BaSzErr - blog:2020:06:14

2020-06-14_-_3d_printing_101_is_out

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 20:09:25 +0000

2020-06-14 - 3D printing 101 is out

i've just finished putting down notes for 3D printing 101. i had it on my TODO list for A LONG time and finally had some time to put it all down. it's still a bit raw, as it is missing most of the graphics i've planned for it, but it is there! ;)

this will be a living document. if you want to be up to date with updates, best use RSS for this page to follow changes.

2020-06-14_-_frequency_following_response

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 20:09:25 +0000

2020-06-14 - frequency following response

recently i've came across an interesting TEDx talk on falling asleep. Jim Donovan presents there his way of falling asleep by generating certain frequency, waiting for brain to “tune” to it, and then slowing it down up to a point you fall asleep.

the mechanisms behind “tuning” to such a pattern is called frequency following response. if you think about it, it is logical. brain has evolved to quickly detect and lock on patterns. this is how we learn new things – we notice new, repeating patterns (while sometimes our brains make a wrong associations, detecting patterns in randomness, it overall yield good results). once detected, brain follows the pattern.

FFR seems to be an interesting byproduct of pattern recognition machinery in brain. after learning about FFR it became clear to me why seesaws tend to make you sleepy (especially children) and why hammock can serve the same purpose. it's all about damping oscillations.

2020-06-14_-_measuring_kpis..._up_to_a_point

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 20:09:25 +0000

2020-06-14 - measuring KPIs... up to a point

recently at work we had a lot of discussions around KPIs for projects: what shall be measured, how and what to do with the results?

i'm all for measuring – i.e. how can you tell you have improved sth if you cannot measure values a priori and a posteriori? i'm however far more careful when talking about setting fixed thresholds – i'm in a “metrics are there to help your brain, not to replace it” club, here.

the problem is that the moment you start drawing consequences from raw numbers ppl tend to optimize for what they are being rewarded/punished for. this often leads straight to “creative booking” class of problems and thus defeats the whole purpose of measuring in a first place. i came up with an analogy to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle here – the more you depend on a metric, the less it will reflect reality.

none of the best-tested (i mean automated tests) projects i have worked on had any thresholds on test coverage. all of them however did measure test coverage.

yes – measure. but also do diversify and do not over-relay on the numbers alone. that's my call.

2020-06-14_-_what_drives_us

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 20:09:25 +0000

2020-06-14 - what drives us?

again – quite overdue mention, on interesting finding. some months ago a colleague at Qiagen did an interesting training on many non-technical aspects on technical work. the theme was revolving around the surprising truth about what motivates us. i highly suggest you watch it. even twice – just to make sure you have not lost anything along the way!

the first finding is that money DO motivate, as long as work you do is physical work. then it's pretty much linear – the more you are paid, the more you are motivated to do better.

the second finding is that is once you work require at least basic cognitive abilities, money are important ONLY up to the point where you no longer need to care for day-to-day living costs (think: place to live, food, etc…). once this is reached, according to cited research, not only money no longer motivate, but can show an inverted trend, where ppl yearning more actually do less.

so what actually DO motivate ppl, after reaching certain income level? there are 3 things:

autonomy – you want to be a master of your faith. you prefer to work on your ideas, rather than blindly implementing what/how you have been told to do. trust me – i'm an engineer!
mastery – you wont to reach higher and higher levels of mastery in what you are doing. alpha geek contest! :)
purpose – you need to believe in what you are doing. shitty job == shitty motivation.

note that this naturally pushes us into… open source world. it explains why ppl do open source and have tremendous fun out of it, even though typical net income of an open source project is negative (i.e. sometimes you do invest into HW/SW to complete it, not to mention time invested). ;) autonomy part is clear here. the part you learn new things and get better at it is mastery. being the change you wish to see in the world is all about the purpose (btw: i often think about non-money-driven society, but it's a story for another time).

another long overdue article on my TODO-list is about developing in IT. some years ago, having already reached “senior sth” position i was wondering: what's next? as i never wanted to be a manager and always wanted to stick with technical aspects on my daily work, how can i develop during office hours? my answer was – be a (part of) “special-ops” team, that is targeting its efforts on high-profile targets, where both time to execute and technical abilities are of a high value. this way you both have interesting and challenging tasks and have ability to work with the most skilled ppl around at the same time. this was what PTA team in Nokia was all about. it also is what my current position as a principal SW engineer in Qiagen is. i believe i'm heading in a right direction with these.