clockwork_189

I found bullet journaling(https://bulletjournal.com) to help me the best as it requires me to stay engaged with it everyday. Also love the flexibility that comes with the system.

Wow, that is so cool! I remember using sleepyti.me in university to get decent sleep and found it pretty helpful.

I use the comment section to gauge validity of the main post and graze through the discussions to gauge the pros/cons of the topic of the post. This is usually just for Show HNs/New Technologies. I feel like I am not experienced enough and there are a lot of super experienced people on HN, so I really value peoples opinions on such topics. Also it provides a good forum to voice any questions.

This looks interesting, but just like with any new technology, I like to look at any alternatives besides the proposed technology and see how it stacks up. So I guess my question would be, what are the alternatives to this? Or even what are the alternate methods to implementing some of the stuff that this language takes care of?

In a way it is. So basically our platform allows users to create studies and structure the entire workflow of a trial(in a lot of these they are multi-staged so there are multiple steps that need to be designed). Now after this done, they can follow this workflow on our platform when they are conducting their trial in house. Now for parts where a doctor/researcher is not present(like drug/medication/treatment application), we have a mobile and web app that lets users answer questions/file serious adverse events if they face any, etc.

Now here is the cool part, the above is just the surface. Our team is really passionate about data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence and its applications in real world. So we do something called adaptive clinical trials where we run analytical models on the data that comes in and can forecast when the trajectory of a trial needs to be altered. This means you can catch any serious reactions to drugs, faster.

All in all, to answer the main question, our solution helps keep the costs of clinical trials low and reduces error rate. Being able to run these trials fast and keeping the costs low, allows not only for drugs to get out to the market faster, but also helps reduce the costs of drugs(due to the reduction of costs to process).

I also only explained the application of our tech in clinical trials, but our software is so flexible that it can be applied to any industry such as Consumer Insights, Depression analysis studies, etc.

Not sure if I adequately answered your question.

MetricWire (https://metricwire.com/).

We are building a platform that enhances the workflow of clinical trials thus making it easier, faster and cheaper on drug companies and safer for the participants involved. We help the researchers using the data collected from the trial to adapt the future stages of the trial thus helping avoid serious adverse effects or making them known to researchers in real time if they are occurring at present.

I learnt to code sometime in middle school(grade 6 summer). The dot com boom was taking place during then and my parents figured that the Web would be the next big thing and pushed me into learning web development. I never really explored beyond making a couple of funny sites for my personal kicks until grade 12 when I had to figure out how to pay for university. I did a couple of small gigs here and there that helped me pay part of my way through.

I was enrolled in a co-op program, so you study for 4 months and then work in a real job for 4 months and that repeats until you graduate. This was probably the most helpful thing that helped me learn more and earn more while doing so. By third year, I became competent enough to be able to easily build full stack real world apps. I have to mention though, getting here meant working for multiple startups during my coop term. Hence, taking a cut in pay compared to my peers for the chance to do more and learn more.

June last year, I met Brian who is a data nerd and has a mind full of cool ideas and together we co-founded MetricWire, which we are running to this day.

These two are really useful:

http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin/archive/2014/03/24/the-angula...

https://egghead.io/

We are metricwire.com and we got an acceptance. We provide a platform for researchers(market, academics and medical) to perform studies. Our tool provides these researchers with an easy to use tool to build their study and push it to users smartphones and then the data is aggregated online and they can run analytic models through our interface.

Acceptance here!

For those who didnt get in, chin up! It is not the end! Keep hustling and keep pushing forward!

I prefer something with a more house/techno/trance vibe. One of my favorite artists to listen to lately is Overwerk. I feel like this electronic synths make me feel one with the cyber world :P

This is probably one of the most helpful UI resources I have ever stumbled upon across the Internet: https://hackdesign.org/

They go through design from the basics to how you could apply it to websites, mobile devices, etc. I still find myself returning and perusing through the chapters.

This post by evernote CTO was very helpful, but I am look for something more instructional(http://firstround.com/article/Evernotes-CTO-on-Your-Biggest-...).

12: HTML + playing around on the internet. It is hilariously sad how badly designed sites were 12 years ago. "Hacking" emails was something so easy that a 12 year old kid with little knowledge of html could do.

I started learning CSS and newer HTML(back when I learnt HTML code was written in all caps) when I was 17 to earn some money to buy me books and a laptop for university. Did some Java in highschool and built small applet games. Then I learnt php at my first coop job(go UWaterloo!) learnt Javascript, Jquery, C# at simultaneous coops. Finally learnt Advanced Javascript(rather how to write javascript right) and fell in love with it and beyond that just kept improving my skills in online development. I keep them refines by working on multiple side projects.

Working out and getting proper sleep.

I am a coder and I feel like I need to use a lot of my brain during my working hours. Working out (could be lifting weights or even just running or crossfit stuff) helps shift the focus from concentrating on algorithms and design and to just getting from point A to point B or lifting x weight. I know many friends who tried working out and couldnt get themselves to commit. The difference for me is that, I am motivated by an athletic goal that I set for myself and hence work towards it.

Sleep is probably the most important "habit" you should have. I personally find that after a good night of sleep, I am extra productive during the day and get more tasks done. I can think clearer and able to code better/faster. While number of hours of sleep is important...so is quality! An example of quality sleep is sleep where you dont wake up in the middle of the night to hit the washroom or out of panic that you missed something in your code(I used to have many of these haha).

This is too abstract of a question. Universities/colleges/schools have courses dedicated to the topic. Assuming that is what you are asking, check this course: https://www.coursera.org/course/cs101

Work at one or more startups and build your skills. You'll find that at a startup you wear more than one hat(eg: You need to worry about front end, backend and database stuff), that in most cases you dont have to worry about in big organizations. Most early stage startups, since they dont have much to pay, will take anyone with experience and willing to learn. The only caveat is that, you will have to work crazy hours, at least for the initial few weeks/months. But you will find that the more you work/code, the more experienced you get and hence can finish tasks faster.

Thats pretty much how I started and why I still prefer startup jobs over jobs at bigger companies with more focused roles.

1) Pomodoro Technique while working on tasks 2) Running "StayFocused" on the background while doing tasks.

Yes. We use branches a lot at our startup. Typically our workflow goes as follows:

1) git checkout master

2) git pull // to fetch latest version

3) git branch issues/feature name

4) git checkout branch name

//...do work on branch...//

5) git add .

6) git commit -m "Description of commits"

7) repeat 5) and 6) until feature/issue is fully implemented/fixed

8) git push origin banch name

9) git checkout master

10) git merge branch name // only after the issue/feature is tested and debugged

11) git push origin master

Data aggregation to calculate analytics.

Yes I do. I use Kippt. They even have a google chrome extension.

Moonwalking with Einstein(http://www.amazon.ca/Moonwalking-Einstein-Science-Rememberin...) Thinking, Fast and Slow (http://www.amazon.ca/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0...)

My personal favorite one used to be: http://invoiceomatic.io/ I have however moved on to: http://invoiceable.co/ as it saves a copy of your invoices online.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a "hacker". I am not a hacker...but I code, so I guess I kinda achieved that status?

For startups the main thing is culture. Ensure you adjust to the startup culture as somethings may seem off from the start(more informal, chill, etc).

Startups move fast, so it will be hard getting used to the change at first but later on in, you will adjust and move just as fast. Of course you have to put in the extra work from the start to adjust.

Be prepared to work long hours and on weekends. While not necessarily true for all startups, it is quite common.

Get to know your team. Hang out with them, grab drinks, play board/video games, etc. It will make communication much easier.

Always look for ways to improve the company and offer suggestions. Sometimes, due to other work people will acknowledge your ideas. I personally used to go the extra mile put in the extra work and time and make the fixes/changes/build new features myself.

All in all...have fun and learn lots!

Coming from another UW student, it depends.

If you want to go into post graduate studies then yes grades matter. Some companies do look at grades, so it matters to them. But for the most part, especially if you are looking for employment in the software development sector, grades mean nothing. Well...they mean you have good learning skills but that too is subjective from person to person.

I have shitty grades myself, but I do have a kickass portfolio which is what lands me jobs. Simply put, if you have nothing to show for your skills, then people will look at your grades. Hence if you have an awesome portfolio, dont really worry too much about your grades, but do ensure you pass and clear your semesters :)

Leap Motion(https://www.leapmotion.com/) Myo(https://www.thalmic.com/myo/) Sorry, these are all I could think of. I know there was this startup in Silicon Valley that did something with gesture based music control and I think they got acquired by Microsoft, but I cannot recall their name right now...sorry.

Whoops, I misread. Well, still doesnt mean cant try it :P

Thank you for the reply! :) I will definitely give it a whirl. I have been playing around with the rasp Pi and given that your OS is approx 200MB, I wanna try seeing if I can make the two work together(or if someone else has, do let me know).

Good job btw!

Short answer...no. How you react to such a situation is what an example you want to be to your fellow employees. In the sense, if you lash out to this person, others might feel the same and do so as well. This would lead to bad culture.

The way I would go about solving this problem is like so: Have a nice private chat with the person. First, ask him if he has any problems with anyone at the office. Then address those. Follow that by relaying your problems with him(in a nice, professional and calm manner). Work out with him how you would approach solving the problems you have with him. It could mean that maybe he might need to take a week off to brush up on whatever the language skills, or even that he might think it is culturally acceptable to lash out like he is.

Basically, work with him to figure out how to make the workplace a better place for both of you. Remember, if you fight fire with fire you only get burned.