
Ask HN: Who isn't in the software industry/not a hacker? - graham1776
I work as an Associate in the commercial real estate industry and wonder how many others like me are out there on HN. Is there a community here like me who have an interest in technology and entrepreneurship but aren&#x27;t hackers?<p>I love this site because:
A) I get news on average 2-3 days before it makes it&#x27;s way through the news cycle.
B) Technology interests me and I can see what new tech could benefit my industry
C) I am a wantrepreneur and like reading about startups, hopefully wanting to start one someday.<p>Why are you here and what do you get out of the community?
======
markmassie
Nuclear engineer here. Definitely not in the software industry, but still do a
bit of coding, albeit mostly in Fortran because (most) reactor design software
stays pretty far from the bleeding edge.

I come to HN for the startup culture discussions. Even though my field is
pretty far from the software/tech field, it's pretty amazing how much of the
startup experience remains the same.

For those interested, my startup, Transatomic, is developing a molten salt
reactor that's cheaper than coal and (hopefully) as cheap as natural gas, just
without the greenhouse gas emissions.

We just closed our first round of VC funding from Peter Thiel and Founders
Fund a few days ago. More details here:

[http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2014/08/05/nuclear-waste-
start...](http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2014/08/05/nuclear-waste-startup-
transatomic-power-gets-2m-from-founders-fund/)

~~~
lifeisstillgood
Forgive me for leapin in here, but one does not often get the chance to meet
nuclear scientists (well on HN it's more likely which is I guess the point)

Anyway - I mentally write off nuclear power from the list of useful
alternative sources because of the enormous pre-generation costs, the running
costs, the politics of nuclear weaponry and the decommissioning costs (and yes
this is almost entirely about traditional reactors)

How do you escape being in the nuclear industry dominated by the above
seemingly negative problems - how much of your success is dominated by selling
a mousetrap than building a better one?

~~~
wcummings
Seems to have worked out OK for France

~~~
lifeisstillgood
I meant the whole "as a startup in the nuclear industry I don't have the
backing of an major nation state, I don't have a proven technical track
record, I am in an industry with a PR problem only slightly better than
chemical weapons and the major reason to exist was to build nukes, which we
kind of have plenty now"

How does he play that set of cards? It's no impossible and I do think someone
needs to play that hand well, I just wonder - why him, why now? What's his
secret sauce?

------
my_username_is_
I'm a mechanical engineer, working in product development. I have an interest
in programming to the extent that I can try to automate some tedious tasks,
but very little formal training. I'm definitely a long ways from being a
"hacker" as its known here.

I agree with all of your reasons for visiting HN. I've mentioned this before
on another thread, but the guideline that posts should be "anything that
gratifies one's intellectual curiosity"[1] tends to produce a lot of content
that I find interesting, and I'm sure there are many more people like us here.

One thing that I will add is that I wish that people posted more non-
programming jobs in the monthly Who's Hiring. Even if you just posted the
approximate job title it'd be better than omitting it entirely. Every month I
control+F>"mechanincal engineer", and there are almost never more than one or
two posts, despite the fact that I see some of the same companies posting
these positions on different job boards.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

~~~
ahjushi
Woah, my doppelganger!

I work in user acquisition, specifically in SEM (AdWords/Bing). Same reasons
here: cursory knowledge of programming I self-taught when trying to automate
tasks, but nothing formal. Trying to learn more because I want to go the
Product Management route.

This place definitely piques my curiosity in things I sometimes never knew
existed. I've been lurking for a few years and can say that I've learned so
much more about technology, business, etc. from here that I otherwise wouldn't
have (I didn't even know what a PM was before; now I want to be one, heh).

Also echo the desire for non-programming jobs in the Who's Hiring thread, but
I guess that's a double-edged sword because if it gets too diverse, it can
become like a regular job board and thereby lose its relevance, for employers
and employees alike. At the same time, my selfish side wishes it to be so
since I would love to work for companies that frequent HN, i.e. more forward-
thinking companies doing really cool things (usually).

~~~
kcutrer
It's nice to hear from others who share the desire to go the PM route.

I've only recently joined HN, but so far I've found it a valuable source of
information and discussion. I've been working at a small startup on the
product team (not as the PM) for 3 years. We were acquired in April and now
I'm really interested in moving on and getting into a product management role,
but I'm unsure of how to break into that "market."

My current location (Greensboro, NC) is probably part of the problem I'm
having (I am open to moving). I joined HN to try to glean some intel on where
to find PM opportunities and figure out what companies (especially the ones on
HN) look for when hiring for those roles (programming ability? MBA required?
etc.)

If you have found any good info to share, I'd love to hear.

------
egypturnash
I'm an artist. I'm engaged in writing and drawing a graphic novel about a
robot lady with reality problems.

Reading HN gives me things to mull over regarding my own hesitant steps into
the world of promotion, sales, and making a business happen on the web.

Also I used to dabble in programming back in the days of the C64 and Amiga. I
will probably never do any major programming projects but I like to keep up
with tech news, and this is a decent source for some of that.

~~~
daveloyall
I recognized you at "robot lady with reality problems" and I absolutely LOVE
your work. Thank you! See you in the future!

~~~
AnimalMuppet
For those of us who don't recognize it, can you (or the GP) give us a clue?
Titles? Name of series? Some hint?

~~~
chipotle_coyote
The series is "Decrypting Rita".

[http://egypt.urnash.com/rita/chapter/01/](http://egypt.urnash.com/rita/chapter/01/)

------
genericone
I'm an applications engineer working in the semiconductor robotics industry. I
make robots run faster and more reliable so that more chips can be made. The
software I maintain touches >70% of semiconductor products in the world, and
that's only a guess based on our market penetration into a single
(significantly) necessary step in the semiconductor manufacturing process.

I would also classify myself as a wantrepreneur. I have a few apps I am
currently executing on, but I can only say that my skills in programming for
web and mobile are swiftly increasing. This is only the case because HN has
convinced me of the certainty of self-enrichment that comes from startups.

I visit HN for the insights into the other tech industry and for non-
inflammatory(hah) discussions about current topics. I read comments before I
click links, as I typically find the opinions of HN members to be as or more
on-topic than the content within the link itself.

~~~
skrebbel
ASML?

~~~
Heliosmaster
It has to be. (former NXE:3350B metro here)

------
bkohlmann
I'm a fighter pilot.

Best place to get news about the trends shaping our world, and muse over natl
security implications.

~~~
bellerocky
What do you think about replacing most fighter pilots with unmanned drones?
Way of the future or will never happen?

~~~
bkohlmann
I think unmanned systems will augment, rather than replace manned airplanes.
In one way of thinking, we've been using drones for decades...a tomahawk
missile is an unmanned vehicle with a warhead.

~~~
wdewind
I'm sure this is a dumb question but why is it preferable to have a pilot in
the cockpit if you could keep them on the ground?

~~~
superuser2
Compared to a modern fighter jet, drone aircraft are cheap, dumb, and
disposable. Satellite control involves many seconds of latency and sometimes
communication is lost entirely, especially in bad weather. It is routine and
expected for a drone to just lose contact / fail / crash and be written off.
You can get away with that since there's no loss of life, but you probably
wouldn't want to use a drone to carry a nuclear bomb, for example. You can
always just assassinate the Taliban leader tomorrow, but an unidentified or
hostile aircraft violating your airspace needs to be dealt with _right now_.

There is research on planes that could be sent off with orders and not require
continuous communication, avoiding some of these issues, but to my knowledge
they aren't in widespread "production" use.

An F-18, on the other hand, is an engineering marvel and _extremely_
responsive, agile, and flexible. Pilots can react very quickly to situations
and have a realistic chance of winning dogfights with other fighter jets, for
example, which drones almost certainly couldn't do.

On the other hand, if all you need to do is assassinate some people in a
country without an air force, a drone will do just fine.

~~~
furyofantares
When was our last dogfight? Vietnam?

~~~
001sky
You get this line from Top Gun? LOL.

Seriously naive either way.

~~~
furyofantares
I had thought I'd looked it up before but clearly I was mistaken. Luckily
superuser2 was here to reduce my naiveté.

------
giarc
I work in infection control in a large urban hospital (microbiology and
epidemiology background/education). Computer skills required for my job are
basically Word and Excel.

I enjoy the tech startup world and have plans to start my own in the very near
future. Currently using various sites to learn to program myself (Codeacademy,
Bento, Dash). I think it is important to know what your site is doing and be
able to respond to issues.

I have learned so much from this community/site that I hope it will put me on
a better path to success. However, the one thing about HN (and this is true of
just about any community) that there are people here who are so smart, that I
get convinced that I'm not ready to start building my site. I see examples of
javascript here for example, and I think "My skills are no where close to
that, how can I possible start working on my sites JS."

~~~
anmonteiro90
There is always going to be someone better than you. I'd say just start
working on your site's JS, you have no idea how much you'll learn in the
process :)

~~~
giarc
Thanks. I did the same a few years ago when I took a job that required
Filemaker development and I had never used the software before (downloaded the
free trial before the job). Once you start using something, and you have the
knowledge to know where to look for help/answers, you can do quite a bit.

~~~
sakai
Hey – working on a startup in the space and am very interested in talking with
somebody working in infection control. If it's of interest, please send me an
email (in my profile).

And would love to hear your plans too!

------
mgmtconsultant
I'm a management consultant. When hackers (Michael O'Church, for instance)
write about "MBA Culture" as opposed to "Hacker Culture" \- well, I'm in the
center of the MBAs.

Why do I read HN? Mostly, because I like and enjoy working in the technology
space (defined broadly) and hope to build a career in tech. HN is great at
giving me a view over the other side of the fence.

~~~
MadMoogle
Do you agree with what Michael O'Church says about MBA culture? I've read a
whole lot of his side of the argument but very little from somebody 'in the
center of the MBAs'.

------
nichodges
I'm so glad someone asked this. I'm originally an industrial designer, and
ended up in advertising. I spent ten years in advertising, and recently
resigned to take a step back and work out what's next. I can code, but I'm
definitely not a professional dev.

I've been reading HN for around 5 years. I'm here because I love technology,
and love seeing what people are doing with it. Outside a few email lists and
Twitter, there's no other site/source that I've stuck with for so long.

What do I get out of it? Aside from always learning new things (I have very
little use for lambda calculus or univariate linear regression in my life, yet
because of HN I know a lot about both). I spend a lot of my time now working
with / mentoring / investing in Melbourne-based startups, and the comments and
links I read on HN give me perspectives and thinking and experiences from a
global startup community that I wouldn't always have access to.

Of course those opinions and perspectives and experiences are almost always
skewed, this place is a filter bubble, but if you keep the bias in mind it's a
phenomenally efficient filter of quality information and thinking.

------
jakarta
I'm an analyst at a hedge fund, I have a job as a generalist so I look at
pretty much every asset class/geography/industry.

Historically have done very little investing in tech, but I'm interested in it
and HN is a good way to keep up with the industry.

I look at startups as businesses or industries where the rate of change is
much faster than normal. I think as an investor you're really a student of
business and that makes startups a really fascinating area to observe.

------
NAFV_P
HN readers like yourself are a big plus, it lends the site diversity. There is
also a fairly big age range.

I would definitely agree with point A.

The odd gem, like [0].

Advice or pointers from other HN readers.

I do not work in the software industry, but I would call myself a hacker.

The term "hacker" can be interpreted in imaginative ways, I wouldn't be
surprised to find hackers in your area of work.

[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7388576](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7388576)

------
jqm
Agronomist by training. Have done a number of things including project
management for a company doing public works construction projects for around
10 years. Been programming as a hobby since late teens and have no formal CS
education.

Recently I took a job as a web developer (I know... career path isn't in my
vocabulary, I just do what interests me at the time and let the chips fall
where they may). It's my first real programming job.

I built some SAAS applications for farms which I maintain and plan to expand
in the future. These apps showed what I can do and helped me land my current
full time job.

------
gyc
I'm a big bad patent attorney (please be kind). I have a computing engineering
degree and like to do a little iOS coding in my free time. I like keeping up
on what's happening in the tech industry.

------
ceades
Government affairs staffer working in Sacramento politics. My field is
education but I like to keep tabs on technology and start ups who almost
always end up in the legislative realm eventually.

One fight I've been watching with interest in the CA legislature is the anti-
Uber/Lyft legislation currently pending. We're in the last three weeks of
session now and I'm very interested to see where that ends up and whether Gov.
Brown signs it. There's nothing more fun than watching a policy fight you
don't have a dog in.

------
atmosx
I am a pharmacist living in a small town of 35-40k people in Northern Greece
and my ruby code, which I try to put together in my spare time, is kinda silly
:-) do I need to say more? :-p

For me HN is a view in the dream-land of the cool kids :-) I love it! Also the
most high-quality discussions/views I read on tech or even politics often come
from HN.

~~~
leonth
Haha. Fancy seeing your post again :)

~~~
atmosx
Same here hehehehe :-)

------
lotharbot
I'm a stay-at-home dad. Last year I was a math teacher. The last time I worked
a "tech" job was in grad school nearly a decade ago, assisting my department's
IT manager.

I'm here because I like to learn about things. Not just products/services that
I found out about from here that helped me in life (airbnb, hipmunk, leaky,
freelancer) but simply ideas (I've learned relevant things about religion,
games, science, warfare, education, driving, the basic income, and so on.)

I'm also here because my wife is a hacker and I like to be aware of what she's
reading and thinking about.

------
lomapur
I'm 21 years old student of hungarian philology. I'm absolutely fascinated
with all the new technologies and (mainly) software startups that are
presented here; maybe I chose wrong path in my life but I'm obsessed with
Hungary and learning so there's that.

I hope Hacker News will grow big.

------
Bootvis
I'm a consulting actuary.

What am I doing here? I've been programming since I was 11 and still do it
often. You have to as an actuary.

Besides I have some web skills and I'm using to build a startup doing risk
management for farmers. In this startup I'm responsible for the whole stack.

~~~
lself
Also an actuary. Consulted at one time but work at a company now. I started
programming around the same age and also use it for work. We all do SQL but I
am the only one doing general purpose coding at my company.

Also have web skills (the coincidences just keep coming). I do a few things on
the side and am contemplating a bootstrapped startup soonish. For example, I
did everything but the logo on this site:
[http://tvsift.com/](http://tvsift.com/)

~~~
bornhuetter
I'm an actuary as well! I would dispute GP that "as an actuary you have to
program". The overwhelming majority of actuaries I know barely know how to use
VBA. I quit chasing a career in Comp Sci at uni (I started programming at a
very young age, and always wanted to be a software engineer) to switch to
actuarial science, but now, even though I'm a Fellow, I've quit my job to go
into entrepreneurship. I think that being an actuary places us very well to go
into startups that take advantage of our analytic and risk management skill
set. With the amount of data being collected, that means about 90% of
startups.

~~~
Bootvis
I can't argue with your experiences and I guess I have been living in a
bubble. With all the legacy data we have (the company started using IT in the
60s and the coverages are until the end of life... AS/400 is still in active
use) data munging is a task in itself.

I fully agree with your last sentence! May I ask what you're working on?

------
rthomas6
I'm an electrical/computer engineer. Coding/CS is only an auxiliary interest
for me.

~~~
sliverstorm
Same deal. HN exposes me to some CS stuff. Also important, the EE/CE community
is small, and I share many general interests with the CS community, so I jump
on the CS news bandwagon.

------
ari_smith
I'm a high school student (to be entering my senior year). I would definitely
not call myself a hacker by any means, and while I am very passionate about
math and science, at the moment, I would first and foremost identify myself as
a jazz bassist (however, his may be due to the fact that I am currently at the
Berklee college of contemporary music, studying in their five-week summer
program). I have in the past ventured a bit into programming, but not very
seriously, and my biggest achievement was probably a roguelike written in
brainf*ck that I abandoned half-way through. Although I am very passionate
about jazz, I intend to pursue a career in science (though I am not sure
exactly what). I use HN because I can easily find many math/science/technology
related articles that I find very interesting. Also, I find that the articles
and posts on here tend to give me a different perspective on a situation than
one might find elsewhere.

------
leonth
I'm a pharmacist, but since my boss knows I'm good with computers, she put me
to manage the IT systems used by the pharmacy department. This role is well-
defined and there is at least one full-time staff in each public hospital here
doing this, but no software development knowledge is required because there is
a layer of IT consultants that supports us on very technical things (e.g.
server provisioning, network configuration, integration). What I do is mainly
defining requirements and provide content (both clinical and non-clinical).

I see HN as a way to keep up with IT in general - especially that all my other
colleagues talk about totally different kinds of news. I find discussions
well-balanced most of the time, and sometimes wonder "what do HN commenters
say?" when I get to a news using other routes.

Yes I am a wantrepreneur, if there is such a word. It's pretty cool to (have
the perception of) knowing two industries and try to piece them up together.

~~~
rxmatic
Didn't think I would see another pharmacist on here. Sounds like you're
somewhat into informatics. I got a first year residency that had a PGY2 in
informatics. I decided that I'm in too much debt to be collecting that much
interest for another two years.

I used to have an interest in programming when I was in undergrad (engineering
major), but I started to get out of the 'scene', for lack of a better word
after I was accepted into pharmacy school...

I was on reddit way back when programming was a main subreddit and eventually
moved to this site when the comments and content when to hell.

------
anoncow
I am a doctor working in a pharmaceutical company. I used to code before
starting medical school. Still do. Here mostly for the scene, the point of
views and the people. I love the posters here and the feeling of community. It
motivates me to keep trying new things.

(I count myself as a hacker. I code and maintain a number of (poor quality)
projects.)

------
ChadNYC
I'm a Registered Architect working on Hudson Yards, the largest private real
estate development in the history of the United States. I've wanted to be an
Architect for as long as I can remember.

I write software(originally PC based and now web based) to make my life
easier. I started coding Basic at a very young age. It came naturally to me. I
took a C++ class in high school, but aside from that I'm completely self
taught.

I'm here because I'm fascinated by the industry and the people. You can't get
a better cross section of what is happening in this industry then on this
site.

Also, maybe one day I'll develop a product that is useful to me and useful to
others. So having some background on start-ups could help, right?

~~~
telekid
I'm a sound designer who currently works at Shakespeare in the Park, also in
NYC. I'm absolutely fascinated by the Hudson yards project. What exactly is
your involvement in that project?

------
cwal37
I'm a researcher I guess. I'm doing my Post-Master's in renewable energy
economics and market analysis at a DOE lab. I use Python pretty much every
day, so there are plenty of things here that are relevant to my working life.
I've just always loved tech, and have a few app and game ideas (like most
people) whose many skeletons, design docs, and outlines litter my harddrives
and commonplace book. Although I also do spend a fair amount of time reading
and writing policy analysis.

I wouldn't consider myself 100% not a hacker though. My weekend list is to get
some webscraping done to support a future project, and check out Home Depot
for materials to build a cold-brewing setup.

~~~
tomrod
I almost took a position doing something similar. There are some fascinating
projects going on at the DOE labs.

------
throwaway283719
I'm a quant trader working at a hedge fund. I write a lot of code, but not in
the same way that I think most people here think about code. A lot of it is
hacky Matlab scripts to test some new research idea. Some of it is hand-
crafted C that implements some numerical routine that we need to call a few
billion times. Occasionally I throw something together in Python to do some
web scraping or parsing task, but that's becoming rarer nowadays.

I come to HN because I enjoy coding, and the level of discussion is still
probably the best out of any online community I know of (excepting a few very
specialized ones... the r/haskell community comes to mind).

------
tomrod
I'm an economist who builds Fed stress test models for a bank.

But I hack too, it's fun.

~~~
hellbanner
What's the most interesting thing you've learned? (Looked up your papers,
thanks for publishing!)

~~~
tomrod
That the word "boondock" comes from Tagalog, and likely entered the English
lexicon in the early 20th century as a result of the Spanish-American war.

(I'm not sure what aspect of learning you're curious about).

------
fluxxx
I operate an small non-profit burlesque museum, but I used to work as a
manager/lead tech of a IT consulting and training company. I left tech because
the stress was making me ill, but I actually miss it.

~~~
bussiere
I would like to hear where your museum is.

If you have any website or else

~~~
fluxxx
Las Vegas, NV

[http://www.burlesquehall.com/](http://www.burlesquehall.com/)

------
foobarbecue
I'm a geochemistry PhD student working on volcanoes, but I have several
website projects, of which climbshare.com is the most recent. HN has alerted
me to some useful new web technologies.

~~~
Intermernet
Climbshare is wonderful! I've resorted to the Android Photosphere function for
capturing entire boulders, but a true 3d model is infinitely better.

I'd love to know if you're doing this with LIDAR, or reconstruction from 2d
images.

How would I go about submitting climb data (mostly boulder problems) to your
site? What data do you need,and in what formats?

------
Saus
I'm in sales (network monitoring, deep packet inspection and security). I've
tried code bootcamps six or seven times, but coding isn't for me, talking is
my thing. As you said, the frontpage is the day after tomorrows news in my
industry. Just because I read HN, it seems I'm very well informed. Besides
that I'm a failed entrepeneur (closed shop after 2 years, now mostly
wantrepeneur/idea-guy ;)) and I enjoy reading succes stories of others.

------
jib
Im a project manager in customer support. I have a science
(chemistry/physics/computer science) background, but I never worked with it
professionally. The only programming I do is purely casual.

I enjoy reading about new tech and business - I like the mix of that and other
general interest stories. Mostly I come here for the comments - I read
comments before most articles, and I tend to only read the articles if there
is a good discussion around them.

------
emhart
I'm a historian? Maybe? I've taken to calling myself a security anthropologist
lately. I study the history of security, talk about it, write about it, think
about it endlessly.

I love this community. I've had amazing conversations in the comments and
taken a few of those to email or twitter as well. I know that I would
eventually see most of what I read here elsewhere, but this is the only place
on the internet where I read the comments.

------
george88b
I am an analytical chemist.

Currently I have a company that provides R&D and Manufacture services for
salons that want to launch their own label of hair products.

~~~
wuschel
Hello George,

nice to see a chemist, especially one who managed to claim some market share
on his own! With hard/wetware, it is not so easy to get your own company
going.. and would love to have my own company.

I am a chemist, with a Phd in the field of polymer chemistry, thin films and
biomaterials. I did a fair share of small molecule synthesis, polymerizations,
simulations and analytics (QPCR, surface plasmons, etc).

PM me, please.

------
frozenport
Graduate student who does code but in a non-cs field, I use this site to stay
in the know about tech, which has practical value for job interviews.

~~~
periwinkle
I'm a neuroscience PhD student, similar deal - I write a lot of code (matlab,
python) and find it an enjoyable hobby and potential non-academic career path.

~~~
jmenn
Same, but English literature PhD student keeping an eye on being employable in
the future if tenure disappears. Generally find myself writing Python as a
hobby or for my dissertation.

------
incision
I'm in tech, as a sort of sysadmin / strategist, not a developer which based
on the HN polls I've seen puts me in a small minority. Though, I'm fast
approaching the halfway point of a CS degree as an adult student.

I can't recall exactly how I stumbled on HN, but I stick around for the
discussion. I regularly learn things on HN as opposed to merely learning _of_
things as I might with other sharing sites.

I was about to say community instead of discussion above, but I actually have
a pretty negative association with that word as it seems to entail a
monoculture which HN isn't - at least not in the ways that matter to me.

Specifically, it seems possible to speak freely on HN (for the most part)
without being buried or banned in short order.

I was enamored with the heavy startup culture on HN for a while, but what I've
gleaned suggests to me that if I'm ever to partake it probably won't be as an
employee. If anything, a founder hoping to leverage domain-specific knowledge
and personal network in creating a long term business.

------
joeclark77
I'm a professor of information systems (MIS) and, although I like to think of
myself as a hacker, I'm probably not. I was a web developer years ago
(1995-2001) and continue to program various things on hobby projects and in my
research (some social science simulations in R and Python).

My main teaching is a capstone project course for IS undergrads, which started
out as a traditional project management (PMBOK) course, and has evolved into a
more practical exploration of software development from version control, to
scrum, to testing, to DevOps. Hacker News has been a great source of ideas for
what to explore in class.

The worst thing about my job is that I have no time to become really good at
anything, instead having to be a dabbler in a hundred different things. (Or
maybe that just means I'm a "full stack" guy? Heh.) The best thing about my
job is that I have a couple hundred students come through my classes each
year, so I can assign them to try these things out and I can see how they
work.

------
ratixis
I'm not in the software industry per se, but was. Up until last August I was
running my own software development company that had just taken a big hit when
our biggest client pulled out with no real warning.

Fast forward to today, I'm now a qualified secondary school teacher in the UK,
teaching Business, Computing and Japanese. I get the urge to come back to
full-time programming from time to time, but genuinely love being out of
'burnout' mode.

I really enjoy coming here because I still love keeping on top of tech and
entrepreneur news, want to stay ahead of the curve, and hey, you never know, I
might find a company that is looking to 'disrupt' secondary education in a way
that I 100% believe in. Haven't seen it yet, but some companies are getting
close (Khan Academy, looking at you!).

It also keeps me from spiraling into my "I'm not doing enough!" mentality that
I have for myself, and inspires the wantrepreneur side of me.

------
tonylemesmer
Product designer / engineer - having said that I have been writing software as
a hobby since I was about 7 or 8 years old (I'm 35 now). I see knowing about
software, electronics and "technology" as a general knowledge, in the same way
that I can speak and read.

Hacker News is a fantastic community, filled with rational, clever and
moderate contributors who write stuff which is a a pleasure to read and learn
from.

The rest of the popular web seems in thrall by the new stuff and doesn't see
things quite so rationally. Its not easy to pull the wool over the eyes of the
HN crowd. I love that kind of interaction, where people have a level of
understanding that allows genuine technical merit to be apparent.

My new full time job is designing machines to keep sick people alive whilst
their bodies are repaired. Something I'd never thought of doing 10 months ago
when I worked in consultancy.

------
asafira
I'm a physics PhD student, working on experimental quantum computing. My day-
to-day work varies a huge amount, but can generally consist of cleanroom
nanofabricaton, circuit design, data processing, machining, and experimental
design.

I consider consumer technology one of my hobbies, and hackernews lets me keep
up with the latest trends in software engineering. I've always been
particularly fascinated with technological forces that can have big impacts on
the world at large, and new uses/trends in software have played a huge role in
that. I like to think that hackernews keeps me grounded to what's the latest
and greatest in the world where the "big things" can impact people on a much
shorter timescale than the work I currently do. I plan to go into the tech
industry when I graduate, and I'm highly considering an internship next
summer.

------
Bzomak
I'm here because I find the various news and discussions about assorted
programming languages fascinating. I often find, either posted directly to the
site or in the comments, new resources which help me learn more about the
languages and technologies I either use or have a passing interest in. A happy
side effect is that I gain an understanding of what my numerous friends who
make their living by programming are talking about!

I don't particularly care about startups, but then, the beauty of this site is
that I don't have to! There's enough here that I find myself perusing the RSS
feed and culling stories that, if I had enough time available, I might be
interested in. For those articles that I do select, however, I usually read
through the associated comment threads, as I find the various opinions and
clarifications most enlightening!

------
Xcelerate
I'm a chemical engineer, working on my PhD currently. My research is in
molecular dynamics (I get to use supercomputers like Titan), so I learn a lot
about high-performance computing and programming from HN. Really though, I
like this site for the high-quality discourse compared to other websites.

------
Broken_Hippo
I've never had a tech job. Right now, I don't even have a job. I had always
worked in service fields - my last 8 years or so was spent as a supervisor in
a pharmacy. Right now, I moved across an ocean and start language/civics
classes next week. I guess I'm a student, then?

I read here because I am interested in technology. I like to see where things
are headed. I see hope in many of the articles and have strange future views
(spouse got me interested in the Singularity movement... 30 years, they say).
I have considered starting a business, and can apply much of the things I
read.

Also, I find the site interesting. The articles work for me. And I'm not all
that scared to read the comments - I don't often lose a little hope for
humanity when I read them because the community has a brain :)

------
asoplata
Another PhD student, in computational neuroscience (modeling of
thalamocortical circuits). The difference between the level of code-sharing
and code community between general purpose software and scientific software is
just astounding. In computational neuro-modeling at least (as opposed to very
intensive bio-analysis like genomics), there's incredibly little sharing of
code or interchangeability, outside of
[ModelDB]([http://senselab.med.yale.edu/ModelDB/](http://senselab.med.yale.edu/ModelDB/)),
although I've heard systems biology-modeling (like with CellML) is in a better
state.

I love this site for many reasons, e.g. searching "site:ycombinator.com
<search term>" is one of the best sources of finding modern opinions on
languages, libraries, the state of coding in certain places, and most of all
some of the best opinions on what can act as good introductory materials on
anything software/langs (in addition to stackoverflow).

It's nice to have a finger on different tech scenes and where people,
sometimes, are willing to call each other on BS. Oppositely, it's cool to see
posts about a product/service and see that the actual company actively
responds to comments here in a lively fashion.

One of the biggest reasons for me has been seeing whenever's the occasional
open academia article or movement starting to spawn, whether it be open
access, open data (e.g. [dat]([http://dat-data.com/)](http://dat-
data.com/\))), or my favorite, open code. There's an unbelievable amount of
reinventing the software wheel that goes on with a ton of PhDs, and the FOSS
community proves that doesn't have to be the case. Trying to take the lessons
it's learned to the sphere of science is something that an increasing amount
of people are thankfully interested in, and this site is one of the only ways
I've heard about initiatives in that regard - most notably, [Mozilla Science
Lab]([http://mozillascience.org/](http://mozillascience.org/))

------
Tad_Ghostly
I'm working on innovation in education as part of a small team working
independently within a moderately large organization. I ended up here while
reading about different lean startup methods. I dabble in client-side coding
to make some prototypes, but certainly don't consider myself a programmer or
hacker (unless you count the times I ferociously enter passwords in a sad
attempt to obtain access to our own systems).

I get stories and perspective. I love reading a story, having my own take,
then jumping in the comments to see how others view the same information.
There are so many lessons I would rather learn from someone else rather than
from my own experience...that's why I'm here.

Also, thanks for posting something I am qualified to answer, it prompted me to
finally stop lurking.

------
2mur
I'm a pathologist. I code for a hobby. Building a software product _slowly_ in
my spare time.

------
hardmath123
I'm a high schooler/coder, but I like to think of myself as a hacker. I
dropped by to make the case that being in the software industry and being a
'hacker' are not correlated very strongly. The hacker culture revolves around
code because the culture likes code, but the culture itself has a deeper
significance than the ability to make a photo-sharing site or something. See
[http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/meaning-of-
hack.html](http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html)

Anyhow, for the sake of adding to discussion: I browse HN for the interesting
links, especially reading others' blogs, and the distinct lack of memes you
find on other link-sharing sites like Reddit.

------
wollw
I'm an artist (well, a student really) with an interest in mathematics and
computer science abstractions. I like to create work related to and inspired
by technology. Given how important these fields of knowledge have become I
believe that creating artwork from them is an important way to reflect on the
state of contemporary society. I guess I do consider myself a bit of a hacker
(I design my own circuit boards and write my own software for my projects),
but I'm not really affiliated with the tech community outside of the internet
and mostly hang out with other artists.

edit: I guess it kind of goes without saying, but what I get out of HN in
particular is a combination of keeping my foot in technology and reading
interesting news.

------
bussiere
I'am part a hypnotist, performer , fire breather , bouncer, and part tech guy
and other jobs notably as a fixer in the underground in paris.

For me a hacker is someone who see something and want to mod it , dig in it. A
hacker is someone who is curious and is active and don't take things for what
they are given for. And a hacker is also someone who doubt. There are
mechanical hacker, even grandma tips are hack for me. So it would be more
relevant to ask who is not a tech guy. Or consider himself / herself a
techguy.

Hn give me interesting inside and news. And it's always good to be on the edge
than other people on different subject. I always have one day or two in
advance for the news to other people thanks to HN.

------
mdturnerphys
I'm an experimental physics PhD student. I'm not much of a coder, but I'd
probably consider myself a hardware hacker. I'm interested in finding a job in
high-tech product R&D and enjoy learning about the startup community.

------
kyllo
I guess I'm on the fringe of the tech industry. I work as a systems analyst in
the IT department of a logistics company.

My primary job is not to write code or develop applications, but being able to
write scripts and small utility applications really comes in handy when
analyzing data. I write lots and lots of SQL and regular expressions for work,
I do tons of grepping / sedding and am quite comfortable with bash, but I
don't consider that coding.

Programming is also as a hobby for me, I have some side projects which are
mostly Python and JS stuff, and a little Java. I also have an interest in
functional languages. So there's loads of interesting content for me hear.

------
yannickw
I'm an evolutionary biologist - using bioinformatics and genomics tools to
understand how genes underly the evolution of social behavior evolves in ants
and bees [[http://yannick.poulet.org](http://yannick.poulet.org)]. Doing this
definitely requires a lot of hacking. Some of us call it genome hacking. Now
I'm at Queen Mary U London since 2.5 years where I've been given the
opportunity to start my own research lab.

I read HN because starting up a research lab is similar to starting a company
(team size; project focus; use of cutting edge tech for analysis, development
& collaboration).

------
robmiller
I'm an acoustical consultant. I mainly work with architects during the design
and construction of schools, offices, and other public spaces. If you're in
northwest US and work for a large tech firm, chances are someone in my group
has worked on your space--designing interior acoustic environments and keeping
obtrusive noises out.

I'm also a wantrepreneur with a vision to create better calculation tools for
architectural acoustics and noise control. I enjoy seeing new JS libraries on
here that help fill in those puzzle pieces and reading the perspectives of
others on political and cultural topics.

------
bagua
I'm a 16 year old kid in Sydney who's just finishing school. The extend of my
"Hacking" is a few small Java/C programs that I write when I need to do
something, and don't want to do it by hand.

------
freehunter
I'm a hacker, as in I'm employed in Information Security. The other use for
the word "hacker". I spend much of my days doing pentests, malware study, and
forensic analysis for a multi-national. Lately, with some inspiration from HN,
I've started into Python to replace or augment what little I script in Bash to
help with my work.

I was drawn here because of the name, became disappointed that it was hacking
in the sense of coding, stayed because I have nothing better to read. Since
Paul Graham has his own forums, I wish Bruce Schneier or Brian Krebs had their
own for people like me.

------
definity
I'm just interested in people who are interested in things, if that makes
sense.

I dabble in a variety of things... was generally into technology all my life
(at various times being light or heavy into programming, hardware, software,
any number of things); have a degree in math; work as an editor; freelance
doing technical helpdesk work for Wordpress plugins; and just generally like
reading new things and hearing from smart people, which is why I'm here.

Also, I've read HN for a couple years now, and this thread is the first one
that prompted me to comment. I've really enjoyed reading it!

------
phusion
I've been in IT since 1999 or so, when the high school I was attending
recognized my skills and hired me on as a part of a student lead admin team.
Myself and 4-5 friends ran the network with a single adult sysadmin. Since
then I have branched out to linux admin in my spare time, but have only worked
in MS shops. I'm currently working for a propane company as their windows
admin and helpdesk monk.. guy.

I don't know a line of code, know a bit of security, but am always interested
in how things work and what kind of WiFi is being run in my neighborhood, so I
consider myself a hacker.

------
ssivark
I'm a PhD student, doing research in fundamental theoretical physics. My
tastes are eclectic (my undergrad degree was in electrical engineering), so
among other things I'm interested in FOSS, computer science, tech and random
bits of news and worthy reading material that pops up on HN. I'm also mildly
interested in the culture in startups and how skilled workers motivate
themselves and bootstrap -- I guess a lot of such soft knowledge would
translate to a wide variety of situations (eg: academic research).

And oh, did I forget to mention the static-blog-generator-pr0n? :P

------
paulornothing
Statistician by title, more of a project manager supervising data collection
on a large scale. I aspire to code, mostly like this site because there is
interesting material and reddit feels always the same.

------
wgoodwin
I'm a lawyer, with a split practice between IP lit and tech trans, and tried
some modest entrepreneurial ventures pre-law school that ended up failing, and
I read HN for largely the same reasons.

------
brandelune
HN is a fascinating place to read where I can get my daily share of IT wisdom.
IT development is shaping a big part of the world we live and it is important
to see how everything evolves.

I have a small translation/localization company in the middle on Japan and I
use as much free software as I can and try to promote them the most I can in
the translation community. I learned a bit of basic, pascal, assembly in the
80's and when programming your calculator was the coolest thing you could do
in High School.

------
marsrovershadow
not sure if there is a community (at the moment?), but there is a wealth of
under-the-radar type stuff which is interesting for those outside of the biz
(i.e. military).

there seems to be about a 60/40 split between straight tech/programming stuff
and more general/non-technical information in a pleasantly-mixed churn. i find
HN to be a good motivator to look at other fields through a "hacker" lens and
think in an architectural/programming/entrepreneurial/system-level manner.

------
pstrazzulla
I started reading this 4-5 years ago when I was an investment banker. It's a
genuine source for information and I like that.

Since then I've taught myself to code and founded a startup.

------
najhr999
I work in technical production and fabrication for a sports marketing agency.
We build unique consumer experiences for our major sportswear client. I look
to HN for ideas and inspiration that I can use to fill the gap from ideas to
implementation. For example gamification of a shoe try on experience, to show
the consumer the performance of the product. HN is my go to for a way to pass
meetings. Always interested in collaborating if anyone has any ideas in this
domain.

------
kkylin
I'm a math prof, my research is in applied & computational math, mainly
dynamical systems and numerical methods. I do a fair bit of coding in my work
(and studied CS/AI as an undergrad before getting PhD in math), and am
interested in many of the topics that get posted here -- programming
languages, technology & society, advances in the sciences, etc. I also have
many friends in the software industry, and have a passing interest in startup
culture.

------
tanderson92
I'm an applied mathematician, working on my PhD at the moment. I do a good
deal of programming(HPC) but I wouldn't consider myself quite at the level of
a hacker.

------
bachmeier
I'm an economics professor. I have to program for my research, my hobby is
studying programming languages, and entrepreneurship is pretty important for
the economy.

~~~
tomrod
I'm a fan of economic professors.

------
cmsmith
I'm a structural engineer (PhD sounds awkward to say but seems relevant here)
doing research on buildings and earthquakes/fires. I have always been
competent/interested in programming style hacking, but resistant to moving
away from the physical engineering world too much.

I hang around HN because I am interested in the hacking/innovation mindset
that is popular here especially as it could be tied into the
structural/mechanical world.

------
hovestol
I'm a recent high school graduate. I got turned on to this by my comp sci
teacher, I'll be going to university in a week for computer science, so I'm
bending the rules because I'm not in the software industry yet.

I totally agree with A, B, and C, but I also really enjoy just the interesting
articles I wouldn't find elsewhere. Here I can actually learn as opposed to
school (Can I use that as a verb? I can break the rules if I want!).

------
Squarel
Masters student doing botany/pedology.

Here because of reason A from OP, but also because I am always keeping an eye
out for new tools I can use for data analysis in my thesis.

------
Disruptive_Dave
Biz dev / creative marketing guy here. Startup co-founder and consultant.
Absolutely love this place...skip the super technical threads because
marketing.

------
ASquare
I do continuous improvement projects (using Green Belt Six Sigma training) in
my day job.

Trying to get a travel focused startup off the ground
([http://www.planitwide.com](http://www.planitwide.com)).

Been fascinated with all things tech for a while and am constantly in awe of
people who can build stuff. I also firmly believe that inspiration comes from
the most random sources and HN fits the bill for both of these things.

------
presidentender
I've tried to be a programmer a couple of times. Now I can blame mitigating
factors, but frankly, I think it's likely I won't go back.

------
ejr
I'm mostly an office worker and make crafts at home that I sell online - most
boring daytime endeavour yet. I too am a "wantrepreneur" and I'm thinking of
getting something started soon. Nothing "tech" though.

From the community, I get a surprising amount of non-tech/hacker news, stories
and comments and new insights about life and work that I didn't imagine
otherwise.

------
cm2012
Online Marketing Manager. Marketing and advertising stuff here can be pretty
useful. Mostly I stay for the decently intelligent discussion.

------
raihan
I actually work in arts and entertainment! You can see the most recent project
that I managed here: [http://artalliance.com](http://artalliance.com)

So why would someone artistically-minded come to HN? Because the world is
changing--in law, in technology, etc. And being on top of that is ALWAYS
helpful, especially with such a knowledgeable community.

------
Kinnard
There are many definitions of hacker:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Hacker_Manifesto](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Hacker_Manifesto)

Wark defines hacking 'as an “abstraction”, the construction of different and
unrelated matters into previously unrealized relations. Hackers produce new
conceptions, perceptions and sensations hacked out of raw data. Everything and
anything is a code for the hacker to hack, be it “programming, language,
poetic language, math, or music, curves or colourings” [3] and once hacked,
they create the possibility for new things to enter the world. What they
create is not necessarily “great”, or “even good”, but new, in the areas of
culture, art, science, and philosophy or “in any production of knowledge where
data can be extracted from it.” Wark argues that (new) information comes from
the hack. It doesn’t matter if you are a computer programmer, a philosopher, a
teacher, a musician, a physicist, if you essentially produce new information -
it’s a hack [1]. In this sense, hackers are creators and they bring new ideas
into the world. The aim of the book is to highlight the origins, purpose and
efforts by this emerging hacker class, who produce new; concepts, perceptions,
and sensations out of the stuff of raw data.'

~~~
jiggy2011
I've literally never heard a musician , mathematician or engineer refer to
themselves as a "hacker" or anyone outside of computing for that matter.

~~~
daveloyall
Neither have I, but I find myself recognizing hacker traits in musicians,
mathematicians, lawyers, chefs, spangers, legislators, tech recruiters, modern
bohemians, and grant writers.

These are all people that reason about systems. The systems and the tools
vary, but the process doesn't.

~~~
jiggy2011
But is it reasonable to term it "hacking", there's a certain arrogance in
trying to apply one's own wording in a way that suggests a particular type of
person (a particular type of programmer) as the ideal.

~~~
daveloyall
When lawyers start coming up to us and saying "I see what you did there!",
let's ask them what they call it. :) Meanwhile...

Actually, the closest term I've come across personally is "systems thinking".
(A phrase with its own splendid, storied history, by the way!)

------
rstephen
I am in procurement and warehouse management in the oil and gas industry.

I don't really know why I'm here. I worked with Kale for several years and
found him to be an interesting redneck. His actual name is Cooter, which he
prefers to be called. Most of this stuff is over my head, but I do find
interesting things to read from time to time.

------
HelloMcFly
I'm an industrial-organizational psychologist. I design selection systems, HR
programs designs at affecting outcomes (like attrition) and do the data
analysis relevant to those ends.

An HR guy* and a social scientist! I could make an easy punching bag.

*More on the strategy and data-analysis end, less on administration. I barely know what HR Generalists do.

~~~
graham1776
I am putting together a site that catalogs all the benefits a company can
offer their employees, can I run it by you to see what you think?

------
cjslep
Nuclear engineer by formal education, mostly self-taught in the realm of
computing. Enough to get an internship at Cisco during college. Here for all
the same reasons OP is, with the addition that the community is by far one of
the most enriching and rewarding to be a part of, even if I wind up lurking
most of the time.

------
cJ0th
MBA-to-be here. I am into computers since early childhood. Mainly, I enjoy
topics on Programming (especially python), Linux and entrepreneurship even
though chances are I'll always suck at the first two items (though I am good
enough to use them as "secret weapons" occasionally) and never do the latter.

------
jreed91
I'm a business analyst for large office furniture manufacturer. I have an
interest in the startup culture and enjoy trying out new technologies. This
site gives me the chance to be an early adopter for many new technologies.
While also providing me insights on all things that are a part of the hacker
life.

------
georgespencer
Non technical startup founder. Used to write PHP for a living and now I spend
all day in (interesting) meetings.

------
danimalia1
I am an epidemiologist -- currently working as a research director in academia
and spending most of my time working in R. I originally got on here to look at
a project my brother had done. I stay on because I find it very interesting to
see how the tech crowd interprets health and population studies.

------
selleck
I am 32 and in Software Sales. I am busting my butt to get into the software
industry through coursera, edx, udacity, books and side projects. I come here
for learning resources that are often posted and to keep my ear to the ground
on what is happening in the tech/start up space.

------
thehoneybadger
Evil corporate lawyer.... love code, algorithms, new tech, and insightful
commentary. HATE advertising.

------
bane
I bounce around back and forth in and out of the software industry. I haven't
really been a hacker for at least a decade. When I'm in the software industry
it's usually more as some kind of management role.

I'm usually here for the news and generally high quality discussion.

------
justizin
software isn't an industry, it's a way of life.

------
anigbrowl
I'm a sound engineer, working mainly in Indie film with some electronic music
and instrument design on the side. Working in film requires wearing a lot of
hats so I'm conversant with most aspects of film development/production. Also,
frustrated law student.

------
jawon
Copywriter. Long time lurker. Interested in startups and online business
models and strategy.

------
eitally
I'm an IT director with a focus on the digital workplace & advanced tech R&D
(e.g. flying quadcopters around a factory to do real time process
inspections). So, not the software industry, but still a lot of software
stuff.

------
hbharadwaj
Former Product Manager. Currently a strategy consultant in IT space. On my way
into bootstrapping something and HN gives me the inspiration, knowledge etc.,
Also, looking to get back into Product Management someday.

------
molbioguy
I'm a senior scientist at a biotech company. I do engage in some software
development now, but my formal training is as a bench scientist. I read HN
because I enjoy the intelligent topics and conversations.

------
taksintik
Finance / Acquisitions guy... I'm like 3M.. I don't make things but I can make
things better.. Can't code a lick but understand how to develop frameworks
into profit generating entities.

~~~
graham1776
What kind of companies/entities do you work with?

------
cessor
I study psychology. I have a masters in computer science and I am amazed every
day anew how much of my old skill is very usefull within other domains. I
don't label myself a hacker.

------
deadlast
I'm an recent high school graduate. I come here because, despite high test
scores, I don't know what I want to do with my life, and I feel like being
here might help me.

~~~
ced
What do you like? What was the most exciting thing you did in the last two
years?

~~~
deadlast
Hmm. I have a hard time naming specifics. I enjoy math when I understand it,
but I have the hardest time in Calculus of any of my classes. I was near the
best in my class in Biology and Chemistry but I didn't really enjoy them- if I
did I probably would have gone to the larger UC than the smaller liberal arts
school I'm going to attend. Everything else was a mixed bag. I enjoy writing
when it's on something I'm interested about, I dislike it when it's rote, but
what I'm interested in is usually fleeting. That tends to apply to motivation
too. I can get aroused for a lot of work in one case, and in another similar
case I can't be bothered.

I guess my favorite piece of work in the last two years was a project in
regular economics. We were divided into groups and ordered to create a
business model in report style. We created Fatoline.

Fatoline was dreamed up in response to an unsustainable America. This
unsustainability is rooted in the suburban commute lifestyle- people drive
everywhere, consuming vast amounts of gasoline and gaining weight. The
Fatoline company has two public fronts, its liposuction service and its
gasoline service. We take the fatty liposuctioned tissue, put it through some
huge centrifuges, introduce some modified lipases (modified through science
magic) and heat and boom, we have gasoline, which is sold through our other
front. This keeps the automobiles running, the people skinny, and keeps the
suburban structure of the U.S. stable. Only now, instead of nasty foreign oil
coming in, we have the wholesome, local fat-conversion company keeping our
lifestyle afloat.

Unfortunately, after crunching the numbers, it turned out that for this system
to work, each person would have to produce some obscene amount of fat each
year, somewhere in the thousands or ten thousands. No matter though. Once we
figure out how to get people to be able to get that big, the dream is
definitely alive.

I guess I liked the project because it involved a little bit of everything.

------
WCityMike
I'm a legal assistant for a mid-size law firm that mostly caters to other
small- and medium-sized businesses. I basically just enjoy the topics
discussed here.

------
known
Did you sense
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingroup_bias](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingroup_bias)

------
J_Corder
I'm a student.I come here for passing the time.

------
sergioschuler
Just a digital marketer here (and twice failed entrepreneur). Still looking
for the one that will solve a real and profitable problem.

------
nsomniact
Just wanted to give thanks to the OP for posting this :)

~~~
graham1776
I never dreamed of the response that I got, so glad for HN. Thanks to everyone
who responded :)

~~~
notahacker
I'm not sure why I missed this thread; it's almost literally made for me ;-)

 _I 'm not a hacker but I'm here today because.... I sell SaaS. I work in
aviation, which on the commercial side of the organization is as enthusiast-
driven and fly-by-the-seat of the pants hacky as tech companies (but with
suits). I'm interested in alternative finance - more as a to get money to
people that most need it than out of any delusional desire to get rich off it
- and have a degree in economics. I built my first website in 2000 but my side
projects exist more in my head than in source control. I like to write, but
don't blog, not least because I've a sneaking suspicion the sum total of all
the time spent by all the visitors to my blog would be less than the time I
spent writing it. Nobody is reading this either :). I even read sometimes read
articles on the joy of Clojure or Go or Haskell and try to understand why
people get excited about monads. I have a _latent* desire to start a startup,
and went to a startup meet yesterday to deny being interested in starting a
startup _

------
FD3SA
HN is a fascinating place mainly because it is one of the most diverse
communities of incredibly intelligent people on the web.

The level of discourse is usually high while covering a very broad range of
subjects. Subject specific communities still exceed HN competency in their
respective domains, but nowhere that I've found covers such a diverse range of
topics with a relatively high competence.

Unfortunately there are still some very obvious biases regarding certain
subjects, but at least the community entertains other points of view.

Although I'm an engineer by training, HN has led me to explore many domains to
which I wouldn't otherwise have been exposed. Furthermore, there are some
incredible individuals here who I'd never run into otherwise, and discussions
with them are extremely satisfying.

Overall a great community, though sometimes limited by the bias of its
origins.

