retrac98

Can someone explain like I have a degree in computer science from a good university, but opted for a career as a software engineer in some relatively high level languages?

I'd refuse to work anywhere that did this. It puts people on a treadmill they can't get off of.

Yup, the Twitter replies are pretty much what I expected. This tit-for-tat JS pissing contest is so old. Just use what makes sense for your project, there are no silver bullets.

Yes, much more is accurate. That said, it's not all roses.

Drawbacks are:

- Lack of job security

- Loneliness (always an outsider)

- More responsibilities (pension, taxes, vat returns, chasing invoices, legal etc.) It all gets pretty draining

- No sick pay

- Contract writing/negotiation

- You often end up working longer hours to get things done and keep people happy

- Getting a mortgage or loan in the UK is generally more difficult if self employed, even if you're making bank.

The other thing I'd add is that to be a good contractor/consultant you need to have a well rounded skillset that extends far beyond the technical. The ability to make any sort of impact at a larger business where management are too fond of meetings, marketing are completely change-averse and engineering just want to see you fail has very little to do with your ability to engineer software. You need to get decisions made, win confidence and support and integrate with teams very quickly - it can take you away from doing what you love sometimes.

Basically, I'm glad to have the money right now but I'm not sure i'll do this forever. The comfort/security of normal employment is sorely tempting.

It seems like these kinds of salaries only really exist for full time employees in the US. As a software architect (engineer team size ~100) in the UK I was only making £65k. I could have shopped around and got more, much more if I went to London but still nothing like I read about in the US.

I ended up leaving full time employment for contracting/consulting.

Got a laugh out of "Recreational computer time"

Is this artwork only available at a maximum resolution of 4k, or is that a guaranteed minimum?

Just wanted to say well done. Lots of people here throwing up problems, complaints, reasons why this won't work etc. I think this is great.

Where to Opera get their money? Building and maintaining a browser seems like an expensive undertaking, and yet despite nobody I know using or even testing their websites on Opera, they've been actively developing and maintaining their browser for years.

Yes, TV here is shit, but the TV licence is completely optional if you're not the applicable content, you can opt-out online: http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/te...

Give consumers a legal service that's better than the illegal alternative.

Seems kinda selfish to risk your family's wellbeing for the sake of your business dream.

What a joke.

Are there any parties in the UK that have sensible mainstream policies in general, and a good grasp on the importance of Internet freedoms?

Doesn't methane have a much more powerful greenhouse effect than CO2 though?

> Key difference is that agriculture is a closed cycle, animals produce a lot of green house gas, but it's gas that's already a part of our ecosystem.

How is it a closed cycle? They require a lot of food and water to be grown, all of which has its own greenhouse gas cost to produce, and then they fart methane while they're alive and require more fuel to process/transport. All the while the world demand for meat is increasing pretty quickly, right?

How does animal agriculture affect this? Are there any authorities on the subject on HN? Everything I've heard suggests the greenhouse gas emissions in support of animal agriculture far outstrip those of pretty much anything else, but nobody seems to really talk about it.

Pre-empting a couple of replies here - I already don't eat meat, and yes I've seen "Cowspiracy". :)

I wrote up my experiences with successfully shipping a side project here: https://medium.com/leaf-software/5-tips-for-actually-shippin...

I wonder how they'll compete. My sandwich man at work, and street vendors at the market all have iZettle now. Perhaps square will take less of a cut?

It seems unrealistic to expect AirBnB to "fix" this issue. This is a cultural problem, not a technical one, and it's outside their sphere of control. Sure, they could shut down a few blatantly racist hosts... but that'll never stamp out the underlying sentiment and they'll never get them all.

I think a more realistic expectation on them would be for them to actively promote equality and do their bit to contribute towards a larger cultural shift in that regard. For example, while on-boarding hosts, show a short video encouraging a bit of open-mindedness.

Ugh, this is depressing. Engineers seem to make so much more money in the states than elsewhere.

I'm UK based/in my late 20s, and a £100k+ salary in regular employment just seems completely unavailable outside of a big tech firm in London.

I don't believe this works well, especially in larger organisations. Groups of people naturally form a hierarchy, whether it's officially recognised or not. It's human nature.

Quality over quantity. Apply to a few jobs, apply directly, really get to know the company before you apply and show that in your application by completely tailoring each one to the job.

I'd also market yourself as a Software Engineer (or a better known job title) rather than a "Product Designer". In the right company, an engineering role will see you dip your toes into all aspects of the product development process, which seems to be what you're after.

Lastly, remember that you need to stand out at every step of the recruitment process, from the easily discarded stack of resumes, to the checking your social media/github profiles, to the interview and technical assessment.

One thing this article doesn't mention is the performance of iOS. It is often incredibly sluggish when opening or closing apps, moving between apps, unlocking the device and answering a phone call from the lock screen.

Personally, I'd rather have much stricter performance requirements for their mobile software than anything else right now. Having something that's almost an extension of myself lock up on me for a few seconds whenever I try to do something seems like pretty bad design to me.

If you're familiar with JS then arguably the easiest transition route for you would be to start building some node based services on the back-end.

It'll allow you to get to grips with some of the gotchas you get with back-end development with an ecosystem you're already familiar with, once you've conquered those you can then start branching out to other languages and frameworks pretty easily with a solid understanding of back-end principles.

Another benefit of this approach is there's a huge demand for JS engineers who are comfortable on the front and back end at the moment, so it sounds like you're in a great position to spread your wings.