HN user

bhollan

264 karma

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/bhollan; my proof: https://keybase.io/bhollan/sigs/McrgMmCBwiPnRIN5QrBsF1k6lsAdud_P-_IgJxQfyjs ]

I started in hardware, went to web dev, now moving to data science.

1522cd1e4182cc87fa0f69f6cb2248e83cd31c2d289da8fd6a9bb2b5b172fa3c

Posts19
Comments66
View on HN
news.ycombinator.com 27d ago

Ask HN: How to Germinate Ideas?

bhollan
5pts1
news.ycombinator.com 3y ago

Anybody ever interviewed at SpaceX before?

bhollan
19pts38
news.ycombinator.com 3y ago

Ask HN: Computer Lab in Developing Nation

bhollan
4pts5
news.ycombinator.com 3y ago

Ask HN: LLM for “talking to” a code repo? (like chatpdf.com, but for a codebase)

bhollan
1pts1
news.ycombinator.com 6y ago

Ask HN: Update My Dad

bhollan
4pts5
news.ycombinator.com 7y ago

Ask HN: Which JavaScript DataViz package should we use at my company?

bhollan
1pts0
news.ycombinator.com 7y ago

Ask HN: Why do companies do “remote within the US”?

bhollan
13pts18
beehollander.wordpress.com 8y ago

Helping 3500 students learn to code

bhollan
2pts0
www.forbes.com 8y ago

Data Engineer / Musician sells her own music for BTC

bhollan
1pts0
techcrunch.com 8y ago

Mobile App Mesh Networking SDK: Bridgefy

bhollan
1pts0
news.ycombinator.com 9y ago

Ask HN: Tools for meeting across multiple/distant time zones?

bhollan
2pts2
www.youtube.com 9y ago

Atari emulator in Minecraft

bhollan
3pts0
news.ycombinator.com 9y ago

Ask HN: Ever been hired through a “who's hiring” post?

bhollan
252pts282
www.craveonline.com 9y ago

North Korea's propaganda sites

bhollan
2pts0
beehollander.wordpress.com 10y ago

Because ESC is *just* too far away

bhollan
1pts0
beehollander.wordpress.com 10y ago

Why I'll never abbreviate a variable as long as I live

bhollan
89pts109
scottbewickblog.wordpress.com 10y ago

Learning to code after near death for 8 days

bhollan
3pts0
medium.com 10y ago

Kik's side of yesterday's story

bhollan
20pts12
www.geek.com 10y ago

Chrome bug accidentally forces unskippable ads

bhollan
2pts0

I've been looking for a game from the "flash era" that's incredibly similar to this one! It was "fling-this-wad-of-duct-tape-to-clog-the-black-hole" as a metaphor, but I forget the name. It had similar "orbit" dynamics, but the entire game was setting the initial angle/velocity and then the orbits just 'did their thing' from there. This looks really cool! I'm already up to 11 as my best!

If you like this, you will for sure love the game "12 Orbits"!

Advent of Code 2025 8 months ago

I used MATLAB last year while I was re-learning it for work. It did okay, but we didn't have a license for the Image Processing Toolbox, which has a boatload of tools for the grid based problems.

I actually just finished my second career pivot. I was in hardware, then in software, now I'm in government.

I'd take careful stock of your support network behind you, and of who you're supporting. But keep in mind, there's no "wrong answer". Live your life out loud and you do you. If your situation makes that untenable, do some soul searching and find peace without the shakeup. Lots of good advice on this thread, but you know you better than anyone (and if not, start there).

Know the risks though. My wife and I have changed our religious and political beliefs over the past decade or so and as a result have lost contact/intimacy with much of our families/friends. Losing community takes a much steeper toll than I would ever have guessed.

1) I think it depends on how you define all parts of "escaping evil regimes". But it's a fair point.

2) I studied electrical engineering and I just hadn't run the numbers. The numbers I had seen in most of the other articles didn't impress me in terms of national scale.

I have long-envisioned a "solar-miner-in-a-container" that could help impoverished nations. It would be a shipping container with 40-50 solar panels, a satellite internet kit, as well as a small server rack for mining. It could generate electricity, revenue, (shade) and if the mining part fails, it's a power source and an internet cafe.

A friend of mine escaped the Myanmar coup via bitcoin, so I don't think it's a purely zero-value enterprise. I agree, and there are many economists who also agree, that there is a strong odor of "tulips". But that's literally been the line from the haters for over a decade.

That said, I was laughing off environmental concerns over it until I read that, electrically, it's effectively a 'ghost state' in the US.

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61364

Bandwidth is a real concern, yes. Also, the intent is both for the school and open to the public.

But it's really not to build web dev skills, but literally to learn to read and write.

End user operations will be 100% Windows based and I won't be involved in the operation long term. Also, whoever is, probably won't know Linux at all, let alone at a sys admin level.

But I like the idea of having one machine to maintain. What's the best mechanic for that on Windows?

Location: Washington, DC

Remote: hybrid or fully remote (can negotiate on-prem with master's classes)

Willing to relocate: Nope

Technologies: Python, R, JavaScript, Ruby, Linux, (...loads of others, but in small doses)

email: beehollander AT gmail DOT com

Resume:

WORK Karat (conducted 1600 Interviews) Independent Contractor (freelance) Lockheed Martin (RF Engineer) GBA Ships (Electrical Officer)

EDUCATION Georgetown (Data Science for Public Policy) May '24 Auburn (Electrical Engineering) Dec '07 Auburn (Wireless Engineering) May '05

He probably knew COBOL at one point. He used to write in FoxPro for the longest time. He had an old CompuServe email before we got Juno. My first email was tagged on with his Juno account in the late 90s.

I like the "Rescue us from Access" angle. That has good promise. He's never written a line of JavaScript in his life, so I doubt he'll want to do App Scripts, but that's another good one. Thanks.

I'm not sure how this will be received, but I'm learning a lot through following Jeremy Howard. He's a huge PyTorch fan and he's spent the last 3 years trying to figure out what people like you need. He launched a course called FastAI and a DL library by the same name. His aim is to help anybody do it that wants to, with or without code.

MOOC: http://course.fast.ai

I just found a resource a few months ago that I'd love to recommend, but haven't started yet. It's mentorship you pay for, but not up front. You sign a contract to pay a certain percentage after you're hired. I plan on going through this program if my current job leads don't pan out.

Mentorship: https://sharpestminds.com

I'm interested in comments about either program in general. Speaking as someone who also has an EE degree, went through a web development bootcamp, and was disappointed by both at the help in getting hired that was offered after the curriculum was finished, I am also interested in your findings and results.

I'm a born, bred, red-blooded American, dude. I've only been living in Mexico for 3 years. My English is spectacular.

I'm even from Alabama and don't have an accent.

The risk of delivering or not shouldn't come from my geographic location. That should be susses out in the interview process or probation period.

I've never thought about requesting to be transferred as a contractor. That would mean I would have to pay my own taxes as in the self-employment situation.

As was the case for my termination a few months ago, I actually WAS working as a contractor, so that's not 100% foolproof.

I actually just recently heard about a guy who moved here. He told his boss, and his boss's boss, who were both fine with it. Then when he told HR they were like "no way, dude." But then both bosses told him "just tell HR you're moving to Florida." LOL!

Y'konw, honestly, the time-zone thing I understand. If you're looking for people to cover specific shift work for incoming tickets or events or whatever, that makes sense. Just like on-prem jobs.

But I'm talking about totally asynchronous work that's just an assignment given to you, and you turn it in completed later.

I use https://travelingmailbox.com. They're great. Not super modern and hip, but certainly functional and affordable.

My employer doesn't have to pay Mexican taxes. I don't even have to pay Mexican taxes. They do US taxes just like for everybody else because my bank account is in the States and I'm an American.

I use Skype and Google Voice. I can give out a US phone number and receive calls just as though I were in the US.

It's just so very very frustrating.