"The fatigue/fear is reasonable, but it does not matter -- the world will not stop for you or anyone."
It's not about stopping specific technology from advancing. HN is just source of news and discussion. Imagine if HN active threads were about technology or something that you are not excited about. Would you not feel tired of seeing every 2nd/3rd post about the same topic that you are not interested in?
I continue to be surprised at how many of technical people do not use either browser with extension like ublock origin or in case of IoT devices - Adguard.
"VR is great. You don't have to spike your risk of skin cancer, you don't have to deal with allergies, you don't have to run along a road that constantly has drunken teenagers crashing into mailboxes...()"
And what about your eyes? How healthy is wearing VR? :)
Sure, if you have a CRT strapped to your face, there might be a little risk. But an LCD screen is just about the most harmless thing imaginable for your eyes.
Dry eyes happen without LCDs, and CVS isn't actually bad for your health or the health of your eyes. Not to mention that most people don't get it, even if they're staring at a screen for most hours of the day. As someone who stares at a VR LCD screen for almost all of my workday with eyes that've gotten less dry as I've started using screens more, I'm pretty much convinced CVS is a myth.
(And, of course, there's the fact that no one has ever been able to reproduce a study on CVS... also not giving it a very strong case.)
"Almost half of all jobs are filled through referrals by existing employees, so if you're cold applying to a company you're at best, cutting your chances in half and wasting your time."
I am sorry, what? Have you got any particular data you would like to back this up with? Why would a company have even a job ad if they are hiring someone through referrals?
"You're also forgoing important information _for you_ if you don't know anyone at the company you're applying to. How do you really know what it's like to work there?"
Uhm, what again? Are you saying that you cannot apply to a workplace where you don't know anyone? Well, looks like I have been getting jobs wrong all my life! Are you for real?
I don't understand why your post is so aggressive... The comment you're replying to was giving some friendly advice, which you apparently disagree with. I don't think the escalation in tone in your comment is helpful to the conversation.
What you're describing is pretty unique, in my experience. Looking at my current team, significantly more than half of the folks here worked with someone else on the team at a previous gig.
Often, companies don’t post a job ad. Hiring managers usually explore their network and their trusted employees’ networks before resorting to outside help.
Sometimes the interviewing process is already in motion when a referral comes in, as well.
“I worked with this person for 2 years and they always produced quality work” is way more of a confidence inspiring piece of evidence than “we interviewed this person for 30 minutes and they sounded like they’d be able to do the job”.
Hiring managers aren’t dumb. They know interviews are not super reliable measures of a person’s future performance. All hiring managers have stories about people who were bad at interviews and great at their job, or great at interviews and horrible at their job. A trusted referral decreases this risk significantly.
