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sakerbos

78 karma · joined February 25, 2022

My name’s Shaun and I’m a Frontend/Product Engineer based in Brisbane, Australia (previously Cape Town, South Africa ).

I pivoted from rocks to code

Early on in my career as a Geologist, I was buried under an avalanche of manual processes, something was at fault, it was a bore and it wasn't very Gneiss

I knew there had to be a better way. So I taught myself how to code. All of a sudden I had superpowers, automating processes left, right and center, with some staff not even knowing what to do with their time anymore, I was the schist

It wasn’t enough; I wanted more superpowers. So I spent the next 6 months studying coding after hours, much to my wife and dog’s dismay - not only because I had less availability but because they were forced to look at all the things I had built, “See how I just made that text turn red!”

But eventually I did it! I got my first job as a real live web developer, making websites on the internet! Although even that wouldn’t quench my insatiable thirst for automation…

Shortly thereafter, during a chance encounter with my wife’s employer’s neighbour, I discovered the many gross inefficiencies lurking in the medical industry. This encounter led to me spearheading the development of a mobile app for one of South Africa’s largest hospital networks, Mediclinic, which they used to replace paper at hundreds of sporting events across the country, streamlining operations and saving the planet, #winning

My journey has been fuelled by a passion for automation and shaped by three guiding principles: simplicity, practicality and fun, that I have brought to every endeavour. Fast forward 8 years and many projects later, in the words of Pinocchio, I shout from the rooftops, “I’m a real boy!”

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed my Geology puns

submissionscomments
sakerbos··on Ask HN: Why there is no demand for my SaaS when competition is killing it?
Try reaching out to our own network. You really only need a few paying customers to get the ball rolling. Word of mouth is probably going to be your best friend.
sakerbos··on Discovery Coding
There's a time and place for everything.

I find that this style of programming is super useful in the technical design phase. During development I prefer to have a plan in place.

sakerbos··on Thank HN: My bootstrapped startup got acquired today
That's an epic win! 15 years of the startup grind/rollercoaster is impressive, well done!
sakerbos··on Show HN: Send Santa a Voice Note
Yeehah thanks! It's good fun! At this rate, next year's theme will no doubt be video calls to Santa.
sakerbos··on Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (December 2024)
Hey guys, I'm Shaun :wave:

  Location: Brisbane, Australia
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: No (we've just moved here from South Africa :))
  Technologies: React, React-Native, Typescript, Node.js, Firebase
  Résumé/CV: https://sakerbos.notion.site/Shaun-Saker-s-Resume-0cff4c4bd3d046ffbb92705f947fed0d?pvs=4
  Email: sakershaun@gmail.com
I'm a self-starter and ex-Geologist. I've spent the last 8+ years building startups, mostly on the frontend but quite happy doing full-stack. Looking for something fresh and interesting! Give me a shout if you see a good fit.

PS: Links to my latest projects in my resume if you're interested :)

sakerbos··on Posting a 5x5 crossword every day
Love this!
sakerbos··on Making your own hot sauce
Ooh I felt the same after moving to Australia from South Africa. We found that the veggies tasted blander in general and I have no idea why. Keen to plant some heirloom tomatoes in the spring.
sakerbos··on Scientists uncover the ancient origins of baobab trees
There was a massive one back in South Africa that must have been a thousand years old. Naturally someone put a pub in it. Must have been tree-cky.
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Yeah I've always found the browser bar hiding when you scroll to the bottom of a page a bit weird. But yeah you're right, it looks like a Chrome-only thing my bad.
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Yeah fair enough. I actually found the massive navigation history annoying too, I'd just forgotten about it until now. I think I have a solution to replace the navigation history with local state so we should still be able to navigate between board versions, will see. Appreciate the feedback :)
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Ooh fair enough. I'll add an option to disable that, thanks!
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Yes this is a problem and a great idea thanks! Adding to my TODO list :)
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
I'd be very interested in exploring this idea! Do you know of any board games that it could work for? This also just gave me an idea to justify my board game budget to my wife as a R&D business expense so thank you ;)
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Thanks! Yeah totally, it should be fairly easy to do. Could select the game variant after selecting a new game. I'll see what I can do :)
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Thanks for this, I'll fix it asap :)
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Thank you! Yes this had actually become a problem for us but it weirdly ended up adding an interesting new dynamic to the game. So much so that we'd actively try and hide our resources from each other and had to try to keep track of each other's resources in our heads (the irony in adding a digital calculator only to increase cognitive load is very real). But yeah, I can imagine not everyone would want to play like this and a compact summary could solve that issue. I shall see what I can do :)
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Pleasure! Yes it is open source: https://github.com/shaunsaker/tm-player-board. I'll add a link to the home page too :)
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Ah right, my bad, that's super annoying. I'll remove that functionality for now.
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Are you on Android by any chance? if so, I think that would be Android's weird browser bar hiding behaviour when you get to the bottom of the page, or just something weird I overlooked. Could probs add some padding to avoid that which I shall do, thanks!
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Thanks! Looks like they've recreated the entire game, it even has decent docs. Will defs give it a go!
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Apparently just a side project that was used by only two people in the world :)
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Good idea thanks!
sakerbos··on Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars
Yip! Should just be for the current tab though so that we can forward/back through our score history. If that's not the case, please let me know :)
sakerbos··on A Boeing passenger jet's nose wheel fell off just before takeoff
I was literally just thinking this haha, what a classic!
sakerbos··on Tell HN: Spotify now inserts Ads to premium users as well
Even DJ seems to have ads in the form of "this viral track has been blowing up all over". The giveaway is the 30 sec description and the fact that it's usually not even my vibe.
sakerbos··on Ask HN: How do you balance stress, productivity and mindfulness?
Yeah that makes sense and sounds like a good system for you! Thanks for the feedback :)
sakerbos··on Ask HN: How do you balance stress, productivity and mindfulness?
I'll check them out, thanks!
sakerbos··on Ask HN: How do you balance stress, productivity and mindfulness?
Fair enough :)
sakerbos··on Ask HN: How do you balance stress, productivity and mindfulness?
That's a really good point, the idea of chasing 'balance' could just become another stress point. The aim with Calmulate is more about finding ways to minimize stress and boost productivity, hoping that a sense of balance naturally follows. Have you found any specific practices or tools effective in reducing stress or improving your productivity, without adding to the pile of worries?
sakerbos··on Ask HN: How do you balance stress, productivity and mindfulness?
Thanks for your feedback. I quite enjoy walking myself, it's food for the soul. I actually love the idea of using the movement ring on your watch as a daily goal, it's super simple. Have you ever thought, ‘Hmm, it’d be cool if my watch could also do this…’ or are you all set with the way things are?
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