Top all-time · #2456
Ben Northrop
Personal blog · bennorthrop.com/Essayscareerprogramming
Ben Northrop's personal blog at bennorthrop.com covers career and programming. Since 2008, 29 different Hacker News readers have linked it 33 times, most often “Always Do Extra”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Too few sampled comments (2) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers cite Ben Northrop's essays on programmer careers and working life, such as reflections on being an older programmer and advice on setting aside time for exploratory work.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 2 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Always Do Extra4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2023-11-17
- The Siren Song of Automated UI Testing(2014)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2014-02-19
- The Reality of Reuse (2018)2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2018-03-22
- The Myth of Architect as Chess Master2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-01-09
- Reflections of an “Old” Programmer2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-10-06
- The Ambiguous Zone2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-03-24
What Hacker News says?
I remember those novice days with fond memories. I've observed, in the twilight hours or when I'm playing with my kids, that I am attracted to things that make me feel a novice. However, this is not compatible with my day time job, where my paid expertise is often required. sigh It would be interesting to see the graph of the careers stages with happiness overlaid. Source: http://www.bennorthrop.com/Essays/2016/care…
Comment linking /Essays/2016/career-stages-programmer.png
on “Reflections of an “Old” Programmer”Submitted Reflections of an “Old” Programmer as a story · 493 points
HN discussionDid you follow the link in the footnote? [0] I thought it made the case for doing extra quite convincingly. The gist of the argument is that it's worth spending some small proportion of your work time on exploratory work that might or might not pay off, as opposed to doing more "normal" work (another sprint task or whatever). For me it described pretty well what I'd already been doing subconsciously for some time. I…
Comment linking /Essays/2021/always-do-extra.php
on “Bits of Advice for 30 Years”Submitted Always Do Extra as a story · 258 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Myth of Architect as Chess Master as a story · 73 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Reality of Reuse (2018) as a story · 52 points
HN discussionSubmitted Code ownership, stewardship, or free-for-all? as a story · 44 points
HN discussionSubmitted Building a Better Resume for Developers as a story · 22 points
HN discussionSubmitted Decision Theory and Estimates as a story · 20 points
HN discussionSubmitted Pair Programming: My Personal Nightmare as a story · 10 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Halo Effect and UI as a story · 8 points
HN discussionSubmitted Group Polarization in Software Development as a story · 6 points
HN discussionSubmitted Reflections of an Old Programmer as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Let's not be Slaves to Fashion as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted The 3 Motivational Forces of Developers as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Always Do Extra as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Siren Song of Automated UI Testing(2014) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Architect's Dilemma as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Siren Song of Automated UI Testing as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Always Do Extra (2021) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Always Do Extra (2021) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Building a Better Resume for Developers as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted What do we mean by rewrite and refactor? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Reality of Rewrites as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Myth of Architect as Chess Master as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted If You Speak Up, Speak First as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Siren Song of Automated UI Testing as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Ambiguous Zone – Ben Northrop as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Ambiguous Zone as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Myth of Architect as Chess Master as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
