Better | Hacker News Reader

Better

43folders.com

105 pointsbrm16 comments

I'm sure I consumed my share of junk from the internet, but it was not all without value. I am glad that I have learned about so many technologies, old and new, from places like Hacker News. I may not be able to use them expertly, but when I run into a problem I know what tools are out there. I know about Lisp, Python, Perl, Haskell, EC2, Ruby on Rails, Django, Cocoa, Couch DB, scalability, functional programming, object oriented programming, design principles, VCS and DVCS, and a hundred other things. Sure, there's a lot of noise in there, but also a signal.

When I recently had a chance to work with some programmers not so steeped in internet lore, all they knew was Java, and not well. They also knew of PHP's existence, and considered it the wave of the future for web apps.

Now, if both of us were to start a web company, which do you think would win?

Now, if both of us were to start a web company, which do you think would win?

I'm of the opinion that while you'd have a head start, if the other programmers have the drive and skill (for studying) that they would need to succeed in any case, they would be able to pick up on the technology and principles as they go.

It's not your previous exposure to various tech principles and "internet lore" that will make you succeed, those will only give you a small head start (and some interesting material to discuss with other hackers at meetups). It will come down to skill, determination, timing, and a fair bit of luck.

It's hard to hold constant all variables except one between persons. Is it reasonable to expect that a programmer with drive and skill wouldn't know about some internet lore, wouldn't know of resources like freenode and stackoverflow.com, and wouldn't know something about the variety of technologies that are out there?

The direction of causation is tricky to unwind. I think you're right, however. If a two programmers were of equal competence, except one only knew about Java and the other sat on Hacker News all day, the Hacker News reader would probably only have a small head start. However, it would be hard to find two programmers that met those descriptions and were of equal competence.

I recently discovered that you can pay freelancers for 2 hours work on a small problem [an edge case], and save yourself 10 hours. You don't even have to pay stock, as people are pleased to be paid $80 for an hour's work.

EDIT: However, knowing what to ask for (what you need doing) is important!

Good programmers can get far removed from the tools advocated on hacker news when they work for large companies. They tend to use a lot of internal tools. That doesn't mean they can't pick up external tools later.

I've become a fan of Merlin's writing since he posted this last December.

If you enjoyed this, go read Real Advice Hurts http://www.43folders.com/2008/12/03/real-advice-hurts which speaks to some of the same issues, and struck a chord with me. I've re-read it at least half a dozen times.

Its a nice thought, and I feel where he's coming from, but it feels like one of those rants thats a bit in denial about human nature.

Given that the rant comes from Merlin, it's likely that he has his tongue somewhere in his cheek

Edit added later: After hearing the podcast, he might just be sincere about this. Somewhat weird to see Merlin's cynicism not laced with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

My sense is that he's completely sincere about the whole thing.

He amplified the opinions expressed here in this talk with John Gruber: http://www.43folders.com/2009/03/25/blogs-turbocharged

Why wouldn't he be serious? As more and more people spew forth garbage onto the Internet, we just end up wasting more and more of each others' time. For god sakes, look at Twitter! Maybe there's some useful information in there sometimes, but for the most part it is pure noise -- and look how it's taking off! It's as if people would rather waste time both creating and consuming fluff than to spend the time to create and consume content that is actually worth something.

You don't think social interaction is worth something?

Broadcasting something to an undefined group of people doesn't really count as social interaction in my book. Even if it did, I'd consider it a pretty lazy and meaningless method thereof.

Your characterization of online social interaction is plain wrong. You can't assume everyone else approaches Twitter or Facebook the same way you might. People learn from each other online, argue with each other, start relationships, start/run businesses, share photos and videos, etc. I have no idea how you can overlook all the positive things to promote such a negative view.

Does Merlin take his own message very seriously? Take a look at his personal blog:

http://www.kungfugrippe.com/

Since this manifesto came out his output has slowed significantly and it's hard to argue that his posts and blog are "better" than they used to be.

Good vision, good post.

Yes, all those so-called social networks are just about an ability to say something, because it makes you feel a little better for at least several minutes. The feeling is what matters, not the content itself.

In 2000 - 2001 the livejournal.com service gained a huge popularity in Russia among mass-media and hi-tech workers. It were really good times.

It was a possibility to say something aloud, and to feel this so necessary feeling of being not alone, which, of course is mere an illusion.

That is why facebook got their 200 million users - I see them each day in those internet caffees in Thamel, uploading all the same almost identical photos and writing almost the same banal stories.

Self-exibition as another time-killing and keeping-the-mind-busy process, why not? Twitter is also here.

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