, some adds say that you need to understand/use some web analytics tools but rarely I see other tools listed my name.

For veterans of IT, how do you decide when the time comes to start using some new tool which one will you embrace? Trends can be just hype. When I'm investing my time I want to invest in into something that is valuable to learn. So how to know what it is?

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So, a tool is not a skill. I start from that when considering investments of time. When it comes to tools my time spent becoming more proficient must result in time saved squared. When it comes to skills the investment of time can result in a time deficit, because the important thing is the learning which opens new opportunities.

I learned SQL for the first time last year writing almost exclusively in stored procedures. The logic feels archaic compared with modern functional concepts but SQL joins taught me a new way of doing things.

The time invested in learning new skills becomes productive when you can use those new learnings to build new original things or make new original decisions. If you are incapable or unwilling to make/do original things learning things is probably wasting your time.

I don't have much to add except that GA4 is absolute crock of horse shit. I am baffled at how Google comes up with these ideas and their Product Management strategy. They took a reasonably simple product (UA) and totally destroyed with this so called "everything is configurable" tool where now I cant even basic stats without fiddling with some configs and settings. WTF Google.

I wouldn't switch and invest time into marginal improvement, but I would for magnitude one.

As they say, build something that is 10x better, because people won't change their habits for slightly better.

Not to mention hidden costs in switching - things you don't anticipate, things you have to learn, things that are missing...

Isn’t ga4 going to be the dominant tracking method used in the future? Not sure about a depreciation schedule or timeline - guess what I’m getting at is it’s easiest to learn a tool if it’s the only option or if one is desperate. Or if they’re being paid to do so

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