MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by rzwitserloot | 2025-11-09 18:56:55+00:00
I read in multiple somewhat off-beat sources lacking good info (in the sense "They did not back up their writings and don't enjoy an impeccable track record of such high regard that I will take their word for it", not in the sense "its known untrustworthy drivel") that the hiring rates in the US in particular for 'junior developers' is way, waaaaaaaaaaay down. As in, off a cliff.

I wonder if that's true; I'm not in the US myself so I can't exactly just go have a drink in a place with lots of devs to try to find out.

The reasons are somewhat obvious:

* World economy in general and the US in particular is a rollercoaster, with the current administration being apparently dead set on flip flopping on every decision it makes, and always making extreme decisions. That's not a good time to invest. Hiring juniors is investing.

* AI not necessarily replacing the jobs, but that's not actually relevant: AI has already torpedoed the general notion that 'if you have investor money you gotta spend just hire a bunch of folks; # of employees is the primary yardstick to check company size / success', whether AI works or not. If the boss tells a VP to 'use more AI to get a handle on hiring practices', then they're going to stop hiring juniors because it looks like you're outright refusing a direct order if you hire a bunch. Even if AI 'employees' are useless, you are strongly incentivized not to hire juniors in such an environment. Juniors both lost the job opportunities stemming from companies just hiring folks because they have enough cash to do it and no good idea on where to spend it, and the downside of looking like you aren't on the AI hypetrain, if you hire juniors.

* There's evidently been a rather massive push in particular during the previous administration to get folks from dead end jobs into IT, so there's now an overwhelming amount of junior devs, and many of them didn't naturally get drawn to the profession; they were told it's an easy way to get a steady job.

* Even though there's some downturn/uncertainty, seniors/mediors aren't being fired because companies still remember how expensive and difficult it was to (re)hire dev teams post COVID. But that just makes the market for juniors even worse and makes it harder to hold out hope. When everybody is getting fired, then once the economy is in better shape you stand a good chance. But that's not happening; those mediors and seniors are continuing to get job experience whilst the juniors aren't.

Those 4 combined: Sure, yeah, I can imagine your average junior dev's odds to get hired are at this point well into the single digits. But is that actually true?
by hylaride | 2025-11-09 18:57:03+00:00
"No wireless, less space than a nomad, but can be fully synced up and fast-charged in a few minutes" is what the review should have been. USB support came after when usb2 was "good enough". Syncing and creating playlists with other players was usually awful, slow, and the bundled software was not much better. iTunes was (at least at the time before the iTunes Store) quite lean and mean, too.

I'm not saying the iPod was perfect, though later versions got pretty close. But the "no wireless" part of the review still makes me chuckle. There were few hand-held anything that leveraged it at any truly useful level until proper smartphones existed.
by WorldMaker | 2025-11-09 18:58:42+00:00
My point has been grapheme clustering doesn't matter as a useful length on its own, especially not for display length. The technical specifics/technical corrections are getting into weeds that are orthogonal to point of the discussion in the first place.

> I’m puzzled about the assertion of EBCDIC having Latin ligatures because I never encountered them in my IBM mainframe days and a casual search didn’t turn any up. The only 8-bit encoding that I was aware of that included any ligatures was Mac extended ASCII which included fi and fl (well, putting aside TeX’s 7-bit encoding which was only used by TeX and because of its using x20 to hold the acute accent was unusable by other applications which expected a blank character in that spot).

EBCDIC had multiple "code pages" to handle various international encodings. (DOS and Windows inherited the "code page" concept from IBM mainframes.) Of the code pages EBCDIC supported in the mainframe era, many were "Publishing" code pages intended for "pretty printing" text to printers that supported presumably and primarily bitmap fonts. A low ID example of such is IBM Code Page (CCSID) 361: https://web.archive.org/web/20130121103957/http://www-03.ibm...

You can see that code page includes fi, fl, ff, ffi, ij, among others even less common in English text.

Most but not all of the IBM Code Pages were a part of the earliest Unicode standards encoding efforts.
by andrei_says_ | 2025-11-09 18:58:52+00:00
Exactly.

Shifts in perspective, including ones embedded in beliefs, trauma patterns, habitual mental models.

Thinking, perceiving, remembering out of the box… the box one does not know they are in.

Here on HN we tend to be habituated in perceiving the thinking mind as correct, rational, in our control. What if it’s none of these things?
by somat | 2025-11-09 18:58:56+00:00
Irix did have a very nice and flashy desktop, but compared to bsd or even linux the underlying unix system was... a bit off. and I don't think this was just familiarity with bsd, solaris felt the same way.

I think it is the dynamic pressure of a commercial closed source unix vs a community source available unix, where the commercial unix is pressured to maintain compatibility and thus also maintains a ton of old footguns. The community unix allows itself to file them smooth and become more ergonomic over time. At the cost of being incompatible. However compatibility is not as much as an issue because you have the source for most of your programs, it is much easier to adapt to incompatible changes.
by Hydraulix989 | 2025-11-09 18:59:07+00:00
Index funds and small investments in things that are still early that you believe in / care about are the way to go.

Day trading and dabbling in $GME, shitcoins, post-2023 NVIDIA, individual stocks, etc. are all bubbles.

Day trading is a scam. Trading firms are more than well-positioned to eat retail's lunch, every single time.
by jraph | 2025-11-09 18:59:09+00:00
Reproducible builds ensure that you can build the same binaries with the same source code. Nothing like the current date for instance gets in the way of getting a different build.

This allows independent people to check that provided binaries don't contain malicious stuff for instance. Ultimately, it lets you download binaries instead of rebuilding everything yourself locally if the binaries have been independently reproduced.

You might be interested in checking:

https://reproducible-builds.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproducible_builds
by michaelcampbell | 2025-11-09 18:59:11+00:00
Theres an equal amount of experience showing that the claims that cheap outsourced workers produce less output of lesser quality is true.

Neither generalization works for ALL cases but hand wavey claims of some ism is small comfort to those of us who've seen the results more than once.

And I've worked with excellent offshored workers as well, but that doesn't make claims to the contrary invalid.
Ask HN: Seeking IP Translator to Architect a System for Predictive Stability
by hartcoreconcept | 2025-11-09 18:59:12+00:00
Company: HartCore Concepts™ We are seeking an exceptional technical co-founder—the IP Translator—to serve as CTO. We possess a foundational mathematical methodology that guarantees predictive stability in chaotic systems, eliminating catastrophic failure across high-speed finance, critical infrastructure, and space. The IP is secured for PPA filing. This is not a traditional job interview. We need a partner capable of translating this mathematical core into a bulletproof, scalable software stack. What we require: • Deep Specialization: HPC, scalable, fault-tolerant architecture, and system security (10+ years). • Cultural Fit: Radical honesty, intellectual rigor, accountability, and ethical alignment. The Challenge Structure (3-Month Architecture Review): We are screening for 3-4 finalists who will enter a formal Architecture Review Challenge. Before Phase II begins, finalists must sign an NDA and IP Assignment Agreement. The deliverable is a functional proof-of-concept and comprehensive technical architecture review based on the provided IP Blueprint. The winner receives the CTO position, founder-level equity, compensation, and $1,500 cash bonus. Runners-up who submit a working model receive $1,500 and the first offer for Senior Engineering roles. We're building the foundational operating system for tomorrow's reality. If you're a genius who values ownership and autonomy, and you're tired of solving trivial problems, this is your chance. Phase I Application & Full Terms: 1. Review Full Challenge Terms (Required): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WafgQXgdeBp-9vnh4OkOCXBcjk--gBdrDK8Dz0CAPiI/edit?usp=sharing 2. Submit Phase I Screening Application: https://forms.gle/osGiU9Ejvb3ZqiALA
by hypeatei | 2025-11-09 18:59:16+00:00
The ideas proposed in here aren't bad, but it does seem like you'll need to maintain two user flows as a site owner because:

1) Not all email providers will implement this, and

2) Users may not be signed into their email at the moment they signup

As a developer, I would find it easier to have one "verification code" flow for all users rather than fragmenting the process; it's much easier to document for your support staff. Again, not a bad proposal but perhaps not very useful in practice.
by BoiledCabbage | 2025-11-09 18:59:26+00:00
> Jobs that have a high 0-1 component will still be in the US but jobs that are more 1-n may be offshored.

It used to be (since at least mid last century) and 0-1 and 1-n jobs were focused here. The world becoming smaller allowed a lot of 1-n jobs to move abroad. But we kept 0-1 jobs here.

That used to be the situation when the country brought people from around the world to be educated and then start business here. And historical precedent allowed us to continue thise advantages by having a reputation for it and continuing to support it. Our country for some reason now has decided it no longer wants to take the actions that fill the pipeline for 0-1 innovation.

And the world just like it took over 1-n is going to take over 0-1.

Why you would choose catalyze that change as an American, I have no idea.

I think there are people that generally believe that there is magic dust that says it can only happen on US soil instead of there being structural actions taken to enable it.

We will all very quickly learn that 0-1 can be anywhere that 1-n is.
by margalabargala | 2025-11-09 18:59:34+00:00
All I meant was that sometimes if you fully block a device it refuses to work, and you may need to selectively unblock just 8.8.8.8 for that device.

Obviously buying such a device is bad, but sometimes you get one for free or close to it and it's worth the hassle to not pay hundreds for a better one.
by nis0s | 2025-11-09 18:59:38+00:00
I think it might benefit you to take a more serious approach to considering the normalization of sex work, rather than as an idealist position. Once you start to break down into an activity someone has to do on a daily basis to get money to do the most mundane things, like paying rent, you come to appreciate just how both lacking and dangerous it is as something to encourage for young people as a viable career option.

If sex work is your hobby, then please go ahead and be free, do whatever you want. If sex work is suggested as means to earn a living, then society can do better. The human brain is not so trivial that its labor should be reduced to something a cow, a goat, or even a monkey can do. I want human flourishing, not human debasement.
by lurk2 | 2025-11-09 18:59:51+00:00
> Your usage of "narco-terrorist"

It’s an accurate description of what these organizations are. Latin American history is basically a story of central governments trying to control these crime syndicates, failing, and then descending into civil war as landowners and urban elites figure the more practical solution is to just massacre all of them. This is true of Colombia, Brazil, El Salvador, and half a dozen other countries. Venezuela attracts the attention that it does because the government is effectively part of the syndicate. [0] Mexico is like this too but has either established backroom deals with the feds to avoid scrutiny or is considered too risky to intervene in.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcosobrinos_affair
by lisbbb | 2025-11-09 18:59:52+00:00
The ramifications of losing all or nearly all of the tech jobs in the US is that the last "good" place to find better paying work that had a fairly low barrier to entry is now gone. I think that has major consequences for the US economy. I'm 52 and I can't just go back to school and re-tool to become a doctor or a lawyer now. I spent so many years becoming excellent and what I do, including higher degrees and certifications (I never really believed in certs, mind you, I always thought it was a giant scam).

Everything I look into as far as 2nd career goes has a very high barrier to entry and then there's the ever-present ageism barrier to fight, too.

I'm fortunate in that I have enough money to maybe just be retired, but most of you aren't anywhere close to being that financially independent. It's going to be ugly.

I knew for years that the offshoring blitz would finally reach critical mass and I was correct. Now it is an economic conflagration.
by oxfordmale | 2025-11-09 19:00:49+00:00
Outsourcing comes and goes in waves. Good talent in India and the Philippines tend to work for FAANG companies, often at very comparable salaries to the west.

The remainder of the talent tends to struggle with some of the outsourced work, but with AI they can now give a semblance of competence.

In the UK a major retailer, Mark and Spencer got hacked after outsourcing work to India. They couldn't fulfill orders online for months, and they are now reducing the amount of work they outsource to India.

We will see something similar happen to other companies in a year or two, but until then we just have to tighten our belts and hope we don't get layed off before then.
by aatd86 | 2025-11-09 19:01:59+00:00
It is a lie if they use it as if they were a full-fledged member of a community while not actually being a true member of said community.

If I disguise myself as a man, that does not mean that I can go the male restrooms. If I am asked for proof that I am actually female for some reason, can I decline showing such proof?

And regarding arguing in bad faith, I was not arguing. Maybe you are not aware of the expression 'lying by omission'? But the smileys I used were supposed to make obvious that it was a joke/tongue-in-cheek. Even the initial question was tongue-in-cheek. Do you sincerely believe that I expect to receive some credit card info?!!!

Ack that this example might not be best since the lie in the first place is the disguise. But, not everything is ruled by law, especially online. Which is also the point of the question.
by INTPenis | 2025-11-09 19:02:06+00:00
How do you get over your fear of anything really? Build up your confidence.

If you know who you are, what you're capable of, you won't let other people's opinions hurt you.

It comes with age and experience. I don't mean programming experience either, life experience.

One can also focus on the end goal and drop that foolish pride. The goal is to have a working product, all help is welcome.
by siva7 | 2025-11-09 19:02:11+00:00
TDD failed because it was sold as a method on how to write better tests yet in reality it was a very challenging skill to learn on how to write software that involved a fundamental change in how you approached requirements engineering, software development, iterations and testing. Even with a skilled team the cost to adapt TDD would be very high for an uncertain outcome. So people tried shortcuts like you described and you can't blame them. The whole movement was flawed and unrealistic in its expectations and communications.
by whoknowsidont | 2025-11-09 19:02:45+00:00
No one likes to hear it because it's not a part of it lol. Paying fair market wages is different than trying to exploit differences in vastly different standards of living between very very different economies.

Talented workers get talented pay -- a fact many company's and execs don't like.

It has very little to do with their literal position on earth in relation to a company's real estate foot print.

Workers need to be more intelligent and what was that word you used in your comment... "collective."

The U.S. managerial class has been GORGING off worker's labor for decades and workers are about to have nothing to show for it.
by jonasdegendt | 2025-11-09 19:04:24+00:00
> That gives slightly better than the inflation rate ( Canada ).

What do you mean? Over the last year any one of the index funds I'm in has beat inflation by a factor of five, some beat inflation by an order of magnitude. My worst performer is an iShares world fund, which generally has more temperate gains, clocking in at 10% YoY.

Looking at Canadian indices such as $VCN, it's the same story.
by Aurornis | 2025-11-09 19:04:56+00:00
> Please, it’s a functional copy of Office ’97, which millions (billions?) of people used happily.

Exactly. The Office '97 is nearly 30 years old. The world has moved on. People like their modern software.

I think LibreOffice appeals to people who think computing should have been frozen in time at some arbitrary point in the past when they were younger, but it feels stale and old to anyone who doesn't have rose-tinted glasses for the Office '97 era.

Most people don't want their software to be turned into some ideological battle. They just want to get their work done and not have to fight the software along the way, so they can get back to enjoying their lives.
by aborsy | 2025-11-09 19:05:34+00:00
Yeah, I meant the same thing! If you run it under your non-root user, and there is a vulnerability in firejail, the jailed process could run as root, right?

Complexity referred to large code base and attack surface.

I haven’t tried it myself. I would be interested knowing, whether it might lower the security in some cases. Maybe it’s useful to sandbox apps that don’t have flatpaks.
Show HN: I'm trying to fix podcast discovery by finding the 'aha ' moments
by firehose | 2025-11-09 19:06:00+00:00
I love long-form podcasts, but I'm constantly frustrated by the signal-to-noise ratio. Scrubbing through a 2-hour conversation to find the 5-minute insight is a huge waste of time, and existing search tools just dump you at the start of the episode.

So, I started building Firehose. It's not another podcast search engine.

Instead, Firehose points you to the key insights, the core ideas, the turning points—and serves them up as short, digestible clips.

The UX is a single feed (think TikTok, but for ideas). You listen or skip, and the recommendation model (in theory) learns what you're interested in. If a clip hooks you, one tap jumps you to that exact moment in the full episode for context.

My goal is to make those "in-between" moments (waiting for a build, grabbing coffee) actually useful for discovery.

It's very early and the models are still naive. I'd genuinely appreciate some brutally honest feedback from the HN community.

Does this feel like it solves a real problem for you?

What's the first thing that seems broken or missing?

Happy to answer any questions. Thank you for your time!
by scrubs | 2025-11-09 19:06:02+00:00
I think more truth would be shown by critiquing Boeing's organizational culture that allowed this decline. In particular does it have the chops to get over its lethargy? No doubt boeing has earned a negative assessment. Now what?

My recollection was Airbus had boeing at a competitive disadvantage and a number of factors combined to optimize for short-term benefit not medium to long with severe consequences. So what about that boeing?
by amalcon | 2025-11-09 19:06:04+00:00
So-called "sanctuary cities" have made the judgement that their law enforcement apparatus will be more effective if people who fear immigration authorities are willing to interface with it. They can't and don't stop enforcement actions by federal authorities (see Chicago, right now) - but they view active cooperation with those efforts as detrimental to other law enforcement activities. You might disagree with that assessment, but it is a straightforward exercise of the municipal power to allocate its own resources.

Claiming that they are "there to shelter people who enter the country illegally" is disingenuous at best. In reality, that is neither the goal nor the effect.
by viega | 2025-11-09 19:06:21+00:00
From my read, that article doesn't have anything in it that isn't standards compliant C. My memory is getting worse as I get older, but I'd say by C17 all that was standard, and definitely in C23.

I've noticed many people are still building on systems where the compiler is a bit older, and defaults to C11, even if it has support for C17, so perhaps that's the problem?
by shevy-java | 2025-11-09 19:06:55+00:00
That's pretty cool. I think it should all be bundled into scummvm, or an extension of this such as scummvm-history or scummvm-preservation. We could bundle all games ever written, with a focus on older games; and ensure they are playable (be it either by released-to-the-public, or people having privately owned copies - the point is more than an engine should be able to make them playable on a modern computer. And yes, we have hardware emulators, I get it, but I am thinking here more of making sure that the code would still work as is on any computer system really, with a focus on omdern systems.)
by throw-qqqqq | 2025-11-09 19:07:08+00:00
I think nradov has a point about the physics.

> The power required would be the same as that provided by the bunker fuel engines in common use

And that is a lot of power! Emma Mærsk has an engine output around 80-90MW.

The largest off shore wind turbine today is 26MW with a rotor diameter north of 300m/1000ft(!!). Common (modern) offshore wind turbines today are about 10-15MW with rotor diameters of ~220m/720ft.

I will not conclude it is impossible at this end of the scale, but you need a huge foil area to match such engine output.

IIUC, the physics work against us as we scale up in size, because of the square/cube-law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square%E2%80%93cube_law (weight of the foil/sail + mast is cubed when the area is squared).
by makingstuffs | 2025-11-09 19:07:28+00:00
Just a note on point 1:

As someone who is Indian and frequently visits the sub continent (writing this from a suburb in Delhi) I can categorically tell you that no one actively wants to live in the cheapest Indian cities (just left my family’s home city which falls into this bracket).

I’m not sure if you’ve travelled much around the sub continent but I’d say you’re quite badly romanticising it. Yes we have our own culture which is different to that of the USA but, as with all things, there are A Lot of aspects of the culture here which are not admirable.
by Aurornis | 2025-11-09 19:07:42+00:00
> I guess I wasn't really thinking about it in the context of jobs since the post was about kids.

The primary reason kids would use office tools is for classwork, which is not dissimilar from job work.

If you're submitting a book report or something it doesn't matter what you're using to write it. However, once you get into group projects (which are very common, in my experience) being the odd one out who can't work with others is really not good.

Kids also learn how to use computers at most schools. They're probably exposed to some combination of MS Office and/or Google Docs products already.