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Comment by bityard | Hacker News Reader

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bityard·

This is essentially how I find myself defending a lot of my DIY stuff.

"Wait, you work in tech, why would you ever work on your own car when you can clearly pay someone else to do it???"

Because I like to learn things.

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Learning things is good. I also find I care more about the outcome and timeline than many professionals do, because I have to deal with the end result. That's not to say professionals can't or won't do the job better, or that they don't have more applicable experience to do the job more efficiently, but evaluating professionals is often as much or more work as learning how to do the job myself and just doing it. On average, the end result is at least better than a poor professional, sometimes as good or better than an average professional.

Agreed, that is the same way I view things. There is also the great feeling of satisfaction when you finish repairing your own stuff.

More than that, I know every bolt is tight, every piece is inspected, and it connects me to the machine.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, if you haven't read it

Recently I had to do some changes to a 3d rendering my contractor provided so I learned Krita to do it. Dare I say the results were not bad. But as good as a professional designer? Of course not. Was it satisfying to be able to show him exactly what I wanted? Hell yeah.

I hate not understanding things. I hate pricing that I do not understand.

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