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Ask HN: What do you wish you learned?
If you could go back in time and learn about a certain topic or skill what would it be (assuming you'd be in the same profession you're in now). Please also mention what field you're in.
- dalke 12y agoOrganic chemistry. I now write chemistry software for a living.
- a3n 12y agoLogarithms as practiced on the slide rule. Latin. Software dev and QA.
- S4M 12y agoI took latin in middle and high school. I can't honestly think of any benefit it has given to me.
- wowzer 12y agoThat's really interesting. I would've thought it'd be useful trying to understand more complicated texts in college.
- S4M 12y agoI am French, and honestly I can't remember a time when the knowledge of Latin helped me with something, and my undergraduate degree had a small component of literature (like two hours a week) so I had to study a bunch of classical French texts. I think Latin might be interesting for someone who likes to study languages for the sake of learning them, or maybe for someone who is really into the Bible or the Roman history, but I can't think of much use of it. (You might be able to learn Spanish if you have studied Latin beforehand, but that time would have then better spent on learning Spanish).
- a3n 12y agoI sometimes glimpse the history of the western world in words. Hibernate. Hibernia. Stones disappear into the walls, but sometimes it's fun to see where they came from.
- lsiunsuex 12y agoI don't think it's ever to late to learn something. I'm kinda on the fence about learning / trying to get into theoretical science and physics. I find a lot of the space science stuff happening lately to be very interesting and I'd love to try to prove (for example) black holes exist (or don't) currently a programmer / sys admin.
- lxfontes 12y agoUX / UI. Solid usability and design chops. Dev / Ops at the moment.
- xluffy 12y ago- DevOps - Encrypt - Programming
- shoo 12y ago- business - negotiation - some basic undergrad chemistry & biology
- wowzer 12y agoWanted to wait on my own response so as not to influence peoples' responses. I'm a software developer and I've recently been thinking that one of the skills that I'd like to improve on is writing. Never late to work on, but it would've been great to put a little more effort into it earlier in life.
- JohnLen 12y agoMobile apps marketing. The effective approach, channels and strategy.
- lfx 12y ago- Chemistry - Third language like Russian or German. - More economics. I'm in software dev and QA.
- GotAnyMegadeth 12y agoI am an RTL Engineer I wish I had learnt a foreign language, preferably either German, or one with a cool not Latin script, like Russian
- auxym 12y agoI wish I had explored more artsy endeavours in high school and college, instead of being such a nerd focused on only science. Litterature, drama, creative writing, music.
- mknits 12y agoLearning a foreign language like Russian or French. Having good negotiation skills. Alternative medicine. UI/UX Design. Encryption.
- backend-dev-33 12y agoI expected to see here things like negotiations and literature. And, absolutely unexpected, I saw "Russian". 3 times. Would you please explain? P.S. I'm a native Russian speaker.