Hacker News with Generative AI: Personal Experiences

My Incorrect Bias About Corporate Engineers (inessential.com)
Before I went to work for Audible (five years ago now — time flies!) I had a bias about engineers that worked for large corporations. I assumed that they weren’t as good as indies and engineers at small companies, or else they’d actually be indies or work at small shops like Omni.

Engineering, Corporate Culture, Personal Experiences, Bias

12 points by brycewray 35 days ago | 2 comments

Ask HN: What do you wish you had done differently in life? (ycombinator.com)
Hi HN, my wife and I had our first baby 3 weeks ago https://x.com/paramjaggi42/status/1922661763373309961<p>In a sleepless blur, we've been talking a lot about our life before our son was born and what we wished we had done differently. For me, I wish I had enjoyed my time in college more and took more non-engineering classes. Maybe also bought Tesla stock at $20 per share.<p>What do you wish you had done differently in life?

Life Advice, Personal Experiences, Regret, Investments

11 points by astronautmonkey 36 days ago | 25 comments

3 Years of Remote Work (brendangregg.com)
In the last 3 years I've attended 77 meetings that began between 1am and 6am, roughly once every two weeks, followed by my usual 7am start, Monday to Saturday. I'm working remotely from Australia for a US firm (Intel) who does not have a local office here. I'm not complaining. I work weird hours, but I don't think I work too many.

Remote Work, Work-Life Balance, Personal Experiences

66 points by SerCe 37 days ago | 29 comments

I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it (greg.technology)
i went to a show in november of last year (it’s may right now) and ever since, i have tinnitus. i don’t recommend it.

Health, Personal Experiences, Tinnitus

185 points by gregsadetsky 37 days ago | 223 comments

Rethinking Sleep from First Principles (affectablesleep.com)
If you’re like me, you’ve maybe had a love/hate relationship with sleep. As a life-long chronic insomniac, I’d love to sleep, but it’s never really been a thing for me. I went down the usual path of trying to get 8 hours of sleep, but even when I did, I didn’t feel any more refreshed than when I slept for 5 hours. Often, I actually felt better on 5 hours of sleep.

Sleep, Health, Personal Experiences, Insomnia

13 points by pedalpete 38 days ago | 23 comments

The Fall of Roam (2022) (every.to)
I used to use Roam every day, but I don’t use it much anymore. Based on what I can see on Twitter, and a casual survey of friends, I don’t think I’m alone.

Productivity Tools, Software, Personal Experiences, Technology

136 points by ingve 40 days ago | 98 comments

Confessions about my smart home (frenck.dev)
People on the internet sometimes seem to have an idea of what my connected smart home looks like. And honestly? They're all wrong. 😄 Which is odd, considering I've shared my setup on multiple occasions–through multiple live streams, podcasts, and blog posts. Very recently, I came across a Reddit comment that stuck with me:

Smart Homes, Personal Experiences, Internet Culture

80 points by pabs3 41 days ago | 58 comments

What Is Dating Like in Starbase (SpaceX HQ) by SpaceX Engineer? (ianbrown.substack.com)
When dealing with a tough problem, the best thing one can do is describe it in as much detail as possible.

SpaceX, Dating, Engineering, Substack, Personal Experiences

6 points by jdcampolargo 41 days ago | 0 comments

After 18 years at Microsoft I have unfortunately been let go (twitter.com)
Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.

Layoffs, Tech Industry, Microsoft, Personal Experiences

11 points by mgl 44 days ago | 0 comments

I failed a take-home assignment from Kagi Search (bloggeroo.dev)
I failed a take-home assignment from Kagi Search

Search Engines, Software, Interviews, Personal Experiences

289 points by josecodea 45 days ago | 363 comments

Working in IT made me a nervous traveller (rubenerd.com)
For someone who enjoys travel as much as me, to the point where Clara and I bought a smaller apartment and live our lives optimising for that specific activity, it’s ironic that I also find parts of the experience utterly nerve-wracking.

Travel, Technology, Personal Experiences

15 points by mikece 45 days ago | 7 comments

I Want to Love Linux. It Doesn't Love Me Back (mataroa.blog)

Linux, Operating Systems, Personal Experiences, Frustration

71 points by MrVandemar 48 days ago | 47 comments

Cheating my social anxiety with T-Shirts (gtmnayan.com)
I’d always been a fairly reserved individual. I had friends who I could be open and charismatic with and talk with for hours but I never really dared to strike up a conversation with strangers.

Social Anxiety, Personal Experiences, Clothing, Communication

5 points by 698969 49 days ago | 3 comments

My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer (gill.net.in)
It began with a spark—a dormant passion reignited after many years away from motorcycling.

Motorcycle Safety, Personal Projects, Personal Experiences

313 points by mygnu 51 days ago | 379 comments

Matt Godbolt sold me on Rust (by showing me C++) (medium.com)
Matt Godbolt, of Compiler Explorer fame, is awesome and you should scour the web for every single bit of content he puts out.

Programming Languages, Rust, C++, Software Development, Personal Experiences

7 points by mfilion 52 days ago | 1 comments

Groundhog Day made me quit my job, move house and leave my girlfriend (theguardian.com)
When I saw Bill Murray’s classic comedy I realised that I was trapped in my own unfulfilling time loop

Life Choices, Movies, Personal Experiences, Relationships, Work

9 points by n1b0m 55 days ago | 1 comments

An Ode to the Thigh (2024) (ponnekanti.net)
I dissected the thigh today. Unexpectedly, it was my favourite dissection so far in medical school.

Medical School, Anatomy, Personal Experiences

28 points by mefengl 60 days ago | 7 comments

The side hustle from hell (jacobstechtavern.com)
Being exploited by a startup is almost a rite of passage. I don’t think I can even call this a cautionary tale, because of what I took out of the experience.

Entrepreneurship, Startups, Side Hustles, Personal Experiences

349 points by jakey_bakey 60 days ago | 143 comments

Confessions of a Perfume Nerd (osmo.ai)
We don’t decide what interests take lasting hold of us. We are just drawn to certain subjects, usually because they connect to both our affinities and anxieties. At least that’s what happened to me. One summer in middle school, in a moment of insecurity, I became a perfume nerd. This seemed like a strange fixation for an 11-year-old, but would change the course of my life.

Personal Experiences, Perfume, Hobbies

4 points by jdcampolargo 63 days ago | 0 comments

Infantilization at Big Tech (nmn.gl)
The first time I encountered Big Tech was at age 15 when I won Google Code In. They flew me and my family to San Francisco and showed us around the Googleplex. I arrived with wide eyes, eager to see where the “smartest people in the world” worked.

Big Tech, Personal Experiences, Technology

8 points by namanyayg 69 days ago | 0 comments

How I Don't Use LLMs (gleech.org)
I enjoy shocking people by telling them I don’t use LLMs.

Opinion, Personal Experiences

60 points by jxmorris12 74 days ago | 18 comments

Cannot work without my head in a vise (lauramichet.com)
In college, I got some old audiophile headphones from my dad which I used to wear everywhere.

Audio Equipment, Headphones, Personal Experiences

3 points by speckx 74 days ago | 0 comments

I don't like traveling anymore (sidverma.io)
And now, I don’t feel like traveling anymore.

Travel, Personal Experiences

74 points by mavidser 84 days ago | 87 comments

Breaking computers taught me to build them (danielsada.tech)
You know when you are on a hike, and there is a point where you are exactly midway through it? There is always a reflection moment in there, where some thinking happens. Sometimes you look back and realize: it’s been a long journey so far, hasn’t it?

Computer Hardware, Learning, Personal Experiences

117 points by dshacker 86 days ago | 70 comments

My son has been rejected from all but 1 school (reddit.com)
My eldest son has been rejected by every college he applied to, except for our flagship state school, UMass Amherst. He is the singular brightest, most self-motivated, and most hardworking person I know.

College Admissions, Higher Education, Personal Experiences

5 points by htareque 87 days ago | 3 comments

Why I Got the Measles Vaccine at Age 63 (nytimes.com)
It’s full-on spring here in Middle Tennessee, and the world is suddenly blooming with infants.

Health, Vaccines, Personal Experiences

6 points by geox 95 days ago | 1 comments

I cured my Aphantasia, a detailed documentation (reddit.com)
I am a 27 year old male, a computer programmer, I run a successful software company that builds blockchain technology, and I was fully aphantasiac up until 2 days ago (June 5 2022). I have known I’ve had aphantasia for a few years and it’s always caused me distress, I didn’t even believe others were actually seeing for the first few months but after talking to enough people I concluded they weren’t exaggerating.

Aphantasia, Personal Experiences, Self-Improvement, Health, Software

15 points by red369 99 days ago | 2 comments

How My Six Months Working on the Railway Changed My Life (theatlantic.com)
The time I spent working on the Canadian National Railroad changed the course of my life.

Personal Experiences, Transportation, Railways

113 points by qkeast 103 days ago | 69 comments

My Heart Surgery vs. Y Combinator Interview (manidoraisamy.com)
It was April 2021. With just one week to go before my Y Combinator interview, I found myself sitting in my doctor’s office, facing an unexpected crisis. The doctor told me that I had a severe leak in my heart and needed open-heart surgery immediately. The estimated recovery period was two months—one month for preparation and another for recovery. That was almost the entire duration of the YC program.

Personal Experiences, Y Combinator, Healthcare

9 points by QueensGambit 104 days ago | 0 comments

Backyard Cyanide (suziepetryk.com)
There’s a bushy tree in my backyard with these dark red fruit — the kind that makes some primal instinct scream at you across millennia, but you can’t tell if it wants you to eat them or not.

Nature, Plants, Personal Experiences

138 points by tancik 108 days ago | 56 comments