bewe42

This is something I always wondered about AI and it promises. Sometimes, the last 1% is the hardest or can be even impossible. Self-driving cars, in particular, are a good case. We get to solve 99% of the use cases but achieving full autonomous vehicles might be just out of reach.

It depends where you live and what company you work for. I have been working in Spain for some years and only a few of my peers spoke English comfortably (I'm German). But you limit your options without it. I would not be able to hire you if you don't have at least a basic grasp of English (you can participate in our online meetings that are held in English, and you can read and write somewhat fluently).

11 years and counting. Born in Germany, I've been to the US, UK, Spain (and short 3 months in Mexico), now again in the UK. It has absolutely been valuable, though I feel the question does not really apply to me as I always felt I had to go abroad. Everything has good and bad parts, but the one thing I can say for sure is that I am much more "alive". The thought that I might have stayed in my home town (Hamburg, which is one of the nicest cities in Germany) for my whole life truly horrifies me.

However, now with wife & kids priorities change significantly. We are planning (though it is not sure we will do it due to wife's job) to bring our kids to Germany while they're in school and then retire in Spain once they have grown up. Let's see if that works out ;)

Honest question, not meant to be rude, but what value do you get from having created 20k bookmarks?

The best hiring process in my opinion:

- select your candidates that maintain a public profile. You should get a broad idea about the skills and interest of that person

- have an informal interview to see if they fit your company culture and values

- then have them work on a small real project for less money

I'm a dev and happy to work on such a "taster" project. It's a win-win: I'm not working for free, the company gets a realistic picture of how I work and how I fit into the company.

This works naturally best for hiring contractors, but even then I don't understand why not more companies do this.

Summarize in your own words (and drawings) without looking into the textbook. Even better, explain to someone else what you have learned. Best would be to find a study partner, if that's not possible try to write for the public.

Learning occurs when we relate new material to what we already know. Build your own internal knowledge map.

You might need a visa for you and your employees in the future. It's quite likely that Berlin is replacing London as the tech hub (I personally would place a startup in Berlin now, if I could choose, no doubt)

samharris.org

I recommend reading SICP and using Clojure to implement the exercises. There're plenty of solutions out there should you get stuck or need inspiration. Not only are you going to learn a LISP-like language, you also study one of the best programming books plus get to know a compelling language.

Sorry for a non-answer, but I noticed whenever I get excited trying out new tools and apps (I love productivity apps), what is really happening is that I just procrastinate. Tools can be useful but won't make you magically more productive.

Having said that, what I find incredibly useful is Scapple as a form of "smart" paper.

I also recommend the foundation training. It's helping me a lot and really simple to do. Have a look: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOkRpabTWz-G5dRqsABppDQ

I have a simple standing table arrangement. My main table is wide enough to put another small side table on it (bought for 5 quid or so at Ikea). Most of the time I sit, but several times a day I stand using the side table. Works perfectly. Standing up also helps me to re-focus. I highly recommend this.

That's one advantage of having small kids. I definitely enjoy playing with some of the toys more than they do :)

Just read - strips off all noise, works quite well (better than mercury reader)

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Same here. I have worked in Germany, Spain and London and never seen any drug use. I would have shocked me for sure. I don't see the point or need.

I believe the need (or desire) to re-invent oneself several times during a career will become soon the norm rather than the exception. How to not make this a social liability is a challenge ahead of all of us.

Teach others about what you want to acquire. That's why I believe that blogging is a very efficient exercise if you want to truly learn something.

Teaching requires you to absorb, eliminate and bring order into your thoughts. This is when learning happens.

Regarding what tool I'd recommend, I use Scrivener. As I mostly write in order to learn, and Scrivener is a writing tool, I've come to use Scrivener for almost everything.

Access to an incredibly thoughtful bunch of minds which I doubt I could have had otherwise. Many new ideas and helpful advice. However, it also is also my number one excuse to procrastinate.

It's fine to be average, see other comments

If you want to raise above, you have three options:

1. Become very good in one particular skill 2. Become good at multiple skills 3. Choose a niche or something new where due to lack of competition you are already very good

1. is hard, especially in popular, well paid areas 2. + 3. are much easier to accomplish.

I recommend "Make: Electronics: Learning Through Discovery" 2nd edition. It's fun and highly practical. There are also kits out there containing everything you need to do the lessons.

There's also

4. Freelancer

which is somewhat 1 + 3

PROS: freedom of choice, less bs

CONS: Pressure to market yourself. Dealing with feast or famine, instability.

"Why greatness cannot be planned". Changed the way I search for new ideas. Instead of goal setting and conquer-and-divide approach, I allow myself to be guided by what I find interesting, even if it seems to be wasting time. In the book, the author calls that "finding stepping stones". I always felt that this is a better way to create new things but was unable to put it into words.

There's also a talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXQPL9Gooy

It started in the 80s when a friend brought me into a department store to type quickly into a computer "10 PRINT 'HELLO'; 20 GOTO 10" and then he pressed return. Magic! I was hooked from that moment on forward.

I'm on a similar path.

Talks are a good route. You need to prove (to technical people) that you are capable of delivering worthwhile training and at the same time get on the radar on HR (non-technical) who make the hiring decisions.

https://lerner.co.il/trainer-weekly/ is a useful resource.

Get in touch if you want to chat, always happy to speak to fellow trainers. I believe training can be very worthwhile (personally and income wise), but it takes time to get there (and moving out of comfort zone, at least for me).

I use a very simple setup of HTML + template engine (Jinja2). Then I maintain the entries of my resume in a YAML file. Finally, I export HTML to pdf.

If interested, I describe it here: bernhardwenzel.com/articles/jinja-yaml/ + github

Keep in mind that HN is just a small window to the whole IT world. Look at other, less narrowed places.

I can recommend The Economist (if you are willing/able to pay). Top-notch succinct writing, an audio version and a wide selection of articles. I always thought that it focuses too much on politics (which does not interest me that much), but every issue has still plenty of articles that I find compelling.

Another benefit of paying for what you read: you feel obligated to use that source instead of mindlessly browse online

wow, I never heard of this Livescribe pen. It looks amazing, How well does it work? I love to scribble on paper but refrained from it as I want my notes in digital form and scanning or something like that would be too much hassle.

I always wanted to build something better for taking notes (many ideas from social, to comparing notes etc.), I think that could be very useful.

I wish at least the Kindle had an API to get my highlights out.

yes, no need to buy it.

and you are right, the value lies in the exercises. I started doing them in Clojure. I recommend doing as many as you can and then you'll find plenty of solutions online to compare your results. It's worth it

SICP

In case you didn't know, have a look at http://lesswrong.com/lw/3gu/the_best_textbooks_on_every_subj...