AskHN Digest

1. Ask HN: Do you think Agile/Scrum is beneficial for software delivery?

Top comment by zeroc8

I just don't get it why developers like Scrum. The whole thing was designed to give non-technical people more power over the ones who spent a lifetime honing their craftmanship. Standing around a table in the morning like assholes is not my idea of fun. Same for the "product owner" concept. If I develop something, I am the owner. I generally hate being micromanaged and being assigned microtasks that gives "them" total control over my workday while I have no idea what "they" are doing the whole day. Scrum was the reason why I left my last company and I'm much happier now in my new company, where we do not have any process at all, just a common goal. Instead of standups, the team gathers for a coffee in the morning. If I want to spend 3 days learning a new framework that might do the product good, nobody cares. The only thing that counts is the endresult. That means we are beating the product into submission until its good, even if it means rewriting the thing three times and missing deadlines. So no more Scrum for me. Never.

2. Ask HN: Is abuse from supervisors as common in industry as in academia?

Top comment by munin

It’s not as common but the incentive structures in academia are uniquely enabling to abusers. In industry it’s much easier to leave tyrant bosses. I agree with your points.

Many of the positive incentives don’t exist in industry though, an “up and out” culture is rarer in industry. When it works in academia your supervisor is positively invested in your growth, in general in industry your supervisor doesn’t care about your growth. If they need someone with new skills and you learn them fine but they can also fire you and hire someone with those skills (even though this is probably a net negative for them due to retraining on job specific stuff, it’s still seen as a net positive by management)

There is less abuse though. Full stop. Sorry you’re in this situation.

3. Ask HN: What tangible benefits did you get from spending time on HN?

Top comment by Balgair

I posted a comment once bemoaning the high costs of one of my SO's medications. The chemical compound in question is used by horse veterinarians as a supplement for their joints; think something like how Vitamin-D is put into milk. Due to medical/legal issues, the only source for this compound in the US is via a MD or a VD (or so we thought). The cost is ~$2/pill, taken thrice daily. Depending on the insurance plan, it can go up to ~$10/pill. This cost had been keeping our family from changing jobs and careers as the medical costs had to be factored in during salary negotiations. Like many Americans, we were enslaved to our insurance plan.

A extraordinarily kind HNer pointed me towards how to search for bulk manufactured chemicals.

A few weeks later we got 1 cubic meter of the stuff. The cubic meter being the smallest volume the company would send. It will last my SO's entire lifetime and then a few more.

That HNer gave us the gift of freedom.

4. Ask HN: How do I learn drawing?

Top comment by hourislate

Although I consider myself a hack, my family and friends think I have some God Given drawing talent. Not true I tell them, anyone can draw well. You just need this book and practice.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition

https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B005GSYXU4&preview=new...

This is probably the best book I have come across and it took me from stick figures to what my family considers awesome in about a year.

5. Ask HN: Always on low power home server

Top comment by techrat

I'd stick with a RasPi. There's a process to set a boot flag to allow booting from USB media. From there you can install Raspbian (or your other distro of choice) to any USB connected storage device. I've been using the same USB drive partitioned and formatted to 1/4th its capacity (to increase available blocks for wear leveling) for 5 straight years without any issues.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberry...

6. Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (March 2021)

Top comment by nimisha15

SEEKING WORK | Seattle | remote

We are a team of 2 software developers. We have 4+ years of full-stack development experience building enterprise web applications. Available immediately and looking for short-term freelancing / full-time opportunities.

Location: Seattle, WA

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: Yes

Technologies: Java, RESTful, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, React, R, Python, Git

Résumé/CV: please email

Email: eguptasaurabh+hnfreelance@gmail.com

7. Ask HN: How to stay focused and motivated working from home?

Top comment by crispyambulance

Many folks have been going through this. It sucks, and what works for some may not work with others.

Things that have helped me:

* Clear the goddamn desk. Things on your desk other than what you need is a distraction even if you see them and don't act on them.

* If you're like me, you have certain pavlovian impulses to hit up your favorite social media sites. HN has anti-procrastination features, use them. There's also black-listing browser extensions you can turn-on so you don't go to whatever time suck social media you use.

* Commit yourself to doing at least some meaningful work everyday. It's OK if it's only a short time. 1 or 2 hours of intense focus can easily look like a solid day's work to anyone that's paying attention to productivity.

* Talk to human beings one-on-one. If you can't help yourself, try helping someone else. You will feel better about work. Just call them up and offer to help them out of the blue. If not a co-worker, then a friend.

* When you take a break, really take a break. When you sit at your desk, really work.

These work for me. They may not work for you or anyone else.

8. Repl.it didn't have “cancel” button for subscriptions

Top comment by moudy

Hey there, we upgraded our stripe library version and missed a part in our code the relied on the old behavior. That resulted in our billing info not rendering for about a day. Sorry about that! A deceptive "Billing" section is definitely not our intention.

9. Ask HN: Which books made you the most money?

Top comment by muzani

The Startup Owner's Manual.

It's a classic, but for some reason not too popular. As the subtitle says, there are literally step-by-step instructions on how to build a great company. It's a little dry. It's a 600 page book. And checklists can be intimidating.

I didn't even read the whole thing, but it shows how the process is more like R&D than gambling, and removes any doubt. I feel like a lot of modern startup "advice" was pulled from this book and mutated beyond recognition, becoming more like cargo cult.

10. Ask HN: Should I pass on a new job because they want me to sign a non-compete?

Top comment by motohagiography

Edit: hire an employment lawyer, I am not one.

That said, the way I deal with non-competes and IP in contracts is I ask them to specify the scope of the clause as it relates to the technology domains and businesses involved, for a precise amount of time (e.g. 6mos), and that they will have to pay an additional %30 of the total contract value to exercise it.

Given the three new variables, they have typically (n~=5) come back with variations on two of them. I have not been paid out on one yet, but I have had the agreement re-scoped to apply to narrow technology domains, an inclusion of the cost of the exercise option, and dropped the non-compete period from 3 years to 6 months.

Your strategy is to ensure you can afford retirement, and their boilerplate clause adds significant risk to that plan without compensation. Just say, "hey, this boilerplate section is a bit broad and it adds unncessary risk, here are some options that I would consider."

If they bully you on this, you already know everything about them you need to. However, if you're screwed and you need a job, sign it, take the money, and manage that non-compete clause risk yourself.