*"I’ve spent nearly twenty years blogging, giving talks and releasing open source code. It’s been fantastic for my career, and a huge amount of work. But here’s a useful secret: you don’t have to put very much work at all into public creativity in order to stand out as a job candidate.*

*I’ve interviewed hundreds of people, and screened hundreds more resumes—mostly for tech roles in San Francisco, an extremely competitive job market.*

*The vast majority of candidates have little to no evidence of creativity in public at all. The same is true for many of the best engineers I have worked with.*

*As a hiring manager, this means you have to learn how to source candidates and interview effectively: you don’t want to miss out on a great engineer just because they spent all of their energy making great products for prior employers rather than blogging, speaking and coding in public.*

*But as a candidate, this means you can give yourself a big advantage in terms of standing out from the crowd with a relatively small amount of work.*

*Start a blog. Post an interesting technical article to it once or twice a year—something you’ve learned, or a bug you’ve fixed, or a problem you’ve solved. After a few years stop bothering entirely, but leave the blog online somewhere.*

*Build a small personal project and put the code on GitHub. Accompany it with a README with a detailed description of the project and screenshots of it in action—almost no-one does this, it only takes a few hours extra and it massively increases the impact your project will have on hiring managers who are checking you out.*

*That’s it. One or two blog posts. Maybe a GitHub repository. Believe it or not, if you are up against a bunch of other candidates (especially earlier on in your career) they likely won’t have anything like that. You will jump straight to the top of the hiring manager’s mental list, maybe without them even noticing.*

*There’s plenty more you can do if you want to put the effort in: build an audience on Twitter, start a newsletter, make videos, give talks (ideally that get recorded and published online), release open source packages, publish [TILs](https://til.simonwillison.net/)—but honestly if your goal is to get through the interview process more easily you will very quickly hit the law of diminishing returns.*

*If you’re going to do that stuff do it because you want to develop those skills and share with and learn from the world—don’t just do it because you think it’s a critical path to being hired."*

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36843484>

It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

Hi I'm Jeremy. I'm building this site because I'm not satisfied with other online community type websites and their lack of innovation (see the /about page). The goal is to make a superior, more open, and more decentralized online community.

The site is still in early stages in active development (see the dev masterthread here: https://zsync.xyz/p/zsync-dev-update-masterthread)

Join us if this sounds interesting! Feel free to send me any feedback or reach out directly!

This thread is for everyone to introduce themselves. I'll sticky this one

Hi, I'm Jeremy. I made this site last year out of frustration with the comment quality on sites like Reddit, and the anti-crypto rhetoric and lack of "subreddits" on HN. At some point I got tired of complaining about those sites on those sites and figured I'd just make a better version myself.

I'm a software engineer from the U.S (Virginia originally near Washington DC, but moved to NYC after uni). Majored in math in university. Been traveling the world for the last 5 years (47+ countries). I'm writing this from Seoul, South Korea.

I've been a pretty staunch advocate of universal basic income and remote work for about a decade now, ever since I worked my first office job. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_YMxx095As) I made on wage slavery got 121k views. I think within the next decade AI and automation will wreck havoc on the labor market, leaving governments with no choice but to embrace UBI and stronger safety nets, ultimately resulting in greater freedom and higher quality of life for all.

These days when I post online it's mostly on Twitter ([@jeremybernier](https://twitter.com/jeremybernier)) and occasionally this [crappy Wordpress blog](https://jsavage.xyz/). My personal website is <https://www.jbernier.com/>

I'm ENTP and love debating and discussing controversial topics. My favorite courses in undergrad were the proof heavy math courses and philosophy, and I love applying logic to real world problems.

In my free time I like to play piano (when I have access to one), listen to and make music (there was a phase where I wanted to be an electronic music producer), play soccer, work out, read, write, and occasionally make videos.

Curious to learn about the other visitors here. Also curious to hear your ideas on what it would take to make a better Reddit / HN / Twitter alternative, and how to improve this site.

*Past threads: [1](https://zsync.xyz/p/introductions-june-2023) [2](https://zsync.xyz/p/introductions)*

Introductions

*"More than three years ago we founded Worldcoin with the ambition of creating a new identity and financial network owned by everyone; the rollout begins today. If successful, we believe Worldcoin could drastically increase economic opportunity, scale a reliable solution for distinguishing humans from AI online while preserving privacy, enable global democratic processes, and eventually show a potential path to AI-funded UBI.*

*Worldcoin consists of a privacy-preserving digital identity (World ID) and, where laws allow, a digital currency (WLD) received simply for being human. We hope that, where the rules are less clear, such as in the U.S., steps will be taken so more people can benefit from both.*

*You can now download World App, the first protocol-compatible wallet, and reserve your share. After visiting an Orb, a biometric verification device, you will receive a World ID. This lets you prove you are a real and unique person online while remaining completely private. As the global distribution of Orbs is ramping up, you can find the closest one and book time to be verified with World App and at [worldcoin.org](http://worldcoin.org).*

*Worldcoin is an attempt at global scale alignment, the journey will be challenging and the outcome is uncertain. But finding new ways to broadly share the coming technological prosperity is a critical challenge of our time. We hope you’ll join us.*

*Alex Blania & Sam Altman"*

Twitter: <https://twitter.com/worldcoin>

News: <https://www.reuters.com/technology/openais-sam-altman-launches-worldcoin-crypto-project-2023-07-24/>

OpenAI's Sam Altman launches Worldcoin


      ‘Once in a lifetime’ fossil reveals a dinosaur and mammal locked in mortal combat
    

Around 2,000 penguins wash up dead on Uruguay coast

Show HN: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36813086>

GitHub: <https://github.com/primocms/primo>

Primo - Visual CMS with Svelte blocks, code editor, and SSG (open source)

TypeChat uses the type definitions in your codebase to retrieve structured AI responses that are type-safe.

TypeChat

IRS moves forward with a new free-file tax return system, supporters and critics mobilize

Darwin: A framework for evolving decentralized web apps

Enable it by going into account settings -&gt; Beta features -&gt; Code Interpreter

> *"Try a version of ChatGPT that knows how to write and execute python code, and can work with file uploads. Try asking for help with data analysis, image conversions, or editing a code file. Note: files will not persist beyond a single session."*

Can upload files up to 100mb, and zipped files work

Latent space did a nice podcast episode covering Code Interpreter: <https://www.latent.space/p/code-interpreter>

Have you used it? Thoughts?

OpenAI Code Interpreter Beta Available For All ChatGPT Plus Users

Being a software engineer in 2023 is knowing that 95% of everything you're doing now will be obsolete in 5 years. By 2028 app creation will be a commodity &amp; coding will be writing prompts that update themselves Tech was always fast-changing, now we're supercharging exponentiallyHumans cannot compete with AI in the long run. Now is one of the last moments in time where as a human you can still have an edge. In a decade, that will mostly be gone. Human labor being obsolete to AI would be something to celebrate if we had a UBI (basic income), but we don't10 years ago I thought it was obvious that implementing UBI would be an enormous net-positive for society, especially since it was obvious AI was automating labor. Now you'd have to be an idiot to not see the writing on the wall, yet I don't see much talk of UBI.Anyways, the golden age of human labor is coming to an end. We can embrace &amp; applaud this, implementing a UBI, freeing the wagcucks, etc. Or we can cry &amp; deny it while desperately clinging on to the last remains of our own waning relevance like luddites &amp; boomer politicians

Being a Software Engineer in 2023 is knowing that 95% of everything you're doing now will be obsolete in 5 years

When is Black Ceiling Paint the Right Choice?

I will post dev updates as comments in this thread.

Feel free to comment with any requests / feedback / thoughts

ZSync Dev Update Masterthread

Just recently I was using ZPaq to perform a daily backup of my home folder (which is around 40GB decompressed). ZPaq uses the Paq compression algorithm [1] which is one of the best ones. While <code>xz -9e</code> compressed my homepage into 17 GB (around 40%), ZPaq got it to like 11 GB!!. And it also has archiving capabilities, so if you run it every day, it will only add missing files and remove files that are not there anymore. It has "snapshot" capabilities, so you can uncompress the files at a specific version, to restore deleted files. I combined ZPaq with Par2 to add 15% of redundancy (to recover the zpaq file in case of corruption). Everything looks great.<pre><code>cat ~/.local/bin/homebackup.sh
#!/bin/bash
FILENAME="/media/myname/TimeShift Backup/backups/home_myname.zpaq"
DIRNAME=$(dirname "$FILENAME")

if [ ! -f "$FILENAME" ]
then
 mkdir -p "$DIRNAME"
 pushd "$DIRNAME"
 zpaq add "$FILENAME" /home/mhname/ -m4
 nice -n 15 par2 c -r15 "$FILENAME"
 popd
fi
</code></pre>[1] <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAQ">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAQ</a>

ZPaq: Incremental Journaling Backup Utility and Archiver

Está interesante este sistema, me gusta que trata de limitar el spam y comentarios de bajo esfuerzo utilizando criptomonedas. Ojalá que si progrese.Ah si y ¡Que Viva México Cabrones!

Hello to any Mexican ZSyncers [In Spanish!!]

Schools close in New Zealand as police unable to contain local gang activities

This is easily my favorite song over the last month. I've listened to this at least 5x/day for over a month straight (not sure if I've ever listened to a song this much for so long).

Their song "Sorry" is also great.

Love how in Japanese rap they often sound like they're trolling, or mimicking a foreign accent (eg. what my Japanese sounds like). Not sure why they do that, but I find it hilarious, and it kinda makes me want to become a Japanese rapper.

Hentai Shinshi Club - Yokaze

Here’s a summary of my lessons learned living in Europe, Asia, and South America over 5 years as an American.

Asian cities like [Seoul](https://jsavage.xyz/2022/03/30/why-seoul-is-the-best-modern-city/), Singapore, and Tokyo are way more advanced than us. Doesn’t even come close. People take pride in their work, no matter how menial. These cities are by far the cleanest and safest. Trains leave exactly when scheduled. Things just work. People have high standards, as reflected in tasteful interior designs in cafes. I see more technological innovation and automation here than anywhere. Governments are able to mobilize and get things done (eg. Korea developed COVID tests in only 1 week, whereas the U.S needed another 5 weeks). More cheap, delicious, healthy food options available at any time of the day/night than anywhere in the world. Greatest density of things to do, with commercial establishments literally stacked on top of each other like a mall (I wish the rest of the world would borrow this). Highest concentration of public work cafes of anywhere. The downside is that countries like Korea and Japan have the worst work cultures (eg. long hours even if you’re doing nothing, little vacation), are overly obsessed with prestige, overly conformist, have weak entrepreneurial cultures, and governments are more prone to [authoritarianism](https://jsavage.xyz/2022/03/30/my-experience-in-south-koreas-mandatory-7-day-quarantine/).

Europeans have the healthiest perspective on work/life balance (1-3 months vacation, fewer work hours, people recognize that life is more than just your job), the sanest governments, and public transportation so good you don’t need a car (you can travel the whole continent by rail and bus). In most European countries basic human services like education and healthcare are free or practically free (in Denmark students even get paid a stipend to go to university). Government systems tend to be parliamentary multi-party systems that greater represent the will of the people. [Switzerland has the best government system in the world](https://jsavage.xyz/2022/03/24/why-switzerland-has-the-best-government-system-in-the-world/) with its referendum system. Homelessness although greater than in east Asia is very rare, unlike the U.S where there’s so much endlessly increasing rampant homelessness you feel like the apocalypse is imminent. Generous welfare systems means that in many countries you don’t have to wage slave and stress about destitution, and worker protection laws means that you can’t get fired unless you really do something terrible. Everyone is well-traveled, cultured, and speaks multiple languages. I was shocked to learn that in countries like Denmark and Germany it is the norm to take a gap year after high school to travel the world. I’ve found that European people (which is a huge generalization since Europe has 44 countries) seem to have the highest level of intelligence and independent thinking, and tend to be much more honest and straightforward than Americans.

The downside of Europe is that it’s not the most modern or advanced (Asia wins there), tech salaries suck, there’s less of a culture of entrepreneurship, and there are few proper megacities. Stores are open less hours, especially in countries like Italy and Spain where they have siesta. Some countries have very high tax rates, though as an American who lived in a state with one of the highest tax rates (NYC), I was shocked to learn that my tax rate in the U.S was higher than in countries like Switzerland that actually have functional government systems (eg. healthcare, welfare). Also there’s a massive difference between European countries. Switzerland for example has automated checkout machines in grocery stores, whereas I never saw that nearby in Rome, Italy. Whereas countries like Switzerland and Estonia are highly efficient, Mediterranean countries like Spain, Italy, and Greece are notorious for having awful bureaucracies, and their economies are not exactly thriving.

The U.S is money-obsessed, workaholic, cutthroat, completely lacking in public transportation (outside of NYC you pretty much need a car everywhere), lacking in proper cities with most of the country looking like a giant strip mall / parking lot, outrageous levels of [poverty](https://jsavage.xyz/2019/07/31/poverty-is-a-human-choice/) and [homelessness](https://jsavage.xyz/2019/10/31/is-it-possible-to-live-in-nyc-and-have-a-moral-conscious/), [dysfunctional ultra-polarized failing two-party government system](https://jsavage.xyz/2019/08/16/americas-failed-democracy/) where no one feels represented, failing government that can’t handle taking care of basic services like healthcare and education, and rampant guns and mass neverending shootings. Most Americans are not well traveled (63% of Americans do not have a valid passport). Perhaps the biggest achilles heal of America is that Americans delude themselves into believing that America is the greatest country on the planet, and due to this arrogance make no effort to learn from other countries even when America’s inferiority is completely and objectively obvious (eg. America’s healthcare system).

The U.S is very diverse with people of every ethnicity. Everyone (except for Native Americans) is an immigrant, it’s just a question of how far back your ancestors immigrated. This diversity is probably party responsible for the lack of empathy people have for one another as reflected in the lack of universal healthcare and welfare. The positive however is that racism is less rampant in the U.S, and anybody can choose to become an American (whereas no matter how long you live in Japan, you will never be considered Japanese).

American people do tend to be friendly, warm, and outgoing. I also find Americans more likely to be entrepreneurial and ambitious, particularly in cities like NYC and SF. The downside is that Americans tend to be significantly faker (eg. the stereotype of two American girls pretending to be so excited to see each other and talking about needing to make plans, but then never talk to each other again), and overly afraid to talk about “controversial” (ie. interesting) topics like politics. I find it significantly easier to talk about politics and other divisive topics with Europeans, whereas Americans are often completely uncomfortable to talk about those things, whether due to fear of offending other people or a strange emotional attachment to their beliefs. Also I think that Americans are more likely to be arrogant, lacking in empathy, and crazy (though crazy can sometimes be a good thing). In Europe and Asia you tend to have less of the extremes.

South American people are the warmest, most outgoing, most laidback, most physical, and most sexual. There is more gender polarity in South America than in western Europe or the U.S – where some feminists will go as far as to cry oppression when a man opens a door for them. South Americans are by far the best dancers, with Latina women having an incredible natural ability to move their hips. The nightlife in South America is the best. If Americans live to work and Europeans work to live, then South Americans are further on the “work to live” spectrum than the Europeans. Unlike with Germans or the Swiss, punctuality is not an expectation.

The downside is that this greater warmth also comes with greater fakeness. Colombian women are notorious for flaking because they try so hard to be polite that they’ll accept dates even when they don’t have any intention of showing up. My friend who lived in Medellin was frustrated when he’d repeatedly arrange meetings with this neighbor (to discuss a complaint) only to find the neighbor wouldn’t show up. The prioritization of life and fun means that intelligence levels seem to be lower on average. There’s a stereotype of men being more prone to commitment issues.

It’s hard to generalize South American countries because there is such enormous variation between cities like Sao Paulo and Bogota. But overall I was very impressed with cities like Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires, with parts of Sao Paulo often looking nicer than NYC. Bogota on the other hand is an objectively ugly and dangerous city. Overall however, South American countries have the highest poverty (eg. favelas), highest crime, and most corrupt governments.

I’ve found that poorer “third world” countries are often just as developed as first world countries, just cheaper and with lower salaries so imports are more expensive (eg. electronics). Cities like Kyiv and Belgrade look just as good if not better than many cities in the U.S and western Europe, just with prices at a fraction of the cost (again I prefer European cities to American cities because you don’t need a car in European cities due to walkability and public transportation). Despite salaries being significantly less in Kyiv and Belgrade, you will see few homeless people whereas in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and NYC you will see homeless people everywhere and sidewalks lined with tents. I think Americans would be shocked to see how well the rest of the world lives.

---

I think there’s a lot that countries can learn from each other. As an American, I hope that America will borrow the walkability and public transportation of Europe and Asia, the technological advancement, innovation, and high standards of Asia, the government competency, empathy, and healthy perspective on work/life balance freedom of Europe, and the warmth and fun of South America. America’s diversity, inclusion, culture of entrepreneurship, and friendliness are definitely strengths that would benefit from borrowing from the strengths of other cultures.

What the U.S. Can Learn From Europe, Asia, and South America

Love this song. Been stuck in my head for the last couple weeks.