I'm a mechanical engineer, working in product development. I have an interest in programming to the extent that I can try to automate some tedious tasks, but very little formal training. I'm definitely a long ways from being a "hacker" as its known here.
I agree with all of your reasons for visiting HN. I've mentioned this before on another thread, but the guideline that posts should be "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity"[1] tends to produce a lot of content that I find interesting, and I'm sure there are many more people like us here.
One thing that I will add is that I wish that people posted more non-programming jobs in the monthly Who's Hiring. Even if you just posted the approximate job title it'd be better than omitting it entirely. Every month I control+F>"mechanincal engineer", and there are almost never more than one or two posts, despite the fact that I see some of the same companies posting these positions on different job boards.
Same here, I work in the tech industry doing mechanical design. While I would no longer call the company I work for a startup (we were arguably still one when I started) I still find a lot of the conversation around them interesting. I'd still say I'm a hacker, just in a much more physical sense of the word.
While I don't find the vast majority of the content about programming interesting, there is still enough content here that I do find interesting that other similar websites don't cover.
I work in user acquisition, specifically in SEM (AdWords/Bing). Same reasons here: cursory knowledge of programming I self-taught when trying to automate tasks, but nothing formal. Trying to learn more because I want to go the Product Management route.
This place definitely piques my curiosity in things I sometimes never knew existed. I've been lurking for a few years and can say that I've learned so much more about technology, business, etc. from here that I otherwise wouldn't have (I didn't even know what a PM was before; now I want to be one, heh).
Also echo the desire for non-programming jobs in the Who's Hiring thread, but I guess that's a double-edged sword because if it gets too diverse, it can become like a regular job board and thereby lose its relevance, for employers and employees alike. At the same time, my selfish side wishes it to be so since I would love to work for companies that frequent HN, i.e. more forward-thinking companies doing really cool things (usually).
It's nice to hear from others who share the desire to go the PM route.
I've only recently joined HN, but so far I've found it a valuable source of information and discussion. I've been working at a small startup on the product team (not as the PM) for 3 years. We were acquired in April and now I'm really interested in moving on and getting into a product management role, but I'm unsure of how to break into that "market."
My current location (Greensboro, NC) is probably part of the problem I'm having (I am open to moving). I joined HN to try to glean some intel on where to find PM opportunities and figure out what companies (especially the ones on HN) look for when hiring for those roles (programming ability? MBA required? etc.)
If you have found any good info to share, I'd love to hear.
You don't necessarily have to be able to program to be a Product Manager (I know PMs who don't program). I've also done PM interviews which didn't include anything about programming (the interviews focused more on strategy, functionality and logic/reasoning)
I agree with all of your reasons for visiting HN. I've mentioned this before on another thread, but the guideline that posts should be "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity"[1] tends to produce a lot of content that I find interesting, and I'm sure there are many more people like us here.
One thing that I will add is that I wish that people posted more non-programming jobs in the monthly Who's Hiring. Even if you just posted the approximate job title it'd be better than omitting it entirely. Every month I control+F>"mechanincal engineer", and there are almost never more than one or two posts, despite the fact that I see some of the same companies posting these positions on different job boards.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html