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fidrelity

547 karma · joined June 13, 2011

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fidrelity··on Apple’s risky, yearslong effort to design its own silicon is paying off
I'm generally not an Apple fan, I only use it for work and have never bought an Apple product with my own money.

Saying that the M1 MBP is pure bliss, so much that I'm for the first time considering spending my own money on an Apple product. And that is even though I still had a few issues here and there with Docker but the 'no fan, no heat' and strong battery life make well up for it!

fidrelity··on Always tell kids the truth (2019)
I'm from Europe, surrounded by much natural beauty, but to this day the Grand Canyon was one of the most profound experiences for me.
fidrelity··on Ask HN: Why is there no small Android phone?
I had the torture to look for a new phone recently and one of my requirements was also a small size coming from a Pixel 3a (about 150mm iirc).

If you're looking for a small but flagship Android then there's currently only the Asus ZenFone (expensive) or the Galaxy phones (s21, a52) which are reasonable in size. But at least the Samsung are full of bloatware.

I think the main reason not more are being built because it's hard to fit in a decent battery and the latest hardware needs more power so phones get bigger.

fidrelity··on Don't make me think, or why I switched to Rails from JavaScript SPAs
We're launching our next startup in less than a month and were faced with the same decision.

Ultimately went with Rails. As said in the article: so, so much comes out of the box or from a very well maintained ecosystem.

Real-time dashboards (action cable), background jobs (active jobs, sidekiq), auth, tooling, etc. was each less than a day's work which allows us to launch so freaking fast.

Only real downside in my eyes is the hiring for our location (central Europe) and future UI complexity, where my solution will probably be to just drop in a Vue app where it makes sense.

fidrelity··on Tell HN: A Conversation Needs to Be Had over Subscription Software
In general I do share your negative view on subscription business.

However, not all aspects of subscriptions - and not all players - are shady or bad. I wrote about the different aspects of subscription businesses recently[0] if you're interested.

[0] https://trive-studio.medium.com/do-you-hate-subscriptions-th...

fidrelity··on Ask HN: Advice for applying to Junior Software Engineering roles?
Your first job is definitely the hardest to get in your entire career. I wrote a few words of advice about this [0].

The summary of my advice is:

* Don't "spray and pray" your application, but look for companies that fit your tech preferences and specifically hire for junior devs.

* Prepare for the interview process. That can be as easy as asking the recruiter what questions you can expect in the interview (often they spill the beans without thinking)

* Build, build, build. The best way to show them you can in fact deliver is by having at least one up-and-running side project, the code on Github, etc. Give them something to look at even if you think it's not terribly impressive.

[0] https://andreschweighofer.com/career/how-to-get-the-right-jo...

fidrelity··on Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
1. "Helgoland: The world of quantum theory" It's relatively light on physics but I loved the philosophical mixin.

2. "Seed of knowledge, stone of plenty". Mostly about the electromagnetic properties of ancient monuments and how electromagnetic fields can impact seed fertility. I can not believe how this is such an invisible book.

3. "Humankind. A hopeful history". I thoroughly enjoyed this fact based retelling of human history.

fidrelity··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (October 2021)
Emma Wanderer (https://emmawanderer.com/) | Lead Software Engineer | Remote or HQ (Vienna, Austria) | Full Time

Emma Wanderer is a startup rethinking how we can “Work & Live Everywhere” in the future. Emma Wanderer strives to become Europe’s leading brand and service company for nature-loving people who want to work flexibly.

We're looking for a Lead Software Engineer: https://emmawanderer.com/jobs/lead-software-engineer

Apply at the link above or reach out to me directly andre.schweighofer[æt]emmawanderer[dot]com

fidrelity··on Ask HN: Need ideas to deliver 5x growth in SaaS
5x growth in what timeframe?
fidrelity··on Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?
- barefoot shoes (brands: vivobarefoot and mukishoes). I could write a long rave now about barefoot shoes but I'll try to keep it short: No more knee pains after long walks, every time I go out the amount of sensations is pure joy and a powerful mindfulness experience.

- A used Garmin Forerunner 920XT. It's a pretty old model but it still works well for many different sport types. That was great when I did triathlons, then focused on running with the advanced HR and now I mostly use it as an alarm clock that doesn't wake the kids. Battery lasts forever.

- Kindle. I'm a "physical book" person and I'm not a fan of the Amazon lock-in but I got one for my birthday and my reading has exploded. It makes my reading just so much more accessible.

fidrelity··on Ideas are cheap, code is not
Over the years I built so much stuff which was never used or never created any value. So over time I realised I can create more value by not writing code.

But knowing when not to write code meant understanding the business, the stakeholders, product management and deal with all those people! Something I definitely didn't consider my job when I started.

fidrelity··on A Product Engineer’s Guide to Platform Engineers (2019)
I believe the differentiation between product and platform engineers are creating an unnecessary divide:

A platform engineer builds something for a customer, just that in this case the customer is a developer, usually within the same organisation.

If anything applying product thinking to the problem helps the platform engineer: They have a clearer persona for their customers. They can more easily speak to their customers (if internally). They want to deliver value to their customers and fix their problems.

Why create this artificial divide and silo thinking? If your customers are not happy with your work you're doing a bad job and your product sucks.

fidrelity··on Coinbase S-1
If Satoshi is identified he might also still be alive.

This means that Satoshi's BTC (~1mio.) are potentially liquid which would mean a gigantic influx of fresh bitcoins.

It's quite plausible that any movement of these old wallets would crash the Bitcoin price for quite a while.

fidrelity··on Stonehenge may have been built in Wales and then relocated
To everybody who is interested in the possible purpose of Stonehenge and other megalithic structures I can recommend this book: Seed of Knowledge, Stone of Plenty (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/780619.Seed_of_Knowledge...).

It has nothing to do with ancient aliens and the like and is rather scientific about the electromagnetic properties of such structures.

fidrelity··on The Spoon Theory (2003)
I can't find the video but I'm pretty confident this was in fact Ayrton Senna.
fidrelity··on How HN crushed David Walsh's blog
Totally blows my mind as well.

This post[0] was #1 on the front page for a day and I had 0 issues serving requests running on the cheapest shared Wordpress hosting with the LiteSpeed Cache plugin enabled.

[0] https://andreschweighofer.com/agile/anxiety-in-product-devel...

fidrelity··on Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that reduces methane emissions by 80%
citation needed.

This is an all too easy narrative. Synthetic fertilisers might simply have caused an arms race for short term, higher efficiency which destroyed less efficient production techniques.

That does not make it long term efficient, see research on sustainable farming[0].

[0] https://rodaleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/RI-FST-Brochu...

fidrelity··on SensibleSideButtons – side navigation for third-party mice in macOS
As a Mac user who has not fully bought into their ecosystem this is an important productivity tool for me. Also I find it sad how such basics are missing from OSX.
fidrelity··on A $35 keyboard for children transformed me into a novelist
The latest Android version has a focus mode: https://www.blog.google/products/android/android-focus-mode/
fidrelity··on Anxiety in product development
Hey! I also saw that page not long ago on HN and I quite like it. I think under certain circumstances it makes sense to view software engineering processes mainly under the lense of risk. There are a few thoughts I have about this though: it reminds me of the saying that if your only tool is a hammer every problem looks like a nail.

I think what it really is about is managing uncertainty and talking about risks is one of many tools for that.

fidrelity··on Anxiety in product development
Thanks! If you have anything you particularly like or dislike please let me know. I'd really appreciate any feedback.
fidrelity··on Anxiety in product development
Although I have never been in a situation like yours, for me personally A Guide to Rational Living (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22673.A_New_Guide_to_Rat...) and meditation with the Waking up app helped tremendously.
fidrelity··on Anxiety in product development
Author here. I think you have a point here. Anxiety can certainly stem from the point you mentioned. But I also think anxiety from other sources can affect your development negatively.
fidrelity··on Ask HN: What's your quarantine side project?
I started blogging about PM, agile and engineering topics: https://andreschweighofer.com
fidrelity··on Kanboard – Kanban Project Management Software
Scrum sprints limit work in progress just like kanban. It's just that with kanban you can set more granular WIP limits. I wrote about this here: https://andreschweighofer.com/agile/kanban-as-an-evolution-o...
fidrelity··on China says it wants to eliminate Bitcoin mining
It's similar to new offices being built when there is enough empty office space in the city already.

If the government incentivises construction there will be big infrastructure projects. The government might not need the actual project and its output but rather the construction itself for fueling employment and economic growth.

fidrelity··on A few simple steps to vastly increase your privacy online
Brave uses Chromium under the hood, so if you're paranoid you could assume that Chromium has some kind of backdoor integrated.

Also, to my knowledge Brave Software Inc. is a For-Profit organisation.

Despite those facts I am personally using Brave. In my opinion you already cut out most of the "bad stuff" of Chrome with this choice.

fidrelity··on I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back
There are more and more phones produced without a headphone jack: https://smartphones.gadgethacks.com/news/always-updated-list...
fidrelity··on Swathing is going out of fashion, as most farmers desiccate to ripen their crops
I completely agree that the reality is far more nuanced.

Have you questioned your assumptions yourself that food cost has to go up using alternative approaches? There is research out there painting a different picture[1].

[1] https://rodaleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/RI-FST-Brochu...

fidrelity··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2018)
The "Learn more" link on https://gitcoin.co/about#jobs for the full stack developer position is broken.
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