Hacker News: pesfandiar

New comment by pesfandiar in "Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans"

pesfandiar — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 22:51:11 +0000

Hear hear. And like many other aspects of accessibility, it will help a huge number of people who may not have any severe issues. e.g. non-native English speakers using LLM-powered edits.

New comment by pesfandiar in "Raspberry Pi Pico as AM Radio Transmitter"

pesfandiar — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 19:41:24 +0000

Mea culpa.

Without the proper knowledge or measurement equipment, I observed that the audio would fade out after a 30 cm distance. Combined with running it for mere seconds to test and record a demo, I assumed to be in the clear with the spirit of the regulations. Appreciate the reminder to be responsible with RF.

New comment by pesfandiar in "Raspberry Pi Pico as AM Radio Transmitter"

pesfandiar — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 18:37:20 +0000

Highly recommend his Pico-based microcontroller course: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDqMkB5cbBA4GisLzRSqw...

The PWM-based modulation is interesting, but as an amateur, I couldn't fully understand it or trust that the radio receiver reliably picks up the duty cycle as amplitude.

Raspberry Pi Pico as AM Radio Transmitter

pesfandiar — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:26:43 +0000

Article URL: https://www.pesfandiar.com/blog/2026/02/28/pico-am-radio-transmitter

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47202210

Points: 119

# Comments: 35

New comment by pesfandiar in "In Tehran"

pesfandiar — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 18:21:59 +0000

> We're not the world police.

That has been the bargain since WWII though. Pax Americana meant the US owned and enforced a global order, in return international trade and finance ran on its platform. Most Americans can't fathom how bad the alternative is to not being the world police.

New comment by pesfandiar in "Time Station Emulator"

pesfandiar — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 05:59:37 +0000

I'm surprised and impressed that this works. I would've guessed phones have enough RF shielding and low-pass filters in the audio path to prevent this.

New comment by pesfandiar in "Starting a startup at 25, 35, or 45 is not the same decision"

pesfandiar — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 03:53:37 +0000

The financial gains from starting a startup have a wildly varied distribution. The analysis won't be very practical if we assume any meaningful exit at any age. Not sure how a "weak exit" is considered the most common outcome.

New comment by pesfandiar in "Ask HN: Share your personal website"

pesfandiar — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 04:42:03 +0000

https://www.pesfandiar.com/blog/ I recently started writing blog posts again as I'm messing around with microcontrollers

New comment by pesfandiar in "Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after six decades"

pesfandiar — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 01:37:58 +0000

Poe's Law could very well apply here.

New comment by pesfandiar in "Ask HN: Is it just me or techno-optimism died in the past few years?"

pesfandiar — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 18:57:30 +0000

The signs of techno-feudalism have always been around in fragments (platform/cloud landlords, rent-seeking, gig work, ...), but the promise of hitting gold, the idea of democratized innovation, and the reliance on mass tech labour fueled the techno-optimism. Now, the heavily power-centralizing nature of AI and the shrinking reliance on tech labour have diminished the optimism.

New comment by pesfandiar in "Chips for the Rest of Us"

pesfandiar — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 00:54:37 +0000

That might change if geopolitical tensions fragment the global supply chains.

New comment by pesfandiar in "Ask HN: What were the best books you read in 2025?"

pesfandiar — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 22:39:06 +0000

As a parent, I found "The Anxious Generation" by Jonathan Haidt insightful and eye-opening.

New comment by pesfandiar in "C++ move semantics from scratch (2022)"

pesfandiar — Sat, 08 Nov 2025 18:31:49 +0000

Mathematics doesn't need to remain backward compatible.

New comment by pesfandiar in "Replacement.ai"

pesfandiar — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 15:22:08 +0000

It's wrong to assume the owners will share the productivity gains with everyone, especially when reliance on labour will be at its lowest, and the power structure of a data/AI economy is more concentrated than anything we've seen before. IMO, the assumption that some form of basic income or social welfare system will be funded voluntarily is as delusional as thinking communism would work.

New comment by pesfandiar in "Ask HN: When will the AI bubble burst?"

pesfandiar — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:20:18 +0000

Do you mean the bubble in the financial markets, or disillusionment of capital assuming they get to lay off half the employees for the same output?

New comment by pesfandiar in "Ask HN: Anyone switched from software to physical world engineering?"

pesfandiar — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 16:41:15 +0000

Can I ask what drew you to civil?

New comment by pesfandiar in "Ask HN: Anyone switched from software to physical world engineering?"

pesfandiar — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 16:13:42 +0000

For sure. The engineering jobs typically have a lower pay and you'd have to start out as a junior, so higher income won't be a reason for the switch.

Ask HN: Anyone switched from software to physical world engineering?

pesfandiar — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 15:50:10 +0000

Most of the people I know have gone the other way, from mechanical, civil, or electrical into software, but I’m curious if anyone here has managed the reverse: leaving a software development career for mechanical, civil, mechatronics, robotics, or related fields where you design and build physical things. If you’ve done it, how did you navigate the skills gap, credential requirements, and job market, and what was the experience like compared to staying in tech?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45374313

Points: 6

# Comments: 11

New comment by pesfandiar in "Ask HN: Should we stop worrying that AI will replace developer jobs?"

pesfandiar — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 19:52:07 +0000

The delineation between programming and software engineering is arbitrary at best. Everybody understands the "engineering" in software engineering has nothing to do with other certified engineering practices, so the hair splitting here strikes me as mere gatekeeping of titles. Responsibility and accountability for outcomes have always been a requirement regardless of the title.

New comment by pesfandiar in "Google has eliminated 35% of managers overseeing small teams in past year"

pesfandiar — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 22:23:14 +0000

It's a rather awkward role as you have to carve out a maker's schedule within a manager's schedule [1]. As others have mentioned, it only makes sense as the person ramps up for full management or decides against that career path.

[1] https://paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html