ben_pr's comments

ben_pr | 9 years ago | on: 3.5 Years, 500k Lines of Go

I'm looking forward to my first project with GO. It appears to offer a lot with minimal complexity.

> Because Go has so little magic, I think this was easier than it would have been in other languages. You don’t have the magic that other languages have that can make seemingly simple lines of code have unexpected functionality. You never have to ask “how does this work?”, because it’s just plain old Go code.

That lack of magic and his comparison to C# sounds like a really good mix.

ben_pr | 9 years ago | on: Modern JavaScript for Ancient Web Developers

I see that JavaScript has it's place in the browser but the whole back-end thing scares me. The ugly code (callbacks, etc), npm injecting only God knows what into your back-end servers, tons of work-arounds for trying to make JS not so ugly, are over the top.

The JS everywhere is so much like the "only tool you have is a hammer, so every problem looks like a nail" thing, it's amazing.

Creating a simple, secure, extensible middle-tier is a solved problem and is not in need of JS trying to solve it in a much more obtuse way. I've created many myself in everything from Delphi, PHP, C#, Groovy, to Java and I would never pick JS for that layer.

And a final thought, PHP used to get tons of bad press for being messy, etc, etc. But this JS stuff takes that mess to a whole new level. Perhaps PHP devs moved to node/js so they could make a mess and everyone would still think they are the cool kids?

ben_pr | 9 years ago | on: They Used To Last 50 Years

I just changed a refrigerator, stove is basically dead, both 8 years old, Whirlpool brand. My Mom is still using the same appliances from when I was a kid. Nearly every family member I have says the same thing, new stuff lasts about 8 - 10 years and why can't we just get one like Mom's that will last 35+ years. My bosh dishwasher runs like new and is 8 years old.

ben_pr | 9 years ago | on: Why we are not leaving the cloud

I'm a little shocked at this decision. The issues faced are all solved problems from PB storage to HA on server clusters even across Data centers. Good solutions do have upfront costs but the math that cloud hosting is 5-10X more than co-location company owned/leased is still in the ball park. It sounds like they may need an architect with enterprise experience to help them out rather than random comments on HN.

ben_pr | 9 years ago | on: Ask HN: What are the higest paying technologies which have remote opportunities?

A few years ago Bluecross Blueshield in Chattanooga would hire almost anyone that wanted to learn Cobol and train them, I have a friend that got in on this. I also have a relative making insane amounts of $ as a Cobol developer, but honestly Cobol is no fun (for me) and I wouldn't do it. There are a lot of Cobol devs retiring now and in the next few years and not many people want to replace them.

I can't think of anything that is Web Dev, Remote, $100 hour, and less than 5 years of experience.

ben_pr | 9 years ago | on: Ask HN: Good Career Alternatives for 50+

One of the best hires I ever had was someone that was 50+ about 10+ years ago. He didn't have a technical background but wanted to be a programmer. It was a big risk but in two years time he became my top developer out performing those with 10+ years more experience. Now I primarily look to hire those with a few white hairs as they are much more stable and cause a lot less personal issues than those right out of school. If I was hiring and you really wanted to be a programmer I would certainly give you a shot at it. If you want to be in technology I don't see anything stopping you.

ben_pr | 9 years ago | on: Dedicated Server Price Increase

I used to use OVH and most of the time their stuff works but when it doesn't there is very little chance of their tech support figuring out what the problem is and fixing it. They basically deny anything is on their side and you really have to move to a different VPS/Dedicated server or whatever instead of the issue actually being resolved. I use a dedicated server from a place in FL now that is a small shop but I get a real person(with a brain) when something goes wrong and they actually take me seriously and fix their stuff.

ben_pr | 9 years ago | on: Introducing Twilio Add-ons

Having worked with Phone Systems for call centers and financial services for more than a decade I found this very useful.

Interesting uses: You want to use sentiment analysis to automatically pinpoint calls with angry customers and bridge in a supervisor.

You want to detect the language of inbound messages to route them to a person who can respond quickly in native tongue.

You want to identify demographics of an inbound sales call so you can prioritize people with the best buying profile.

You want to use spam or fraud scoring on inbound calls and messages so you can drop them on the floor before they distract your staff.

ben_pr | 10 years ago | on: Introducing power saving mode in Opera for computers

Hmm, kinda odd. Not sure if you are comparing this to Chrome, Safari or Edge but with those you have a lot less control over the start/speed-dial page. Use the gear icon in the upper right to edit nearly everything on the speed dial page including turning speed dial off.

One of the main reasons I switched to Opera was the ability to have more control over the start page.

The biggest reason to switch to Opera now is the ad blocker is much faster than ABP/Ghost/etc and web pages load significantly faster now.

ben_pr | 10 years ago | on: Ask HN: How do detect a crappy boss / toxic environment when interviewing?

I have hired two to three dozen developers over the last 15 years for a fairly boring developer job (finance) in a very big city (Atlanta). Here are a few tips I had for making candidates feel comfortable.

1. Find out as much about them as possible before they show up. Look them up on Github, LinkedIn, etc.

2. Target questions that are appropriate and related to the job. If the candidate offers any sort personal info about interests follow-up with questions and find out what they are really interested in, you should already have a clue from point 1. If their primary love is talking about airplanes or something else then writing code is not their first love.

3. Make the candidate feel at ease as much as possible. Offer Water, coffee, comfortable chair, etc.

4. Have someone on their level take them to lunch. They can find out what their potential future co-workers think of you and you can get some valuable feed back from your devs.

If the person interviewing you doesn't do most of these things then you probably want to run the other way. Remember your managers job is partially to help you be successful and if he can't help you have a successful interview then he most likely can't help you have a successful career. When you leave the interview you should feel that this person has your back and will help you out if you ever need it.

ben_pr | 10 years ago | on: This should never happen

The shocking part is the number of times:

"This should never happen": 823,044 This should never happen: 16,946,357 vs. "This is screwed up": 59 This is screwed up: 876,393

ben_pr | 11 years ago | on: PostgreSQL vs. MS SQL Server

After seeing the title I assumed the verdict would be that MS SQL is way better. If I wrote a comparison that's how the result would end up. I've used MS SQL from 1998 and PostgreSQL from 2001 and have found MS SQL much easier to use. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

ben_pr | 11 years ago | on: Back to the future of automobiles

Timeless Lesson learned: The Dymaxion story cautions against falling in love with your own engineering, no matter how smart you are.
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