Show HN: A better handoff from PC to Phone - <AUTHOR> https://www.drumroll.io/app

<comment><AUTHOR> I built this little tool to make it easy to handoff links/text from computer to phones. Would love to get some feedback from HN community.

In a nutshell once the app is setup, you can start sending links/text via drumroll.io to your devices. There is also a chrome extension to make it super easy to capture links drumroll.io/chrome.</comment>


The Grim Math of the Working-Class Housing Crisis - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/10/grim-math-working-class-housing-crisis/7321/ <comment><USER2> Consider this sentence:

"That inability is mushrooming, driven by increasing rents across much of the country and wages that aren't going anywhere."

One has to wonder: where is the money coming from that drives up these rents, if wages are stagnant? The issue is supply and demand.

Why has supply decreased? Part of the answer is the housing bust, which followed the housing boom (irrational exuberance was counter balanced by irrational pessimism):

[http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2013/09/ny-times-on- shorta...](http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2013/09/ny-times-on-shortage-of- buildable-lots.html)

As it says there:

"The latest land rush is in full swing, as developers realize that they have failed to feed the zoning, permitting and mapping pipeline, which can take months or years to turn raw fields into buildable lots."

The other side of the supply and demand issue is the increase of foreign demand. Some of the money comes in the form of foreign money that speculates in the American real estate:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/nyregion/more- apartments-a...](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/nyregion/more-apartments- are-empty-yet-rented-or-owned-census-finds.html?pagewanted=all)

As it says there:

"But some Manhattan neighborhoods are assuming that vacant feeling the year round, because the people who own or rent apartments there actually live somewhere else most of the time. "

A combination of housing bust and foreign speculation in USA real estate leads to a situation where rents go up even when wages are stagnant or falling.

\</comment><comment>-----

A possible explanation of the international forces at work is offered here:

[http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/trade-and- secula...](http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/trade-and-secular- stagnation/)

This was interesting to me:

"So the causation could run the other way, with deregulation and rising leverage pulling in foreign capital, keeping the dollar overvalued, and producing persistent deficits."

<comment><USER3> Much of the demand increase is domestic: as crime and pollution have decreased in American cities, and the downsides of auto-oriented suburbs have made them unappealing to many, there are a lot more Americans looking to move into urban housing, and to stay in it beyond their 20s.

New York City is one of the safest big cities, has very high wages, and very slow production of new housing due to a lack of buildable land and zoning that makes it difficult to replace small buildings with larger ones in many areas. These factors lead to very high demand with little new supply to meet it.

<comment><USER2> This does not describe an increase in demand:

"as crime and pollution have decreased in American cities, and the downsides of auto-oriented suburbs have made them unappealing to many, there are a lot more Americans looking to move into urban housing"

You describe a change in preferences, from one form of housing to another form of housing. All other things being equal, this does not lead to an increase in demand. If 1 person moves from the suburbs to the cities then there is 1 more person demanding urban housing and 1 less person demanding suburban housing. Total demand does not increase in this scenario.

<comment><USER4> But I don't think people are arguing that total demand has skyrocketed, as I'm sure there are plenty of cheap and affordable houses in places such as Flint and other rust belt cities. The problem is the locations with jobs have seen an increase in demand without an increase in supply and those same locations are the ones that are attractive to foreign investors and immigrants. So you end up with all the demand in a few concentrated areas vs spread equally around the country.

<comment><USER2> You write:

"But I don't think people are arguing that total demand has skyrocketed"

and yet you can see that I am responding to a comment that starts with these words:

"Much of the demand increase is domestic"

<comment><USER4> As you said that total domestic demand hasn't increased as it was just a change in preference, I was implying that no one is arguing that the total demand for housing in the United States has suddenly skyrocketed. The change in preference, as you called it, creates demand in specific areas of the US while creating a surplus in many other areas. I believe the impact of foreign investors has only increased the localized demand however they probably haven't done much to increase the overall demand for housing in the country.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> "New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio has made affordable housing a centerpiece of his campaign. If polls are any indication, he will soon have the chance to put his money where his mouth is."

... no... he's really going to put _other peoples '_ money where his mouth is. taxpayers' money. landlords' money. developers' money. Rent Control 2.0, here we come! It worked so well the last time. :P

The socialists will probably mod me down for this, obviously.

<comment><USER6> Just in case anybody is interested in what de Blasio actually is proposing: [http://www.billdeblasio.com/issues/affordable- housing](http://www.billdeblasio.com/issues/affordable-housing)

Pretty shocking stuff, I know.

<comment><USER5> I assume your shock is for rhetorical purposes only.

Anyway. There's plenty of feelgood language with destructive consequences on the backend. But I'll point out a lovely bit: "Bring Basements and Granny Flats into the Legal System

There are thousands of unsanctioned housing units across the city in basements and above garages — but the city doesn't recognize them. That deprives tenants of legal protections, and prevents landlords from making the kinds of upgrades that would ensure the health and safety of families living in them. Bill de Blasio will end the practice of pretending these homes and their families don't exist. As mayor, he will bring them into the regulated housing system, ensure they meet legal standards for safety, and work to bring them under rent-regulation, so their tenants will have the same basic protections as New Yorkers in traditional apartments."

Yes. Protections like "gee, if I rent out my basement to someone, it sounds like there will be a bunch of extra regulatory requirements. I'll need to be careful or my tenants might take me to Housing Court and get a free legal advocate like deBlasio proposes in another section, and get me on some technicality, and then I won't be able to evict them. Maybe I'll reconsider whether to bother at all."

And he's right! That's exactly the same sort of awesome protection that existing rent control already provides!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Part of me wonders if this is a temporary problem that got triggered by urban environments becoming extremely trendy in the last decade or so. Either way, we are not only losing a solid worker class, but also some of the skilled labor force because of it (especially here in SF).

<comment><USER8> I think you're definitely on to something here. If you look at housing starts in the US over the past year, they're way up, but they're also predominantly multi-family. This generation has delayed forming families, but at some point probably will ultimately settle down, get married, have kids... the 1 BR in SOMA isn't going to cut it at that point and there will be a flight back to the suburbs.

<comment><USER9> >This generation has delayed forming families, but at some point probably will ultimately settle down, get married, have kids

Statistically speaking, wealthy people tend to have fewer children, and have those children later in life. I believe this was true for the previous generation, too.

>the 1 BR in SOMA isn't going to cut it at that point and there will be a flight back to the suburbs.

Yeah, but a 2 BR would work just fine, especially if you only have one kid. And 3 BR apartments are not unheard of. (and the cultural changes required to expect kids to share a bedroom are not impossible.)

I think that the deciding factor here is perceived safety, followed by quality of schools. As cities are gentrifying, people seem to be thinking of them as safer. And a wealthy population (especially a wealthy population that recently moved in, and here in California, is therefore paying full freight property taxes) makes for a bunch of money to throw at those problems.

If cities start being perceived as safer than suburbia? That could push parents out of suburbia and into cities. That's how they got to suburbia in the first place, right? And it's a self-reinforcing cycle; gentrification means more taxes, more resources for law-enforcement, (and conversely, less of those things in the suburbs, if the wealthy folks in the suburbs are moving into the cities.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> One problem is the very policies supporting cheap housing (rent control for example) make it much less profitable for people to invest in medium income housing.

<comment><USER11> Some of the policies.

Allowing high rise construction in Silicon Valley seems like a policy that could increase investment and affordable housing.

<comment><USER10> Yes. Increasing the housing stock, and creating opportunities for people to make money servicing the middle class helps.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This might explain NYC a bit, given the large number of bankers and banking firms there - 5.2 times more than the average, is their pay:

[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-22/chart-day- average-n...](http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-22/chart-day-average-new- york-banker-makes-52-more-average-mere-mortal)

<comment><USER4> Is average really a good metric there or are they only including people in investment banking/trading/similar positions? Otherwise its pretty meaningless number given some of the top people make $10M+ and I don't think the back office/cleaning crew/security staff positions pay much of (if any) a premium compared to non financial firm positions.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> What would happen if one of these cities passed a law that apartment rents would have to be adjust for income level? So lower income people would get a break, and higher income would have to pay more? Would that be effective, and would it be legal?

Or, the city could have a housing subsidy tax that is progressive based on income.

<comment><USER5> So you're saying that landlords subsidize their low-income tenants' rent? That's totally going to be an awesome way to encourage people to build new housing and go into the landlording business! ... except not.

The destructive legacy of the War Emergency Tenant Protection Act (NYC's rent control law - the 'war' in question is WWII) is well-known and well-documented (and equally well ignored by people who think that it _should_ work because they want the world to work that way). It's half the reason why the rent is too damn high - because no one builds apartments anymore except crazy luxury apartments. There's no money in it. Heck, landlords have abandoned hundreds of thousands of apartments over the decades because of rent control. The city took them over, and, at one point, realized it owned 70% of Harlem.

Clearly more of the same is the only answer. :P

\----

Postscript. When people ignore a consensus among climate scientists about global warming, we mock them. When people ignore a consensus among economists about the destructiveness of rent control (cf. the Whaples "where is there consensus?" surveys of economists), we elect them instead. Meh.

<comment><USER13> Well the way I was thinking was that the higher-income tenants would subsidise the lower-income ones -- but within a certain range (i.e., no more than 10% higher for the high-income ones, and 10% lower for the low income ones -- adjust as necessary). This could be implemented via something like a sales tax, but would apply to the monthly rent, and would be progressive based on the tenant's income (above a certain income level, tenants would pay more, and below a certain level tenants would receive a subsidy). The apartment owners would still get the same overall income though.

This should only have the effect of driving higher earners out of the city, which would then cause the desired effect of lowering property values, and therefore lowering rent overall.

<comment><USER14> This idea reminds me of the ones I used to get from my boss for how we should change the software system I was building for him when it wasn't working the way he expected. His solutions would (usually) fix the immediate problem he was seeing, but in a completely ad hoc way that would usually introduce numerous other problems.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


EPA approves increase of ethanol to 15%, despite damage to older cars - <AUTHOR> http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2011/01/epa-approves-higher-ethanol-gas-blend-for-older-cars/1

<comment><USER2> Lets see...

* Still using close to or over a gallon of fossile fuel to make a gallon of ethanol? Check!

* Still less efficient a fuel than straight petroleum products? Check!

* Still uses a FOOD SOURCE to create GAS? Check, double and tripple check.

* Oh and is still a massive source of government spending in subsidies that could easily be diverted to programs that help the populous instead of corn fat cats? Check.

There is literally _nothing_ good about ethanol as a vehicle fuel source. It's disgusting and perverted how much this gets pushed as "the environmentally safe" fuel source.

<comment><USER3> > Still uses a FOOD SOURCE to create GAS? Check, double and tripple _(sic)_ > check.

Since corn and soy-based foods are one of the leading causes of obesity, this arguement is moot.

Not to mention it actually costs less to _buy_ a bushel of corn than it does to produce it: corn prices are already severely subsidized by the government. There's simply too much corn out there, and it's one of the main reasons why "junk food" is so junky. If ethanol was being produced from romaine lettuce and turnips, I'd be more alarmed.

For now, it's just one more little subsidy on top of an already massive agribusiness planned economy.

However, ethanol really has no place in fuel. The only benefit to E10 is that you don't need to use Heet in your gas tank in the winter.

<comment><USER4> > _"Since corn and soy-based foods are one of the leading causes of obesity"_

In the US, yes. There are many cultures that have been heavily soy-based, for example, for centuries without health issues.

Furthermore, there are even more developing countries on Earth that rely on corn as a staple food. The diversion of corn supplies to create fuel over food is widely regarded as a main cause of the last food price crisis, which impacted poor countries disastrously (compared to the rather mild price hikes seen in this country). There is also the issue of land being used to grow _other_ non-corn food crops being diverted to corn-fuel farming, thus further reducing food production.

If the entire world was just the US, I'd be inclined to agree with you, but we don't exist in a vacuum.

<comment><USER3> There's a major difference between eating soy products and eating washed soy proteins that are combined with corn to create heavily processed foods. And while soy isn't directly correlated with obesity, it's usefulness as a protein has created additional venues for corn to be used.

Furthermore, corn is generally used on feedlots for beef, and disastrously: beef there contains whacked-out levels of fat types, and is much more fatty overall.

In terms of internationalism: the French, long held as bastions of good eating, are experiencing similar patterns of obesity as per the US in the early '90's as French diets change to fast foods and prepared meals.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm surprised (ok, not really, it's USA Today) that the article doesn't mention the hygroscopic nature of ethanol.

Gasoline, being composed of various hydrocarbons, doesn't mix with water, nor will it absorb water under normal circumstances.

Ethanol is miscible with water, meaning you can mix any quantity of ethanol with any quantity of water and they won't separate. (A good example is alcoholic drinks: 2% beer and 190 proof liquor both are stable solutions.)

A side-effect of being miscible with water is that ethanol is hygroscopic: it will absorb water from the air.

When you mix ethanol with gasoline, the ethanol retains its hygroscopic nature, and will absorb water. This is not good. Under the right circumstances (eg marine use) the ethanol will absorb enough water to come out of solution. This is not good for engines.

<comment><AUTHOR> Sorry for picking USA Today, I was kinda lazy about searching alternates, here are many choices:

[http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&...](http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&cf=all&ncl=dm4bijnpscvxxGM9VjrPUPjmC3FKM)

I drive a mid-1990's car and I accidentally discovered it performed much better and got significantly better mileage when I filled up at a remote gas station that didn't use ethanol. All the stations in the city use ethanol :-(

This is a 50% increased allowance which the fuel industry will definitely take advantage for the higher profits.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I wish the government would shift focus away from corn subsidies for ethanol toward funding a buildout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. If we could increase electric vehicle adoption by 5%, we could do a lot more toward the goal of transitioning away from foreign oil than ethanol will (oh the irony of harvesting corn with diesel-powered tractors). We can't do that until every shopping mall, office building, and grocery store has at least a few dozen charging stations.

<comment><USER7> Our energy (electric) grid is mostly coal.

So all you get (for now) is an extra level of indirection away from the burning of fossil fuels (and therefore a loss of efficiency through transmission).

You end up with what is (effectively) an oil powered car (in most states; certain states it would be nuclear, oil, hydro or natural gas).

Of course, I agree with you, we should expand electrical infrastructure and remove corn subsidies. But electric cars don't inherently save us from the detrimental aspects of burning fossil fuels. You have to change the source of the energy that we are putting on the grid as well.

Here's a neat visualization I found of the energy grid: [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1109973...](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=110997398)

<comment><USER6> _But electric cars don't inherently save us from the detrimental aspects of burning fossil fuels. You have to change the source of the energy that we are putting on the grid as well._

You're right - in the short term an electric car is a coal/oil car. The advantage of abstracting out the energy source from the car by using electricity is that it can get cleaner over time. A car that gets 30 mpg today will get no more than that 10 years from now. An electric car that gets 300 miles on the equivalent of 20 gallons of gas/coal/oil can get more efficient over time as the grid gets upgraded to phase out fossil fuels. It is far easier to upgrade the 5000 or so power plants in the US than constantly upgrade the few hundred million cars on the road from gas to ethanol to hydrogen to mystery fuel.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> When is the corn industry welfare for billionaires going to end?

Ethanol in gas in already causing damage to cars made before 2000 and 2-stroke engines. Not to mention it's causing a huge increase in corn based food prices and resource shortages while reducing exports.

<comment><USER8> > When is the corn industry welfare for billionaires going to end?

I'm generally not a fan of state-operated welfare programs, but labeling this welfare is unfair to welfare... this is just plain ol' fashioned corruption. State-run welfare programs can have some benefits if they're designed okay. Corruption... not so much.

<comment><AUTHOR> I purposely abuse the term "welfare" because of it's weight and how it's contradictory to be extremely wealthy but yet receive government assistance.

"heavily subsidized" and "high import tariffs" don't quite paint the right picture of the obscenity that's going on, they soften it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Great, now I have to check and make sure it isn't going to damage my motorcycle too.

</comment><comment><USER10> Did anyone actually read the article? It's only approved for cars and trucks 2001 and newer, and will be specifically labeled. Just don't use it if your car is a pre-2001 make, right? What's the problem?

<comment><AUTHOR> Once there is tolerance of 15%, the other regular pumps which are allowed 10% will certainly get that, forever. One day politicians will want something else to please the corn billionaires and throw them 15% across all pumps as long as there are "labels".

It's very difficult to find a pump these days without ethanol and pre-2001 cars are going to be around for awhile given today's car prices.

Basically the EPA should be cutting it down to 5%, but now they are going in the other direction regardless of the consequences.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> In my area, gas stations must tell you if they have ethanol in their fuels. Those that do, do it with tiny stickers on the pumps. Those that don't, put big signs by the road advertising their 100% gasoline.

A lot of stations which sold E10 have had to switch since the labeling law went into effect. People just don't want ethanol.

</comment><comment><USER12> I wonder how much ADM paid for that law.</comment>


Ask HN: Recommendations for Statistics books? - <AUTHOR>

I'm dipping my feet in the world of Data Science. I'm currently learning Spark via the "learning spark" book and playing around with Spark.<p>I have a CS background but not a strong mathematics background. What are some digestible statistics books for someone getting started in this field? <comment><USER2> Think Stats by Allen Downey ([http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkstats/index.html](http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkstats/index.html))</comment>


Ask HN: What are inspirational talks you watched which motivates you? - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exIm6s5hRaA<p>I watched this talk and it really motivated me? What are inspirational talks you watched which motivates you? <comment><USER2> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baf- KeI2jdU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baf-KeI2jdU) That's Grant Cardone giving a talk to auto dealers in Georgia as a sales expert / successful businessman. Got me back to work yesterday when I was all, I feel blah, my throat hurts, I'm tired, I need a day off, can't do this anymore, etc. Watched it for 15 minutes and felt energetic again to get out there and deliver value. The illness/tiredness blew.

<comment><USER3> It is a pretty good talk, draw all the energy you can from it. But also, [http://www.villagevoice.com/news/milton-katselas-pleads- with...](http://www.villagevoice.com/news/milton-katselas-pleads-with- scientology-after-grant-cardones-attack-a-church-jihad-6666029)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This one is really great:

[http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_smith_why_you_will_fail_to_ha...](http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_smith_why_you_will_fail_to_have_a_great_career)

<comment><USER5> Came here to post this Larry Smith link :)

Even though Jobs gets some hate on HN, these interviews/speeches have never failed to inspire me.

If you don't ask, you don't get -[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkTf0LmDqKI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkTf0LmDqKI)

On a very formulaic life - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ydp6bR5HXw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ydp6bR5HXw) (I couldn't find one without the bad bg music)

Stay hungry, stay foolish - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc)

I do realise, on some levels, he was not a good person, or atleast came off as an ass, but listening to these interviews and speeches, I feel I can relate to him and his struggles.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Randy Pausch, the last lecture

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo&app=desktop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo&app=desktop)

</comment><comment><USER7> This TED talk akways brightens my day and helps me find joy even in the most adverse conditions: [https://www.ted.com/talks/bj_miller_what_really_matters_at_t...](https://www.ted.com/talks/bj_miller_what_really_matters_at_the_end_of_life?utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=tedspread)

Beyond the content, the man speaks like a poet. The language is so beautiful

</comment><comment><USER8> Simon Sinek:

[https://www.ted.com/speakers/simon_sinek](https://www.ted.com/speakers/simon_sinek)

</comment><comment><USER9> Pretty much all of Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leader talks are inspirational for me.

This is a link to my favorite eight:

[http://blog.startopz.com/entrepreneurial_leaders/](http://blog.startopz.com/entrepreneurial_leaders/)

</comment><comment><USER8> For parents who want to over-parent:

[https://www.ted.com/talks/julie_lythcott_haims_how_to_raise_...](https://www.ted.com/talks/julie_lythcott_haims_how_to_raise_successful_kids_without_over_parenting)

</comment><comment><USER10> This very brief speech by one of Sony's. It's to the point and succinct:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExaAYIKsDBI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExaAYIKsDBI)</comment>


Ask HN: Would you hire an 18 year-old front end developer? - <AUTHOR>

Hi HN,
I'm 18 years old front-end developer from small county called Slovenia. I'm seeking for new customers because in Slovenia is very hard to find any work.
I love to work with Photoshop and Sublime Text editor. My passion is HTML, CSS3 and responsive design. I know some basic Javascript too.
Screenshots of my work:
- http://i.imgur.com/yv59AxJ.jpg
- http://i.imgur.com/xGibpfo.png
- http://i.imgur.com/jYrkur0.png
- http://i.imgur.com/hLJCOOe.png
- http://i.imgur.com/H90epkH.jpg
- http://i.imgur.com/DJOOP2s.jpg
- http://i.imgur.com/uH0Cp8k.png
- http://i.imgur.com/Dg8wDUp.jpg
- http://i.imgur.com/0bZrRtP.jpg
So, would you hire me for your next project? Why not? Here is my email address: email@example.com <comment><USER2> How in the world did this get to the front page? This isn't a question for discussion, it's a solicitation for work.

<comment><USER3> I wrote a more socially-acceptable comment below but unfortunately I have to agree with you, that's pretty much what this is.

<comment><USER4> I sometime answer with something like this: \-- There is an official "Who is hiring?"/"Freelancer?" monthly post the first day of each month. They are popular and you should post there. It was only 5 days ago. Last editions:

Who is hiring? [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7970405](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7970405) (97 points, 5 days ago, 205 comments)

Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7970372](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7970372) (75 points, 5 days ago, 121 comments)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Context: I've been building web sites and applications since the mid-90s and I'm currently managing a team of 15 web application engineers at PayPal.

First, a little honesty: in 2014, it's going to be extremely difficult to get a "developer" job with only "basic Javascript" knowledge. It's not that HTML and CSS are bad skills. Rather, in today's market, together they do not constitute enough technical skill to be an effective contributor to a development team. Given that, no, I would not hire you as a developer--at least not today.

Going further, you've shared screenshots of designs you've created. If you're looking for a developer position, I'd expect you to be sharing something like a GitHub link to code projects you've worked on. What you've shared resembles a design portfolio and I would treat it as such. Not that there's anything wrong with a design / developer hybrid (certainly many folks in web development began or continue to work that way). However, you haven't provided any evidence that you're actually capable of any sort of development.

I'm not saying any of this to be discouraging; you asked a question and I want to give you an honest answer. If you're truly interested in getting into the world of development, you should spend time with Javascript (or any other programming language that suits your fancy--JS just happens to be a natural fit for "front-end development"). Work on some projects, create a Github account to share your code, and start looking for an internship or junior level position to get some real work experience.

Good luck on your journey!

<comment><USER6> I do agree with you. Throwing in something with Bootstrap and basic Javascript can be enough to create some restaurant's website. But you won't be hired to work on a fancy project on hacker news.

If you want to be hired, either learn Javascript in depth (objects, constructors etc...), either learn a service side language. And in a few years try to learn both, it's not that hard to become "fullstack"

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I think you should start a personal website with a clean, well-written portfolio of your work. Also maybe put up some of your work on GitHub so people can actually look at your code. Your work looks pretty good but in those screenshots it's a bit hard to see how much you care about detail, hence it might be better to put it live somewhere.

In addition to this, I think you really needn't mention your age when looking for work. Try and make sure people will hire you no matter what age you are, ignore that factor as I personally think it's quite irrelevant.

<comment><AUTHOR> I had my portfolio website but recently i had some problems with it. Here is re-upload of it: [http://apartments-mlinar.com/vidakovic/](http://apartments- mlinar.com/vidakovic/)

And here is my most recent project: [http://apartments- mlinar.com/simplicy/](http://apartments-mlinar.com/simplicy/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I don't have actual feedback, but when you post screenshots you should probably not post downscaled blurry versions.

<comment><AUTHOR> Link to gallery with full size screenshots: [http://imgur.com/a/48ZI5#0](http://imgur.com/a/48ZI5#0)

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Clickable screenshots: \- [http://i.imgur.com/yv59AxJ.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/yv59AxJ.jpg)

\- [http://i.imgur.com/xGibpfo.png](http://i.imgur.com/xGibpfo.png)

\- [http://i.imgur.com/jYrkur0.png](http://i.imgur.com/jYrkur0.png)

\- [http://i.imgur.com/hLJCOOe.png](http://i.imgur.com/hLJCOOe.png)

\- [http://i.imgur.com/H90epkH.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/H90epkH.jpg)

\- [http://i.imgur.com/DJOOP2s.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/DJOOP2s.jpg)

\- [http://i.imgur.com/uH0Cp8k.png](http://i.imgur.com/uH0Cp8k.png)

\- [http://i.imgur.com/Dg8wDUp.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/Dg8wDUp.jpg)

\- [http://i.imgur.com/0bZrRtP.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/0bZrRtP.jpg)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> For everyone who asked, here is my github account: [https://github.com/mihavidakovic](https://github.com/mihavidakovic)

You can reach me at: email@example.com</comment>


Ask HN: Best place to get cheap and widely acceptable SSL certificates? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> [https://letsencrypt.org](https://letsencrypt.org) ?

<comment><USER3> I moved all of my sites to LetsEncrypt in an afternoon (including writing the scripts that will auto-update the certificates so that I never have to worry about it again).

I highly recommend their service.

<comment><USER2> Can I ask what your scripts do different to one of the existing auto-renewal systems (including their own tool)?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Comodo is widely acceptable SSL Certificate that can be availed at cheap price also. Apart from this, all Comodo SSL Certificates are updated with the latest SHA2 Hash algorithm. Find or compare best SSL Certificate suitable for your requirement, visit [https://comodosslstore.com](https://comodosslstore.com)

</comment><comment><USER5> Here's the comparison of Low price SSL Certificate - [https://aboutssl.org/compare-standard-ssl- certificates](https://aboutssl.org/compare-standard-ssl-certificates)

Choose the best one for your website.

</comment><comment><USER6> [https://www.cheapsslshop.com/](https://www.cheapsslshop.com/) has wide range of SSL certificates, accepted by most recognized browsers at cheapest price and best support.

</comment><comment><USER7> I always use CheapSSLSecurity to find cheap deals on SSL Certificates - [https://cheapsslsecurity.com/](https://cheapsslsecurity.com/)

</comment><comment><USER8> I use LetsEncrypt and ggssl.com. Simple. Free/Cheap. Nice customer support.

</comment><comment><USER9> I personally had used WoSign several times: [https://buy.wosign.com/free/](https://buy.wosign.com/free/)

Besides Chinese origin of this CA, haven't found any caveats so far.

Free is better than cheap (at least in a way you haven't to disclose any of your real data).</comment>


Ask HN: What does your company do to keep you motivated other than pay? - zeal-technology Personally a lot of my motivation comes from my company's culture and personal alignment with the company's vision and mission. <comment><AUTHOR> We are treated like adults.

We work from home 4 days a week, we are more than free to go run errands or something if we need to, we have the freedom to spend some time on learning or on a "side project" which could help the company, some people have even gone over on vacation time with no issues, some people start at 7AM and cut out early, others start at 10 or 11 and leave later.

As long as your shit gets done and you are available for most meetings or calls you have a lot of freedom, and in turn I'm personally more willing to put in the extra time if a project is falling behind, or a product breaks at 7PM and the guy on call could use help. And for a while it was a big reason for me staying.

Yeah, another job offered me more money, but when I needed to go take the car into the shop would I need to take a day off? Will I be able to leave early on Thursdays? Will I be punished for spending 3 hours learning a new tool when I got stuck on my main project and needed to just switch gears for a bit?

<comment><USER2> I've left money on the table for flexibility. I've been WFH for a long time now, and I'm far more effective than in the office. They don't mind errands, and I don't mind working the occasional evening when out of time zone calls come up. Some weeks it's most evenings till 11, but I can balance that with working out in the mornings.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> By having an immediate boss that's very nice, knowledgeable about tech, and flexible, and gotten lucky about hiring a pretty solid group of employees.

But that only goes so far. The money isn't really where I want to be, the work isn't too interesting anymore, and I don't see much room for advancement, so I'm not sure how much longer I'll stay here.

Company vision and mission statements mean very little to me, since they're almost always meaningless crap to put on a letterhead and not much more.

Oh, also my commute is just over 15 minutes. That's nice too. I can stop by the house for lunch sometimes and see my puppy. So that helps.

<comment> zeal-technology It sounds like not providing a way or opportunity to advance your knowledge and career is hurting you and your culture. Do you think you would stay if your employer would provide more opportunities to work on newer projects or more cutting edge stuff?

<comment><USER3> No, probably not. They're really not aligned with the type of work I'm trying to get back into. I'm wanting to get back into mobile or move into VR space, and they're making web and phone apps for healthcare and insurance companies. I don't see that getting aligned ever.

I am actually learning new things and working on new projects right now, that might keep me a bit longer, but not too long. I'm not in a hurry to leave, but I'm starting to reboot and refresh my knowledge in the other fields again.

<comment><USER4> I know for me that I broke off into my own side projects and contracting work that interested me. I found that being able to tackle a contract that I want or a side project that could possibly bring me some money in or teach me some new things has kept me on the tip of my toes.

<comment><USER3> Well...my big hobby right now is board game design. That's taking a lot of my free time and not leaving as much to keep sharp on programming tech (although I have been spending some time on that, just not hours a night).

I'm hoping to get my first one or two board game designs signed this year. I have a meeting with a publisher scheduled in June (hopefully more soon) and I'm trying to get everything polished and playtested for that.

<comment> zeal-technology That is awesome! Do you have a community within work that supports this hobby? I know that we take time to support peoples hobbies and lives outside of the scope of our product and jobs. This can be a huge motivator and brings us a lot of joy and bonding for the team. We are people first and we take pride in our different skills and hobbies supporting each other any way we can. We would love to play test a board game!

<comment><USER3> Not really, no. There's a couple of coworkers that play board games, but other than that, about the most support I get is "How are those games coming along?"

I don't actually try to talk about it that much, just in case someone gets it in there head that board games are somehow a conflict of interest with web development (large corporate environment).

But that's alright, there's actually a decent game designer scene in the region with some regular meetups, and a few friends of mine will happily help me tear apart my designs (a couple are designers themselves).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Flexibility. Outside of pay/benefits, I feel like flexibility is the ultimate perk.

We're a small software SaaS & consulting shop. 15ish employees. The atmosphere is relaxed, and there aren't cheesy corporate posters anywhere.

On the flip side, we also don't have bean bags or an open office.

We work standard 40-45 hours/week. We stay motivated and fresh by working remotely every now and then or by taking a long weekend whenever needed.

I've been offered better paying jobs at fairly large enterprise companies... but the flexibility offered here means to much to me.

Motivation doesn't really take gimmicks. You just need to have a work environment that doesn't encourage burnout or neglecting your life outside of work.

<comment><USER6> I've come to realize that flexibility is very near the top of the list for me as well, to the point that a pay increase would have to be pretty large for me to give up flexibility.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> My company's culture (large multi-national) demotivates me and their PR-speak vision and mission statements mean less than nothing to me. Am I weird?

<comment><USER8> Nope. I couldn't care less about our "vision" or whatever management is calling it now. I am at my employer under a "business" relationship. In exchange for my experience, time, and expertise, I will accept a salary. Don't try to rope me into "loyalty" or say we are a "family". We aren't - end of story.

<comment><USER4> Do you ever wish to work on something that hits more personally for you? Would that motivate you more than just the pay?

<comment><USER8> I have. If I truly believe in the "product" and am treated like I am an owner and not a minion than it is different.

 _edit_

by owner, I don't mean of the company; rather the product. I find developers spend most of their time in the app and know when something works or doesn't. They can have a "hunch" when a feature is off, or the experience is wrong. being empowered to make decisions and tweaks without someone else getting upset is invaluable

<comment> zeal-technology I would whole heartily agree with this. I see a lack of company delegation and trust to give Ownership over to its people when those people are full well, if not more than the company, able to make the important decisions. Ownership and Owning it, whatever it may be (project, product, architecture, etc) is important to driving self improvement for people and advancing their careers. I think it is great that you acknowledge this and feel this way. I hope that your company realizes it and values your drive, opinions, and decisions.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9>
      free Thanksgiving lunch (where we have to listen to executives talk)
      free Christmas lunch (where we have to listen to executives talk)
      free Years of Service Lunch (where we have to listen to executives talk)
      free Company Picnic (where we have to listen to executives talk)
      free ice cream at I.T. All Hands Meetings (where we have to listen to the VP of I.T. talk)
      free "Skip Over Your Boss" lunches with VP of I.T. where he gives the same answer to any question asked
      free "Start, Stop, Continue" lunches with VP of I.T. where no suggestions are implemented
      free "Value Stream Mapping" lunches where we plan big processes that will never be implemented
      free "Operational Excellence" lunches where we plan little processes that will never be implemented
      free breakfast at every layoff (where the VP of I.T. tries to explain why he laid off the best programmers)
      free breakfast where Big 5 consultants explain what they will try to implement that can't possibly work
      free week at Caribbean resort (but for executives only)

Oh wait, I don't work there anymore. Never mind.

<comment><USER4> Sounds like you made the right decision. Also sounds like they didnt treat you like adults or People for that matter, just employees that are nothing more than employees.

<comment><USER10> The worst part is I bet they did all the "we are family" and "this is our vision" stuff at those management snoozefests.

The thing I really hate is all the meaningless catchphrases. My SO did an interview for a job paying less than market rate because of the "perks" mentioned in the ad, which they could list none of at the interview.

They also espoused "work-life balance", while simultaneously expecting her to do unpaid overtime at their whim.

She did not apply, and the job is still advertised, now two years later.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I know the question says "other than pay", but money is the most important reason I work. I'm not going to take a job that pays less than what I'm making and I'm not going to stay in a job that pays $10,000 less than my market value under any circumstances. That doesn't mean that I will automatically leave for a job paying $10K more, that may be an outlier, but I won't settle getting paid substantially less than average for my skill set.

My second priority is a "seat at the table". I won't work at a large company or one where I'm not visible to the people who decide my pay.

My third priority is whether what I'm learning is relevant in the market. My peace of mind doesn't come from my job - it does come from knowing that I have an in demand skill set that has historically allowed me to get a job in two weeks to a month.

Fourth, is of course freedom and flexible and a results oriented culture that is more concerned about getting things done than whether you work from 8-5. Meaning if I need to work from home occasionally come in late sometimes, leave early, etc it doesn't matter as long as I'm meeting deadlines.

</comment><comment><USER12> Embracing open-source. The vast majority of the code I write at resin.io isn't just disappearing into some black hole to make the company money, tied to the companies decisions and destiny. It's public, so others can find and use and learn from it, it's part of tools that will be useful for a long way into the future, even if our startup disappears, and it's transparent to all our customers and users too. If I ever want to show some future company my past work, I directly can.

It all creates a sense that my work isn't a temporary thing to solve some business problem of ours - I'm creating more-permanent and broader value, not just to resin, but also to me, and our customers, and the open-source community as a whole.

<comment> zeal-technology This is a great point! It is also something me and my co-workers have experienced. We love to build things that not only benefit our company and our goals but our personal careers too. Building and improving our people's careers is really important to us. Something that can be open sourced and keeps our code afloat is looked at as a win.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I work for a religious university (so the pay is meh). I would say that it's the relaxed culture in IT (I can come in any time between 8-9), good benefits, and free classes.

You're supposed to use the free classes to work on your masters but I use it to take the "fun" classes you can't during a normal college run. And the boss is okay with it :D!

<comment> zeal-technology That is really cool! Any kind of learning experience to better yourself tends to be a really good motivator. People tend to feel stagnant and want a change if their job is the same over and over and they are not learning anything new or being challenged.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I really like IBM's Business Conduct Guidelines [1]. I think they help to creat a culture of doing things "above board" which can avoid some major motivation killers.

Bayond that, I enjoy quite a lot of autonomy in deciding how I complete my work, and often even what work I perform. Starting a new project that I want to do is obviously more motivating than one I don't care about.

Code reviews help me stay motivated to write code that I'll be proud of rather than cheap hacks. Open Source work is kind of an extension of this.

I know you asked for "other than pay" but unexpected bonuses and raises are also nice motivation boosters in my experience.

[1]: [http://www.ibm.com/investor/att/pdf/BCG_C_2016.pdf](http://www.ibm.com/investor/att/pdf/BCG_C_2016.pdf) (PDF)

<comment> zeal-technology Autonomy is huge for us and being able to do work when you see fit tends to produce better code in our case. It also fits better into our daily lives and motivates us much more. I agree with unexpected bonuses and raises can be a good motivator too, but I have seen that the effect wears off faster than something that fits into your daily life and improves it.

I also agree with the above board approach! You are spot on there. Transparency through the good, the bad, and the ugly are really important to us. I think that with transparency comes strong trust and more respect in the work place.

We like to see and feel the motivation of each other "Owning it" or taking lead and pushing on a project emotionally and with Grit. If someone becomes a driving force for a project they think is important it creates a great sense of motivation for them and others around them. It is a core value that really pushes us to be better people and better developers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Every few months we (the developers) are given a week of freedom to build/learn whatever we want (within reason). It is so refreshing, and every time I grow so much faster than when slogging along the rest of the time, and we often invent novel technology that adds a ton of value.

<comment> zeal-technology This is really cool! You see this more in video game companies to spur thoughts and creativity and improve each other. Do you guys team up at all ever to work on new ideas? Out of the new things you learn and build how have they benefited your career? And have they helped in your work for the company?

<comment><USER15> Most people team up. I usually spend my time exploring new technologies and new paradigms to help simplify our stack. I've been doing it for a few years, and many of our foundational services and technologies came directly out of these free weeks.

A lot of people take it as an opportunity to solve annoying problems that we don't have time to solve "on sprint".

Definitely helped my career, because I can focus on building skills that I personally want to develop, in addition to building something ambitious without worrying about failure.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I worked at a company that had a great work culture. My manager was awesome, there were tons of side benefits, in general everybody worked reasonable hours and got to leave work at work. But they were bleeding talent because they weren't keeping up with market rates for salaries.

The side benefits and the extra motivations are important, particularly for long term satisfaction and sustainability, but those things alone won't cut it if you're paying 70% of the market rate in the area.

<comment> zeal-technology This is true and I think it is important to really value people. Trying to cut that because you can is not really nice nor motivating.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Not much... Fear of homelessness and not being able to pay my bills keeps me motivated.

</comment><comment><USER18> Flexible work (I can work from anywhere where I can access the internet reliably...sometimes even when not reliable, i.e. while flying), and the ability to take PTO whenever I request it without issues, even 2 1/2 weeks at a time!

There is also a lot of respect for each other, and genuine listening to what people recommend & action based on feedback.

<comment> zeal-technology Respect goes a long way on all skill levels. I respect those I work with and both those people and I benefit from it. With respect for one another no matter the skill level, we help push each others careers forward.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Core hours, WFH day (Thursday team works from home, although you can take other days on a non-regular basis), 40 hours per week max set by boss.

Treating me like an adult with a life outside of work, basically.

<comment><USER20> Why Thursday for a WFH day instead of Friday? Just curious.

<comment><USER19> No reason in particular, but I like it because it breaks the work-from-work week up.

The important thing is that the whole team is WFH the same day so we can depend on other days for meetings and whatnot, and nobody feels left out when they are WFH.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Being my first full time job out of college I don't have much of a say, but compared to retail jobs and previous internship(s) it's great.

The company culture isn't stuffy - I can essentially come and go as long as I get my stuff done that I need to. I wish it was less bureaucratic and "office like", but I think we're growing away from that.

Tech wise - the .NET stack has grown on me in the time I've been here, but I still worry that I'll only be exposed to languages I'm forced to use at work as opposed to languages and technologies I want to use/learn.

Everyone I work with is great as well, but the one thing I miss about college/small college town is the community/connected feeling. I don't get that feeling at all currently, so I'm trying to pinpoint why I'm not feeling that anymore.

<comment> zeal-technology I can tell that this is great insight for someone just out of college so before I start, props to you. Coming out of college and into my first job I found it beneficial for myself when starting to work on a problem first consider all alternative ways to solve it. I would consider things like would this be better off done in a different language? Using a different library? Using a different devops tool? Can I use some new technology that could help me learn something new? This helped me to broaden my expertise. At the same time remember to balance these choices. You may hear push back from people saying do not just use a new technology for the sake of it, you need a good reason to which I can also agree with.

Feeling connected and a sense of supporting community is really important to be happy with the work you are doing. I found that sense of community by making a friend at work, someone that I would hang with outside of work and could relate and support me in decisions. This friend also pushes me and we have some fun competitions sometimes to better our skills that we use for work or to learn new ones. I have since looked to make friends in more co-workers to build my community and network of people that give me this feeling and that I hopefully provide for them too!

I know this part sounds cliche and old but if there is no luck with co-workers or even friends then there is always the community you are talking to here! HN is a great way to improve and become active in community. HN is not the only one too, meetups around your area could be more common than you think. Take the time to get out and meet other people in your field and take it upon yourself to expand your network and community.

Overall I would say keep up drive for new experiences and career building. You might even try to suggest ways to improve and build community within your company! Take it upon yourself to see if you can push the company to implement your ideas! :)

<comment><USER21> Thanks for the insight!

One thing I was able to do recently that gave me a good perspective is attend a conference (CodeMash). I was able to talk to many people and see a few talks which was a great experience.

I'd say out of the building I'm in I'm one of the youngest working here (that I know of).

<comment> zeal-technology That is awesome! Remember that many people want to learn regardless of their skill level or experience level and everyone has something you can learn from them. Take advantage of both and try to connect with those around you. :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I'm an engineer at a massive media and technology company. What keeps me motivated is the freedom to experiment and develop ideas on my own, outside of the iteration's expected deliverables. We have a very open culture, where engineers can spin up production servers with the click of a button, deploy things, and tear it all down without interacting with a single approval chain or ticketing system. So that's really it outside of pay... Freedom to learn and experiment on your own is a really powerful motivator for me.

<comment> zeal-technology I think it is awesome that your company allows you to use infrastructure to test new ideas and learn. It sounds like they have trust in you. Do they encourage you to experiment and try new things? Are these new things ever totally different from what your company does?

<comment><USER22> I think that's where they would draw the line. Generally the "new things" are really new ways of doing things we're already doing, or may do in the future. It's definitely a gray line though.

<comment> zeal-technology I think a company hackathon or project week can be really cool. Team up with co-workers or just yourself that follows a topic like improve the office somehow or create an idea that can help an opensource project or improve development or another teams process throughout the workday. This can motivate people and at the end you may have something that solves a common day to day pain point for your co-workers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> The ability to work on personal growth instead of simply taking the easier (and cheaper) way out. Sponsoring tickets and stay for any conferences I want to attend (not only as a speaker, mind you). Want to work on some Deep Learning problems? Feel free to boot up a couple of AWS GPU instances for yourself. Want to tackle that new product using a tech stack that is new as opposed to what we currently used? Go ahead... Take the time to understand the pros and cons and then make the call. Yes, old technology gets the job done, but personal growth comes from experimenting with stuff.

The ability to work how I want to. Though we aren't ROWE yet, we're pretty much there without trying to. Every meeting has a video link for remote participants, and while we do do SCRUMs, going for a week saying "I'm just trying something out to fix bug XYZ but haven't really gotten anywhere" is not looked down upon. I live with people who have to report to their manager when they have to take half a day off to visit the dentist. I'm glad I don't have to do any of that.

Being made part of the vision. Massive dogfooding happens here. Everyone from the CEO to the newb contribute to vision. It's easy to say vision of a company is bullshit, but when you can see what you want to achieve, and know how you want to do it, it really makes going in to work more fun!

\+ the usual casual leave policy, amazing coworkers (pros of a smaller team), great pay

The ups and downs are there, but I'm in a kickass place that I'm not looking forward ti leaving anytime soon!

</comment><comment><USER24> I can't say much about being motivated, but for me lack of opportunity to learn and try out new things can be very demotivating. Nothing stop me from doing so after work in a side project, but that still doesn't make the 'I wish I could use this in my day job' thought disappear.

(My current hack is to learn something that has no use in the day job after work.)

<comment> zeal-technology I think that hack can be very good for advancing yourself. There are some people here that have said their companies encourage that and allow them to experiment with new technologies and learn different things. Maybe present the benefit of learning side projects or hackathons with the team and pitch it as team building to your company. See if you can get them to bite!

<comment><USER24> Sorry, I think I didn't worded it properly.

I think encourage learning and reward learning are a very different things that need to coexists with each other. The company can encourage learning (e.g. buying books), but without giving an opportunity to try out what you learn, the learning part can be demotivating because it has no effect. It's even worse when company has neither.

For example, when you believe what you learn can solve the problem the company is having but you're not allowed to do it. Even when the reason is understandable (e.g. the change does not worth the cost, or need to prioritize something else), it can still be very demotivating.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> I've never heard someone say that they are motivated by their company's vision and/or mission.

<comment><USER26> I am. I work for a small fitness company and my main motivation is the product we're building, and what we want to do with it. That was my whole reason for joining in the first place, and it remains the most motivating thing for me.

<comment> zeal-technology That is the I am at my company too! It is important for me to make a difference in work culture. I think that when something that fits your lifestyle and life goals provides you the ability to do it for work, it does not really feel like "work" and it is very motivating and moving personally. I think you are in the right spot if that is the way you feel. :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Nothing, and that's great. Something I really enjoy about my current 250 people company is how many things are not arranged properly or at all. This gives me many opportunities to step up, identify issues and address them with management teams etc.

I had the opportunity to join Facebook a couple of years ago for much better pay and moving to the Bay Area (a long time dream) but decided not to do it for mainly the reason above, as well as alignment with the company mission (which is creating a product that solves problems, not creating free services and running ads like Google/FB).

Edit: "nothing" as stated above is a hyperbole. Actually there are many things that the company does or allows that make it a great place to work. What I like most is to help improving it further.

<comment><USER4> What process to you use to improve it further? Do you test things out a lot. How do you know what you implement is working?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I think one of the more motivating things I have seen is to understand that people are giving the majority of their time to the company throughout the day and the year. A company that can become a part of an employees life and not have its employees dedicate their life to the company is a big feat. I have seen this achieved by a company that gives proper flexibility for employees so that work fits into their lives and not the other way around. Such as when you do your work is less important than how well you do your work. Or where you work is irrelevant if you collaborate well. I think companies in general should provide more opportunities to explore and experience the world to their people than they do today.

</comment><comment><USER20> Flexible work environment and schedule. WFH every Friday. Flexible start and end times. I'm typically in the office 9am-4pm, and just work some nights to make up the time, which is a schedule I prefer.

<comment> zeal-technology Taking time during the day or when you want can be a huge improvement over a 9-5 job. Sometimes I will work late at night if I need to get things done, otherwise I don't sweat when the work is done. This also allows me to not waste time when I know I wont be able to focus. I would rather be efficient and work when I know I am going to get stuff done and do it well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> My company has a personal wellness consultant firm for anything that troubles you. They offer a selection of gifts after 1 year, 2 year, 5 years etc with the company. All of can be found at flea markets and the finest asset liquidation companies around the country. Our chairs were bought at an auction 25 years ago for pennies on the dollar. They were used then.

As for the work, I'm a systems analyst, process engineer, senior dev, dba and data analyst, but yet I'm paid like a junior dev.

What keeps me motivated. My family and my hopes for a bright future.

</comment><comment><USER29> AKA [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs)

<comment> zeal-technology What about self-advancement aka learning :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Money is pretty much main thing. Unless you are Basecamp and have that kind of fantastic treatment of employees, anything else is just pay and let me do my job, so control.

<comment> zeal-technology What would be the one thing you would like more companies to do that Basecamp does? Which one would improve your work life the most?

Also for anyone else, I am just going to leave this here: [https://m.signalvnoise.com/employee-benefits-at- basecamp-d2d...](https://m.signalvnoise.com/employee-benefits-at- basecamp-d2d46fd06c58#.vd80v25vl)

<comment><USER30> So, it is a question of threshold. With Basecamp you know they are committed to your wellbeing, it is not a specific perk, it is the attitude where you are certain they are with you and then you obviously don't have to think much, you can give yourself to work.

<comment> zeal-technology This hits home for me. Having the attitude and atmosphere like this is very important! It makes such a difference to feel that the company and community has your back. It also takes so much stress out of work and adds to excitement. Well said.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> A boss with a deep technical background, who has read Peopleware and embraced it, whom you trust, who'll admit fault, and works to enable you to do your best.

One can dream!

<comment><USER4> A boss who can push me technically and is always helping me advance my career was huge for me. I know that has been the case with many people I have talked to. If you are not helping your team or co-workers to better themselves than they are not going to feel motivation from you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> Problems. We have more things that need to be done than we can ever possibly do. So we get to pick the problems we feel are the most important and simply have to solve them - however we want :)

There is not a lot of money to throw around so we can't go crazy, but that is what makes it such a challenge

Some things fail, some things work but don't amount to much but we have enough hits to keep the business ticking over.

Love it!

</comment><comment><USER33> Not much actually. The pay is excellent, but it's difficult to put yourself in a situation where you can actually work on something interesting. There's not much in terms of career development, training, or autonomy. That kind of stuff happens, but it happens because you find the right people. The company has nothing to do with it.

</comment><comment><USER34> Not a whole lot, actually. The people I work with are fun. I could totally be done with working on this project, though.

<comment> zeal-technology Have you asked your employer to set a new project, something challenging for you in the future? Maybe they are willing to switch things up to keep you happy?

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> I would summarize it as: respect for the employees and treating people as equals rather than subordinates.

</comment><comment><USER36> The summary of how our company keeps us motivated is very well illustrated here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdHucJeqpQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdHucJeqpQ)

</comment><comment><USER34> Here's something to keep in mind with all of this, though: These are ways to keep developers/IT happy. They are NOT to be implemented in lieu of pay, though. If we're not getting pay raises, we will jump ship.

</comment><comment><USER37> Nothing I motivate my self. Without the company I would get no experience to build and no where to exercise my skills in an production environment where I make an contribution.

</comment><comment><USER38> Unfortunately, like many companies, absolutely nothing.

<comment> zeal-technology What would be one thing that would motivate you that your company could implement?

<comment><USER38> Personally, I'd like to be given time for continuous learning, rather than having me utilised (at least) 100% all the time.

This would be a win-win, since I can keep my knowledge current and my employer gets someone with skills that our clients want. But instead, all the current management cares about is utilisation figures and overheads.

<comment> zeal-technology Unfortunately we see too much of managers worrying about figures and utilization rates. These numbers are not always the best to go by. We like to try and empower each other to implement ways to improve our culture and build a better workplace that can benefit us in many ways. I hope that your company can realize the benefit this can have on the whole companies morale and productivity. Empowering your people to learn and improve helps everyone.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> Employees receive a substantial amount of money for training every year. Most people don't take advantage of it, though.

</comment><comment><USER40> Pay _well_?

</comment><comment><USER41> I am a not so social software engineer, so take it with a grain of salt. I think I would divide it into three categories

* Perks and incentives These are things like coffee, having an espresso machine at work, getting access to free snacks. Gym access is another one I have commonly seen. I have also seen things like programs that give you access to free classes or certification programs (when the hell am I supposed to have time to do that?) These little things can make my day better and lighten my mood when things are going well at a company.

* Caring about you as a person (?) I would call this roaming the halls - or when management walks around asking people how they are, what did they do over the weekend, are they okay. This can be a great way to gauge what's going on in a small to medium business. That is until it's the same question day in and day out, or you're explaining your hobby to the same person for the fifth time and they obviously aren't listening, then it feels forced and the illusion fades. That said, I'd rather have the person that makes the effort as a manager to get to know me at a least a bit, than to have a suit treat me like a number on a piece of paper. This is another one where when things are going well at a company, I think that management showing they care is important, and it does make me feel more motivated to do my job.

* Gatherings I call these "Mandatory fun", I have never been one to want to go hang out at a bar with coworkers after work. It feels forced and awkward to me. When you're spending the majority of your week pulling your hair out trying to get a product working, or bugs fixed, or put out fires, or come back from a layoff - it's hard for me to find these to be fun. That said, I know a lot of other people _do_ find them fun, so I understand why they happen. But using a pizza party to try to cheer up employees instead of communicating what is going on at the company is a half measure that just erodes trust over time.

Where this all falls apart for me is when a company starts to have issues. I have personally found that when you don't have transparency in a company, you lose trust. Is my boss being nice to me because they really don't want me to quit? Or because they're a nice person? Staying motivated when you're facing impending failure is what made me want to respond to this. When everything is going well, it's easy to stay motivated, when things get rough, everything changes.

The perks start to vanish as budgets get cut, the lazy conversations about how much fun you had over the weekend are replaced with monosyllabic responses - you don't have time because you have to ship that feature yesterday. You start to realize that you're dreading going to work. You start to realize you don't know what you're doing anymore. You start you realize this isn't what you thought it would be.

How do you stay motivated during that?

The only thing I have found is sheer willpower, fighting through it and just telling yourself to keep going. Carefully managing what you can and can't do so you don't burn out. I have yet to have a company offer anything that really motivated me during those times other than clear and honest explanations of where we are, what we need to do, why we need to do that, and how that will make my life better.

Transparency and honesty has been the only real motivator for me when things are tough - but the coffee is nice too.

<comment> zeal-technology The Perks category I think is essential and seems to be things that should suit your lifestyle. I think it is important for a company to identify lifestyle needs and help with anything they possibly can. After all it is you and your co-workers lives that time is taken out of so why not make it beneficial to your life and what you want to accomplish.

Sounds like Transparency is a huge part that motivates you and keeps you clear headed about what you are working towards. It is really important for a company to respect that through the good, the bad, and the ugly.

It also sounds like good friendship and being real with each other goes hand in hand with transparency. Which I would totally agree. I think that employers just being nice to keep you working for them is "minionizing" and not how people should ever treat each other.

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> two numbers: 9 to 5</comment>


Last CA nuclear plant closure OK'd, customer bills will increase - <AUTHOR> https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/11/diablo-canyon-shutdown-plan-approved-closure-will-raise-customer-bills/ <comment><USER2> Whow, all of a sudden California is finally safe again. Remember Silkwood? This was it. One of the most dangerous places on earth, with a potential critical impact on the whole nation.</comment>


Help scale the npm registry - donate | scalenpm.org - <AUTHOR> https://scalenpm.org/thank-you <comment><USER2> I feel like there has to be a better way to make this scale then throwing more money at the problem and removing large files.

<comment><USER3> I'm sure they're open to pull requests

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> i'm in.</comment>


Obamacare's Demise Is a Looming Disaster for Mental Health - <AUTHOR> https://www.wired.com/2017/01/obamacares-demise-looming-disaster-mental-health/ <comment><USER2> You could say 'Is a Looming Disaster' instead. I think we all know its going to be terrible.

<comment><USER3> You could say what we have today is a disaster. The problem that everyone seems to ignore is Obamacare failed because it did nothing to address the cost-side of healthcare. All it did was add more demand for health services (hey if I have health insurance now, I should use it right?.) Prices go up when demand goes up, that's just the way it goes.

We need a single-payer system. I think what's coming is fantastic, even if it's a total shit-show (which I expect it to be in the short term) because it will create momentum for a single-payer system.

Keep in mind that I pay nearly $24k/year in premiums + copays/etc because our son is a type-1 diabetic, so I'm painfully aware of how bad the system is. I paid $3,000 less last year - so Obamacare has done jack-shit for my plan costs, despite their trying to say Obamacare has slowed health insurance cost increases.

<comment><USER4> You seem fairly well versed, and I don't want to argue with you, but I am curious as to what would happen in your situation if you changed jobs or changed insurance providers in a world without Obamacare. Would you be worried about pre-existing conditions? What about contraception being covered under health insurance? Are there no benefits to be found in Obamacare, or are you solely concerned about the premiums?

<comment><USER3> The 'pre-existing condition' clause that Obamacare did away with was only applicable for patients who do not have continuous health insurance coverage. In other words, the reason this was ever an issue is because health insurance companies wanted to avoid the situation that people who never had insurance sign up for coverage only after they've gotten sick.

If you already have health insurance and you change jobs, there's no issue with changing providers.

I'm not in the "Obamacare is completely useless" camp, I'm in the "Obamacare solved the wrong problem" camp.

But premiums and copays are completely out of hand. The supplies my son receives for his insulin pump and glucose monitor cost the insurance company $5,780 (per quarter.) The supplies are not complex and likely cost Medtronic no more than a couple of hundred dollars to produce. There's nearly zero competition in this space because of vendor lock-in (I can't source these supplies from anyone else.)

This latest year our premiums didn't go up at all (yay!) but our coverage got worse (same plan) so instead of paying $0 out of pocket for his quarterly supplies we now pay $700. Prescription/doctor-visit copays have gone up too.

The sad reality is if you're sick and not rich in this country you're fucked. I'm not rich, but I happen to be a software engineer nowhere near SV and have a decent (contract) job, so we can swing it for now. But if I was making $90k, we'd be in trouble.

<comment><USER5> I think you may be wrong on the pre-existing conditions. My understanding is that previously someone like myself (Type 1 Diabetic) could not buy insurance on the individual market (I'm self-employed) because the insurance company selling me insurance is basically guaranteed to lose money.

<comment><USER3> The HIPAA act of 1997 says otherwise. As long as you had continuous coverage for a certain number of days they couldn't deny you based on a pre-existing condition.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Trump has a plan that solves all the problems with Obamacare: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-vows- insurance...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-vows-insurance- for-everybody-in-obamacare-replacement- plan/2017/01/15/5f2b1e18-db5d-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html?utm_term=.1128c8c1f554&wpisrc=al_alert- COMBO-politics%252Bnation)

<comment><USER7> Trump _claims_ he has a plan. Basically the only specific thing mentioned is letting Medicare and Medicaid negotiate drug prices which, by law, they're forbidden to do. That would help with affordability. "Insurance for everybody" and "lower numbers, much lower deductibles" sounds good but he also says it's not single-payer (of course). I'm concerned that it will be really shitty insurance for everybody, it won't cost a lot but you're get very little from it and will have to fight every time to get what you're entitled to.</comment></comment>


Why This Oscar-Winning Disney Short Looks Like Nothing Made Before - <AUTHOR> http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671941/why-this-oscar-nominated-disney-short-looks-like-nothing-made-before#1

<comment><USER2> Thanks Alex for submitting this. I wrote the piece, if anyone has any questions!</comment>


Banks scramble to fix old systems as IT 'cowboys' ride into sunset (2017) - <AUTHOR> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-banks-cobol/banks-scramble-to-fix-old-systems-as-it-cowboys-ride-into-sunset-idUSKBN17C0D8 <comment><USER2> The IT 'cowboys' didn't ride into sunset.

They were fired by banks which are/were stupid enough to cut corners on people who know things about their infrastructure _before_ migrating to more modern systems.

FTA:

>One COBOL programmer, now in his 60s, said his bank laid him off in mid-2012 as it turned to younger, less expensive employees trained in new languages.

>In 2014, the programmer [...] was brought in as a contractor to the same bank to fix issues management had not anticipated.

Also FTA:

>Accenture's Starrs said they go through a "black book" of programmer contacts, especially those laid off during or after the 2008 financial crisis.

>The job ultimately took five years and cost more than 1 billion Australian dollars ($749.9 million).

So, in short: a bank fired some old people to pay a billion dollars to a contractor who would hire the same (!) people to do the job.

The 'problem' is entirely self-made.

<comment><USER3> Self made ... by both the banks and the programmers.

As the article notes, these developers don't seem to have done a great job of documentation. Perhaps deliberately, given the comment about personal vindication. "You can't survive without me" is not a great look for either employee or employer.

Perhaps they are cowboy developers in more ways than one.

<comment><USER4> Tbf, it only really makes sense for the individual programmer to properly document code if there's a decent chance they'll forget (eg some obscure part of the codebase), or if you expect a reasonable chance that someone will have to read the code without you. Otherwise, its useful, but not necessary: you just go to the guru (perhaps yourself); his living body _is_ the documentation.

If you're thinking that only you'll ever read it, or you'll be working on this codebase for the next 30 years, it doesn't really matter. Peoper Documentation is a cultural activity required for teams, especially those with shifting workers, as is common now. And should really be enforced by the managers, not the programmers thenselves.

Its significantly less necessary when you can expect to spend most of your career on a single codebase, a workstyle these cobol programmers presumably came from.

<comment><USER5> What happens when a bus hits the guru?

<comment><USER6> Guru meditation error.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's cheap to portray COBOL programmers as cowboys, but COBOL and the ecosystem around it is actually one of the most organized and fit-for-purpose programming languages around even if it isn't modern by any means. Time will tell if banks and insurances will fare better with J2EE-based systems (meaning classic Java-based enterprise stacks such as EJBs and portlets running under _shudder_ Websfear, which count as new-fangled compared to COBOL in these circles). I could imagine classic J2EE maintenance is being neglected as career path for millenials, just as COBOL is/was for the generation before. J2EE exposes much more escape hatches into system programming and rope to hang yourself, and at the same time will be around for a long time to come, since Java has been the go-to language for almost all big-time eCommerce and FinTech projects at banks/insurances since 2000.

Edit: a-ok, "cowboys" is part of name of that guy's consulting business

<comment><USER8> I don't know for COBOL, but for JEE, we've been able to migrate out of weblogic (to jboss) and then from oracle to postgresql (on code which is 10 years old). So even if JEE might be hard to maintain, it allows some flexibility in the base tools you choose. (my view of COBOL is that once you're into a vendor, it's pretty hard to leave to another one because COBOL is close to the metal, I may be totally wrong)

but in the long run, the problem is also the business logic. What disappears is the knowledge of the hacks that were applied at the business logic level. And this is much harder than to recover from the code. So I guess one has to make the difference between business logic maintenance and the actual COBOL maintenance.

But having rewrote some huge COBOL app in Java, I can say that Java is better structured, at a framework complexity cost.

<comment><USER9> Hard-coded business logic: yuck. IIRC there's proprietary software (SDKs / integrations) specifically for specifying, running, testing and enforcing business rules efficiently so that applications just present an API or respond to events rather than having to know everything about the business, and so not having to change N apps when a business rule changes / track down weird bugs when a business rule changes because another system didn't get a change also.

<comment><USER10> Some people prefer to "hardcode" business logic in Java instead of hardcoding it in XML or whatever business logic specification language the proprietary tools use. At least you can hire Java programmers fairly cheaply.

<comment><USER11> I would pick hardcoding for most projects. You often end up creating a new DSL for your business logic, but because most of us aren't language designers our DSLs end up being worse than what ever language the project is written in. Almost every time you will fail to correctly anticipate the future needs and your DSL won't be sufficient anyway.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Using "cowboys" as a pejorative term ignores the fact that cowboys are fine in their natural environment: The wild west, where self-sufficiency, resilience, adaptability and creativity are more important than engineering processes, documentation, and bureaucracy.

A cowboy is a loose cannon in the big city, but a "proper software engineer" is useless in the wild west. These banks have just realised that there are a few ranches left.

<comment><USER13> > Using "cowboys" as a pejorative term

It's not being used as a perjorative term.

It's talking about a company called Cobol Cowboys, itself inspired by Space Cowboys, about a bunch of old guys called back into service to help with an emergency.

Charmingly enough, their motto is "not our first rodeo."

<comment><USER14> They're also from Texas, making cowboys even more appropriate.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I watched "The Bank That Almost Broke Britain" about the RBS debacle and it seems a bit rich for _bankers_ to be calling anyone cowboys:

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bmbhzb](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bmbhzb)

</comment><comment><USER16> 100$ an hour? It doesn't sound like a serious expense at all.

<comment><USER17> I guess because good programmers are not good in business.

If a bank or any big corp is in trouble with legacy software and they approach you to fix it, charge them 500/h or more. That is still cheaper than the time they need to find someone else.

<comment><USER18> Charge them a weekly rate and 500/h is probably still undervaluing yourself

[1] [https://www.kalzumeus.com/2015/05/01/talking-about- money/#co...](https://www.kalzumeus.com/2015/05/01/talking-about- money/#consulting-rates)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> One little side comment: within one of the photos shown as part of this article, they show a photo of Grace Hopper, but no mention nor credit of COBOL's roots to her, nor her contributions to COBOL. So, the past was only made up of cowboys, but not cowgirls, eh? Tsk tsk.

</comment><comment><USER20> I think this needs a "(2017)" string in the title. I also remember seeing this on HN (probably in 2017 then).

</comment><comment><USER21> I started in COBOL back in the 90s. When I was working in that shop, one of my older co-workers told me about a guy he knew. That guy left his service/repair gig at IBM to start his own shop, he knew how to fix punch-card machines.

For the decade I worked there, my buddy told me that his pal made a very good living repairing those machines, even though they were long out of fashion and 'there was no market'.

Seems the same is true for software, too.

<comment><USER22> I worked in an IBM shop in the early 1990s, at the time they had a big chart on the wall titled "Punch Card Elimination Project." It was one of those big thermometer charts like United Way drives use to document how close they are to their contribution goal. As I recall it was at about 70%.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I use this news as a ignition for another point: in the past for business reasons we have evolved concept of "platforms" witch means independent software layers build like a trailer to carry on other software on top.

Before we have another concept, those from LispM, the "system" as a single entity of well_integrated stuff.

We have many example of those two way of thinking today: on "platform" side we have snap, flatpack, appimage, lx[cd]/docker, ... on system side we have Emacs, NixOS, GuixSD, ...

Well, for years the "platform" model seems to be the most reasonable, today seems ancient MIT&c hackers ware right, "system" approach is better. Simple to manage, for good software, do not hide bad practice, force collaboration etc.

On datacenters today and not from today we do substantially the same, in the past datacenters was a big collection of independent computers, now their are substantially all "a single computer" (even before The datacenter as a Computer by Google), made of many well_integrated components.

My poor English may not help, but I hope I have been clear up there, if so, what you think?

<comment><USER24> Are you just saying the old approach is better than docker containers everywhere? I think each probably has a place.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Another submission about cobol. [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14202585](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14202585) [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17979417](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17979417) [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18110054](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18110054)

</comment><comment><USER25> This article really hit home for me because this is exactly what my current career consists of. I am coverting old AS400s running RPG to QNX servers running C. And like the Cobol Cowboy's say the financial institutions will pay what ever you demand. I owe all this work to a college professor that encouraged me to thoroughly learn RPG for this very reason. Thank you Professor Her.

</comment><comment><USER26> didn't we just have this article a few days ago and the consensus was you don't actually get that much money for knowing Cobol?

<comment><USER27> I don't think this is a case of knowing Cobol. I think it's a case of company's hiring the experts who were let go. Person A has X years experience with company Y. Person is let go. Mission critical infrastructure starts to fail. Person A is now a contractor with X years experience on that exact system. Sure they can hire a new guy for cheaper, however that appears to be what led up to A being let go. They suddenly need experience and A is willing at a much higher rate.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> > The risk is "not so much that an individual may have retired," Andrew > Starrs, group technology officer at consulting firm Accenture PLC, said. "He > may have expired, so there is no option to get him or her to come back."

Is "expired" a standard English synonym for pining for the fjords?

<comment><USER29> It is. "He expired on the couch" is fairly common. It has the connotation of a quiet death. One does not expire while solo climbing or BASE jumping.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> > But COBOL veterans say it takes more than just knowing the language itself. > COBOL-based systems vary widely and original programmers rarely wrote > handbooks, making trouble-shooting difficult for others.

There never seems to be time for documentation, specifications, and clean code

</comment><comment><USER31> > was brought in as a contractor to the same bank to fix issues management had > not anticipated

And continue to ignore. This is not a new issue, but the same story repeating over and over. Management purely via cost control is a terrible approach.

</comment><comment><USER32> This meme has been around for at least 15 years. Banks will be fine, since they have unlimited resources.

</comment><comment><USER33> Is it by any chance COBOL season at HN? This is about the third COBOL article in a week.

</comment><comment><USER34> [2017]</comment>


Accelerated Mobile Pages – A new approach to web performance - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/ampproject/amphtml <comment><USER2> Also see the announcement from Google: [https://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/introducing- accele...](https://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/introducing-accelerated- mobile-pages.html)</comment>