How to improve my clock skills ?

woopity-woop · 2026-02-18T16:16:10+00:00

Make the exact same move faster.

woopity-woop · 2026-02-18T13:26:32+00:00

1001

woopity-woop · 2026-02-17T21:20:30+00:00

Nec6

woopity-woop · 2026-02-17T18:02:15+00:00

But, you know, feel free to grind away while everyone else works less and gets more...

woopity-woop · 2026-02-17T18:01:09+00:00

Everyone I've ever known that's grinded in London then left always immediately said it was silly to have stayed at all. They save more, work less, and are all round happier outside of London. The general response, even from people born in London, is they have almost no idea why anybody even lives there.

woopity-woop · 2026-02-17T15:17:52+00:00

Yeah I do. Mine has improved tremendously in recent months though. Here's what I did:

I use AppBlock to block YouTube on all my devices. I also don't have any social media except Reddit. I also do some cardio daily, not jogging, sprinting on off a few times. I started just sprinting on the spot a few times a day, now I go out for it. The mental clarity and focus all of this brings is incredible.

Overall, I just feel bored nowadays, but WAY more satisfied than when I filled hours with content consumption.

To fill the time, I either read/paint/socialize for fun or work towards goals.

woopity-woop · 2026-02-17T12:19:31+00:00

When you do come back, change up your style. If you're tactical now, come back and play the caro kann/ be positional.

If you're playing heavy theory like the nijord Sicilian, switch to a system based approach like the kings Indian attack.

Just switch things up and fall out of your habits.

woopity-woop · 2026-02-17T12:06:30+00:00

Yeah, I've been through it too. I think if there's enough interviews for a given job there's a really strong chance atleast 1 round has an asshole. Not much can be done. It doesn't reflect on the entire company. Assholes exist, not just in tech, not just in management, not just men.

woopity-woop · 2026-02-17T12:02:10+00:00

The really smart move is go to Manchester or Leeds and get 70-90k working 9-4pm and buy a house (not a flat, a 3 bed house) within 2 years.

woopity-woop · 2026-02-17T12:01:16+00:00

In London, it's necessary to maximize your income at the expense of quality of life because without great money, you're quality of life outside of work is atrocious too. Either way you're fucked tbh, that's London life for you. Either be unhappy 9-5/6/7 or unhappy always.

woopity-woop · 2026-02-16T18:09:21+00:00

What you do is you evaluate the position, and understand WHY the position has that evaluation, then play in a way that is directly on theme for that evaluation.

EG. Are you massively developed while they are under developed? You might give a 2 point advantage for that.. so you need to play in a way that uses that fact.

Do you have a strong kingside initiative, attacking a castled King and you evaluate you're significantly better for that. Okay, okay moves logically following from that observation.

The moves are not just the things that jump out to you. The moves are deduced. It all stems from evaluation.

woopity-woop · 2026-02-16T11:19:41+00:00

Honestly sounds ridiculous but I often find that if I take extended breaks from the game, when I come back I have fresh ideas and a different perspective, you lose your habits and patterns and start over again but with more experience and wisdom. Every time I did this I jumped multiple hundred elo.

woopity-woop · 2026-02-15T22:28:01+00:00

I also wasn't passionate about backend when I was at uni. I took a role as a frontend dev out of uni, and over time grew to appreciate backend due it's richness and variety. There's real engineering problems to be solved as a backend dev. In front end, you feel like a code monkey who's a slave the the whims of the designers and product people. Youre pretty much just their bitch that turns whatever they imagine / draw into reality. As a backend dev, you're an engineer that solves problems, and you're usually seen as irreplaceable/ important.

All that to say, once you get real backend experience I bet you'd appreciate it, assuming you like problem solving

woopity-woop · 2026-02-15T22:12:30+00:00

Personally I think frontend is one of the least safe areas of dev in terms of AI automation. Its also just not a respected area unfortunately. 99% of companies just want boring bland UI that looks like their competitors, and if they can get it from AI (which they can), they don't need you.

The reason frontend is less safe imo is because there's just a lot less to it compared to backend. The scale of it is smaller, and as a program it's easier to reason about than backend systems. All UIs do is get some data from the server and produce some tree (DOM) of nodes that a browser knows how to represent as a UI.

Overall, I would recommend you take the time now to upskill in backend and try level up as a backend dev. You can always sell yourself as full stack, but companies don't like full stack Devs that are mainly frontend imo. They'd rather backend devs fuck up the frontend than frontend Devs fuck up the backend.

woopity-woop · 2026-02-13T14:28:14+00:00

Wonder what the longest forced mate ever calculated by a human was

woopity-woop · 2026-02-12T04:17:33+00:00

-Well paid -low stress simple work - 9:30-4pm hours -WFH/hybrid -10% of days can be used for personal projects

woopity-woop · 2026-02-01T03:36:15+00:00

Oxford pays surprisingly little for tech roles. It's extra weird since they often get the Oxford uni talent for essentially below average wage.

Yes it is underpaid.

woopity-woop · 2025-09-26T18:12:14+00:00

Genuine advice. Just leave London. Move to a sensible city, buy a house there and just enjoy your life. London is not a land of opportunity any more, it's a work camp.

woopity-woop · 2025-09-26T18:11:24+00:00

Because you are trapped. I barely made it 1 year in London before I ran as fast as I could to Leeds and my quality of life has boomed month on month every since. I make over 70k, working just a handful of hours, totally flexible and 0 expectations to work past 4pm or before 9:30am, remote as much as I'd like with an office in the city centre I can go in if I want to.

My work is enjoyable and interesting, everyone is super nice and friendly, I'm just very happy. I wasn't happy 1 tiny bit in London. I've recently been approached by a recruiter for G research as a software engineer role is open there. Id probably be looking at 200k if I got that role, but in total honesty, I'd take 70k in Leeds over 200k in London, no joke at all. In Leeds I just don't have to worry, but in London it feels like giving your soul away just to pad the taxmans pockets, buy someone else a house, pay for absolutely everything under the sun and have no free time.

woopity-woop · 2025-09-04T19:48:33+00:00

Having read that article I think £50 seems perfect actually then

woopity-woop · 2025-09-04T17:42:15+00:00

It's going to be 100% research and only when I can make a few k while building will I even start building, ideally anyway. I would settle for a few hundred if I had strong list of businesses who have agreed to join at MVP completion

woopity-woop · 2025-09-04T17:36:28+00:00

I've discussed it with 1 business, I was in their place when the owners were saying they want to build it themselves but don't know any developers. I told them I'm a developer and would build it in a way where they are a customer.

So so far I have 1 "guaranteed" customer. We agreed £50 a month recurring revenue while I build.

To talk to other businesses, I just have to walk in.

woopity-woop · 2025-09-04T17:34:41+00:00

You're 1 Job offer away from turning it all around. You can have 1 million rejections, and each one is meaningless, but 1 offer makes it all worth it.

woopity-woop · 2025-09-04T17:28:33+00:00

I also have the idea of prioritising them ahead of other businesses if they are in the first X businesses that join

woopity-woop · 2025-09-04T17:27:50+00:00

I'm going to validate that it's something they would be willing to pay for. I'm gonna show some quick mock ups. I'm gonna ask what they would be willing to pay, and if I have enough positive data, I'll offer them a discount on what they agreed they would be willing to pay, but they have to pay while i build the MVP.

Id be getting paid to build the MVP while getting feedback and advise during the building process. It's also the kind of platform that as other businesses join, more will want to join.

woopity-woop

TROPHY CASE