News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

evaneykelen

Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2026) on Monday November 02, 2026 @01:38PM (#50341447)
Return | HYBRID | Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) | Full-time

Return (https://return.energy) is hiring a CISO. We build and operate industrial-size Battery Energy Storage Systems. This is critical energy infrastructure, and it needs one owner for security and compliance.

We operate in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Spain. You will make a measurable impact on the energy transition at country level. Return recently raised €300M to support its growth.

We employ more than 150 people. The technical team consists of 24 people. Our platform automates work in energy storage, monitoring, market optimization, sales, project management, procurement, construction, and customer service. It runs on EU cloud and on compute at the battery sites. We run the fleet from two operations centers in the Netherlands.

In our first four years we built the platforms and passed the important audits. Now we need one person to own the whole security picture. Today the work sits with the CTO, the platform team, and the Head of OT. That does not scale.

You report to the CTO and have direct access to the management board.

Apply via https://jobs.polymer.co/return/41723

Re:Online Friends Are Real Friends on Friday July 31, 2026 @12:44PM (#49125529)
My son made online friends when he was 14, playing games together with them on Steam. When he is playing a game with them, I often hear him roar with laughter, but they can also be quite serious and talk about life and school. Last month, we took him to Wrocław to meet them, and it was marvelous. My wife and I got to know the parents of these boys (16-17 yo now), had dinner together, and we separated as friends. My son had a blast that week finally meeting them in person.
I lived in a house built around 1605 in the Netherlands, with some of the windows being hundreds of years old, based on expert opinion. The glass had started to droop downward in certain places, almost like the resin you see in trees. It made me realize that glass is not as rigid as I thought.
Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (June 2026) on Friday June 05, 2026 @02:42AM (#48408853)
Return | REMOTE | BESS Optimization Developer (Python) | Full-time

Return (https://return.energy) is hiring a developer who will build the software that powers our BESS optimization algorithms. Return’s main activity is building and operating industrial-size Battery Energy Storage Systems. Our operations are located in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Spain. You will be making a measurable (country-level) impact on the transition to renewable energy. Return recently raised €300M to support its growth.

While we employ over 130 people, our teams are deliberately small. You will join the Optimizer Quant team, which builds the algorithms that decide when and how our batteries charge and discharge. Our platform automates processes in energy storage, monitoring, market optimization, sales, project management, procurement, and construction.

We expect you to be strong in Python and comfortable with APIs and backend fundamentals, cloud, Docker, and basic DevOps. You should be able to reason about system design and architecture, and to build and operate reliable data pipelines. A working understanding of optimization, time-series and forecasting, and the statistics behind quant work will help you move fast and ask the right questions. You do not need a finance background, but you should enjoy working closely with the quants who design our algorithms.

Our tech stack/toolset is straightforward: Python, PostgreSQL, TigerData, dbt, Dagster, Grafana, Terraform, self-hosted + cloud compute. We tend to keep meetings to a minimum in order to provide at least five hours of uninterrupted coding time per day. We practice code reviews and apply automated and manual testing. Our platforms are often deployed multiple times per day.

The team includes people who have co-founded several companies and/or have experience with remote development teams since 2008. They will personally help you through most of the recruiting process (there is no recruiter involved).

Apply at https://jobs.polymer.co/return/40229

Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (May 2026) on Friday May 01, 2026 @12:36PM (#47976769)
Return | REMOTE | DevOps / Platform engineer | Full-time

Return (https://return.energy) is hiring a DevOps engineer who will build and run the infrastructure behind platforms that accelerate the transition to carbon-free energy. Return's main activity is building and operating industrial-size Battery Energy Storage Systems. Our operations are located in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Spain. You will be making a measurable (country-level) impact on the transition to renewable energy. Return recently raised €300M to support its growth.

While we employ over 120 people, Return's technical team is still small (15 people). Our platform automates processes in energy storage, monitoring, market optimization, sales, project management, procurement, construction, and customer service. Behind it sits a mix of EU cloud and on-site compute at our battery sites, with strict uptime and security requirements.

During the first four years of operation, we laid the foundation for our platforms, and we are ready to scale up. This is why we are looking for an experienced DevOps engineer who can own the full picture: cloud environments, self-hosted infrastructure at our BESS sites, and the operations centers in Amsterdam and Eindhoven from which we run the fleet.

Your primary focus will be to design, automate, and operate the infrastructure that our virtual battery platform runs on. That means EU-only cloud providers for application workloads, hardened on-premise setups at our sites, and the connectivity in between. You will be the person who decides what gets deployed where, and who makes sure it stays up and stays secure.

https://jobs.polymer.co/return/39863

Re:Show HN: Free, in-browser PDF editor on Sunday March 29, 2026 @02:22PM (#47565695)
Is this a viable alternative to the Adobe PDF app on Windows? I'm looking for an alternative for our company to replace Adobe's bloatware.

Show HN: Structural analysis of the D'Agapeyeff cipher (1939)

https://msgtrail.com/posts/unmasking-the-dagapeyeff-cipher-a-multi-faceted-architecture

I am working on the D'Agapeyeff cipher, an unsolved cryptogram from 1939. Two findings that I haven't seen published before:1. All 5 anomalous symbol values in the cipher cluster in the last column of a 14x14 grid. This turns out to be driven by a factor-of-2-and-7 positional pattern in the linear text.2. Simulated annealing with Esperanto quadgrams (23M char Leipzig corpus) on a 2x98 columnar...

( Read More... | no comments | 3 points | on HN )
Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2026) on Thursday March 12, 2026 @10:37AM (#47351165)
Return | REMOTE | Senior Ruby/Rails developer (remote within EU) | Full-time (or 4 days)

Return (https://return.energy) is hiring a software engineer who will work on platforms that accelerate the transition to carbon-free energy. Return’s main activity is building and operating industrial-size Battery Energy Storage Systems. Our operations are located in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Spain. You will be making a measurable (country-level) impact on the transition to renewable energy. Return recently raised €300M to support its growth.

While we employ over 100 people, Return’s technical team is still small (15 people). Our platform automates processes in energy storage, monitoring, market optimization, sales, project management, procurement, construction, and customer service.

During the first three years of operation, we laid the foundation for our platforms, and we are ready to scale up. This is why we are looking for an experienced software engineer.

You will be working on internal tools that support our business departments (origination, development, construction, operation, and general). Our tech stack is straightforward: Postgres, Ruby on Rails 8, Turbo, Stimulus, and Tailwind. We tend to keep meetings to a minimum in order to provide at least five hours of uninterrupted coding time per day. We practice code reviews and apply automated and manual testing. The platform is often deployed multiple times per day.

We’re very much open to remote work as long as you live in the EU. Our hiring process is swift but thorough: a 30-minute call to get acquainted and discuss financials, one or more technical interviews, and a paid visit to Amsterdam to meet the team.

The tech team members have co-founded several companies and have experience with remote development teams since 2008. They will personally help you through most of the recruiting process (there is no recruiter involved).

Apply here: https://jobs.polymer.co/return/39294 (EU residents ONLY)

Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2026) on Monday February 02, 2026 @01:00PM (#46859027)
Return | REMOTE | Software engineer backend (Go/Golang) | Full-time

Return (https://return.energy) is hiring a software engineer to work on platforms that accelerate the transition to carbon-free energy. Return’s main activity is building and operating industrial-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems. Our operations are located in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Spain. You will make a measurable, country-level impact on the transition to renewable energy. Return recently raised €300M to support its growth.

While we employ more than 120 people, Return’s technical team remains small with 13 members. Our platform automates processes in energy storage, monitoring, market optimization, sales, project management, procurement, construction, and customer service.

During the first three years of operation, we laid the foundation for our platforms, and we are ready to scale up. This is why we are looking for an experienced software engineer.

Your primary focus will be to further develop our battery virtualization platform, enabling customers to use slices of battery capacity distributed across our fleet of industrial-scale batteries.

Our tech stack and toolset are straightforward: Go, Python, Ruby, PostgreSQL, TigerData, dbt, Dagster, Grafana, Terraform, and self-hosted plus cloud compute. We keep meetings to a minimum to provide at least five hours of uninterrupted coding time per day. We conduct code reviews and apply both automated and manual testing. Our web apps and platforms are often deployed multiple times per day.

Return has offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Hamburg, Munich, Madrid, and Stuttgart. We are very open to remote work as long as you live in the EU. Our hiring process is swift but thorough: a brief call to get acquainted and discuss finances, followed by one or more technical interviews, and a paid visit to Amsterdam to meet the team.

The tech team members have co-founded several companies and have worked with remote development teams since 2008, and they will personally guide you through most of the recruiting process (there is no recruiter involved).

We aim to hire you in February or March ultimately.

Apply here: https://jobs.polymer.co/return/37860

Re:European Alternatives on Saturday January 24, 2026 @06:48PM (#46748994)
great, i’ll keep an eye on you guys
Re:European Alternatives on Saturday January 24, 2026 @03:06AM (#46741892)
They also do not carry out the audit themselves (for the same reason) but the do all the legwork for you. Huge benefit imo.
Re:European Alternatives on Friday January 23, 2026 @04:43PM (#46738340)
Interesting, do you also provide the actual audit for ISO 27001 as part of your service? That’s why I went with Oneleet, but a EU-based solution would be attractive.
Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2025) on Thursday December 04, 2025 @05:31PM (#46154075)
Indeed, non-negotiable
Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2025) on Wednesday December 03, 2025 @08:56AM (#46134504)
Return | REMOTE | Software engineer backend (Go/Golang) | Full-time

Return (https://return.energy) is hiring a software engineer who will work on platforms that accelerate the transition to carbon-free energy. Return’s main activity is building and operating industrial-size Battery Energy Storage Systems. Our operations are located in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Spain. You will be making a measurable (country-level) impact on the transition to renewable energy. Return recently raised €300M to support its growth.

While we employ over 100 people, Return’s technical team is still small (13 people). Our platform automates processes in energy storage, monitoring, market optimization, sales, project management, procurement, construction, and customer service.

During the first three years of operation, we laid the foundation for our platforms, and we are ready to scale up. This is why we are looking for an experienced software engineer.

Your primary focus will be to further develop our battery virtualization platform that enables our customers to use slices of battery capacity distributed across our fleet of industrial-scale batteries.

Our tech stack/toolset is straightforward: Go, Python, Ruby, PostgreSQL, TigerData, dbt, Dagster, Grafana, Terraform, self-hosted + cloud compute. We tend to keep meetings to a minimum in order to provide at least five hours of uninterrupted coding time per day. We practice code reviews and apply automated and manual testing. Our web apps and platforms are often deployed multiple times per day.

Return has offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Hamburg, Munich, Madrid, and Stuttgart. We are very much open to working remotely as long as you live in the EU. Our hiring process is swift but thorough: a brief call to get acquainted and discuss financials, followed by one or more technical interviews, and a paid visit to Amsterdam to meet the team.

The tech team members have co-founded several companies and/or have experience with remote development teams since 2008. They will personally help you through most of the recruiting process (there is no recruiter involved).

Apply here: https://jobs.polymer.co/return/37860

Re:Alan.app – Add a Border to macOS Active Window on Wednesday November 26, 2025 @05:04PM (#46062886)
I’m surprised this feature isn’t part of the built-in Accessibility Settings. Neat little app!
Re:Pushing the Boundaries of C64 Graphics with Nuflix on Thursday October 02, 2025 @01:08PM (#45452414)
After reading the article I came to the same conclusion. Thank you for the correction.
Re:Pushing the Boundaries of C64 Graphics with Nuflix on Wednesday October 01, 2025 @03:40PM (#45442343)
A cruder version of this was created by the 1001 Crew already in 1986 by the name of ESCOS (Expanded Screen COnstruction Set). There's a video [1] and info page [2].

It was able to import images from KoalaPad, convert, and render it fullscreen using sprites both inside and outside the C64's border.

I will definitely take time to read the full article, it's super interesting at first glance.

[1] https://youtu.be/_lsgp_SBEtA?si=gTGL9X7koaYflTRx

[2] https://csdb.dk/release/?id=744

I remember getting one on loan from Commodore Netherlands around 1992-1993. We were an ISV back then, and CBM provided these machines to allow us to talk to their engineers back in Pennsylvania via email and Usenet. While the emails are not preserved, I did find a post I highly likely made using an A3000UX [1]. We had the machine dial in once per day to sync email and Usenet posts. Phone costs were high, so we had to keep the phone line open as short as possible. It was actually quite handy because picking up the phone in the Netherlands to talk to an engineer in the States was prohibitively expensive (around $9 per minute in todays money, iirc). It was my first use of The Internet.

[1] https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.amiga.multimedia/c/Vyt0...

Re:Doom Didn't Kill the Amiga (2024) on Thursday July 03, 2025 @12:00PM (#44456403)
> I don’t know anyone that used the Amiga for anything other than games.

The Amiga was used worldwide by TV stations for CGI and titling effects, for digital signage eg arrivals/departures at airports, and video walls, besides being a tool for countless digital artists. I know because I wrote digital signage software for the Amiga and sold it to customers in 21 countries.

Re:Reverse engineering of Linear's sync engine on Saturday May 31, 2025 @01:59AM (#44142165)
On macOS, typing two consecutive hyphens automatically gets converted to an em-dash in many applications: no AI involved necessarily.
Re:Visualizing 100k Years of Earth in WebGL on Monday May 19, 2025 @05:09PM (#44034892)
Cool viz! The demo shows the channel forming gradually but iirc there's actually evidence it happened super fast - like a giant lake in Doggerland had a dam that broke and "fast flushed" to carve the channel in one catastrophic event
Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (May 2025) on Saturday May 03, 2025 @01:07AM (#43876983)
Return | https://return.energy | Data platform engineer (EU only)

We are hiring a data platform engineer who will work on platforms that accelerate the transition to carbon-free energy. Return’s main activities are building and operating industrial-size Battery Energy Storage Systems and solar plants. Our operations are located in the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain. You will be making a measurable (country-level) impact on the transition to renewable energy.

The tech team members have co-founded several companies and/or have experience with remote development teams since 2008. They will personally help you through most of the recruiting process (there is no recruiter involved).

If you call yourself an SRE, DevOps engineer, or a backend engineer, you are also more than welcome to apply!

More info at https://jobs.polymer.co/return/32535 or https://jobs.polymer.co/return for all open positions.

Re:OpenAI o3 and o4-mini on Wednesday April 16, 2025 @01:22PM (#43707993)
A suggestion for OpenAI to create more meaningful model names:

{Size}-{Quarter/Year}-{Speed/Accuracy}-{Specialty}

Where:

* Size is XS/S/M/L/XL/XXL to indicate overall capability level

* Quarter/Year like Q2-25

* Speed/Accuracy indicated as Fast/Balanced/Precise

* Optional specialty tag like Code/Vision/Science/etc

Example model names:

* L-Q2-25-Fast-Code (Large model from Q2 2025, optimized for speed, specializes in coding)

* M-Q4-24-Balanced (Medium model from Q4 2024, balanced speed/accuracy)

Re:Apache ECharts on Tuesday April 08, 2025 @04:23PM (#43626086)
We did not evaluate libraries that have a paid plan
Re:Apache ECharts on Tuesday April 08, 2025 @03:09PM (#43625428)
After many trials with other libraries, my team settled on Apache ECharts last year, and we do not regret it: excellent documentation, performant, highly configurable yet easy to use, and supporting all the chart types we need (bars, stacked bars, maps, zoomable/scrollable time series, and scatter plots).
Do you have a reference to the differences? I can't find it on their website nor on GitHub.
Outline is also open source (or at least “source available”): https://github.com/outline/outline
Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2025) on Wednesday March 05, 2025 @03:44AM (#43264359)
No
Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2025) on Tuesday March 04, 2025 @12:46PM (#43257823)
Return | https://return.energy | Data platform engineer (EU only)

We are hiring a data platform engineer who will work on platforms that accelerate the transition to carbon-free energy. Return’s main activities are building and operating industrial-size Battery Energy Storage Systems and solar plants. Our operations are located in the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain.

You will be making a measurable (country-level) impact on the transition to renewable energy.

The tech team members have co-founded several companies and/or have experience with remote development teams since 2008. They will personally help you through most of the recruiting process (there is no recruiter involved).

If you call yourself an SRE, DevOps engineer, or a backend engineer, you are also more than welcome to apply!

More info at https://jobs.polymer.co/return/32535 or https://jobs.polymer.co/return for all open positions.

Re:Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2025) on Monday February 03, 2025 @01:32PM (#42921250)
Return | https://return.energy | Data platform engineer (EU only)

We are hiring a data platform engineer who will work on platforms that accelerate the transition to carbon-free energy. Return’s main activities are building and operating industrial-size Battery Energy Storage Systems and solar plants. Our operations are located in the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain.

You will be making a measurable (country-level) impact on the transition to renewable energy.

The tech team members have co-founded several companies and/or have experience with remote development teams since 2008. They will personally help you through most of the recruiting process (there is no recruiter involved).

If you call yourself an SRE, DevOps engineer, or a backend engineer, you are also more than welcome to apply!

More info at https://jobs.polymer.co/return/32535

Older »