The kind people GP is referring to refuse to actually learn from this. I've had several coworkers over the last 15 years that absolutely refuse to 'learn to fish'.

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ChrisMarshallNY an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I’ve encountered this regularly.

I love to learn. I never want to stop learning.

Apparently, I’m in a minority.

I have often offered to work with folks, and teach them how to develop shipping software. This is something I’m actually fairly good at, having done it, my entire career. I’m retired, now, but continue to develop shipping software. I often offer to do so, with others, so they can learn in an actual production context.

Valuable stuff. They could actually learn skills that could boost their own careers into LEO.

Instead, they invariably ask me to do it for them, or, more annoyingly, say they’ll do it, then never show up, and castigate me for going ahead without them.

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toomuchtodo an hour ago | parent [-]

Meta: This is why HN attracts curious people. They are rare. Finding and hiring them is hard. The forum cultivates for them, like gardeners tending a garden for pollinators. My best tip for hiring has always been "Hire curious people with a proven ability to build, get out of their way, and retain them as long as you can by meeting their professional expectations (comp, work experience, meaningful work, broadly speaking)."

Find Your People - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44074017 - May 2025 (283 comments)

(strongly agree working with people who do not care or do not want to learn is soul crushing, engineer around it to the best of your ability, or change your operating environment to improve upon it, when able to; your time and energy is non renewable)

	▲	ChrisMarshallNY an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Thanks for that link. I think one of my advantages has been, that I’m a high school dropout, with a GED. I never took a matriculated college course. Almost all of my education has been practicum. I learn by do. Having to direct my own education has been both liberating and exhausting.

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Salgat 11 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You learn to know who are the lazy ones, and at that point you can politely always respond with a, "what were you able to find on this?". You can repeat this ad infinitum since at that point, they're just being lazy and disrespectful of your time. They eventually give up going to you because they know they won't get you to do their work for them.

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ljm an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I've struggled with this, even encountering people who basically say "if AI can do it why do I need to spend any more time?"

It was disappointing hearing someone tank their own prospect of career growth like that.

	▲	SoftTalker 44 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		You're looking at human nature. We evolved to conserve energy, to take the berries that are growing right here rather than go foraging for something else with less certain outcomes. Even better, someone else collects the berries for you. There are some exceptional people, who have the drive and curiosity to see what else is out there, but that's not the average.