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Ask HN: How did you figure out what you wanted to do with your life?

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Re: Ask HN: How did you figure out what you wanted to do with your life?

#31

Post by codazoda »

WheelsAtLarge wrote: post #8

I turned a hobby into a career. I wouldn't recommend it. You lose the love for the hobby and the career doesn't match the hobby since you're mostly doing what other people need to do, not what you want.

I’ll just throw in a counter example. I turn 50 in two weeks. I programmed for the love of it and eventually turned it into my career. Maybe it hampered my love, a little, maybe. But the job and the passion are still different. I still write software on nights and weekends. But, maybe I’m a weirdo.

Hopefully this career will still be here until I retire. If not, I’ll try to adapt, maybe to something more hands on.

Re: Ask HN: How did you figure out what you wanted to do with your life?

#32

Post by codazoda »

nicbou wrote: post #30

tl;dr: Take risks, try new stuff often, change directions if you want to I wanted to study business, but a software dev booth at my college convinced me otherwise. I loved computers and already paid rent by making websites. A few years later, I'm studying software engineering in university. Some senior convinces me to go abroad while it's easy. I find an internship in Germany. A few months later, it's time to go back…

Love the story. I feel like I also rolled the dice more than others. Somehow, I haven’t ever hit. Well, that’s not true, my career has been good to me. Maybe that’s why, but my crazy ideas never seem to work or I give up too early.

I wrote about a bunch of my hits and failures a few years back.

https://joeldare.com/how-to-lose-money-with-25-years-of-fail...

Re: Ask HN: How did you figure out what you wanted to do with your life?

#34

Post by vanillasand »

The thing you do anyway.

Maybe it’s play games, or take photos of your dog, or play harmonica, or surf, or post on forums.

You probably do so many things on a regular basis all of them are valid, but some connect to finances more seamlessly than others.

Try to see how you can get paid for the thing you do anyway. Often it’s in that exploration that a lightbulb moment happens - either you want to start a business, or you realize you want nothing to do with business, but some decision can be made.

Anything that seems like “I could probably do that but idk” is a very good sign. Just don’t talk yourself out of it, and try it.

Re: Ask HN: How did you figure out what you wanted to do with your life?

#36

Post by prodigycorp »

There are some for whom this question is incredibly important and then there are those like me: I still have no idea what the answer to this is. If you're anything like me, then it's important that you find people you gravitate to, and then take a ride along with them.

Sounds dumb and simplistic, but overthinking this question will ensure that you'll never actually find that thing you wanted to do.

Re: Ask HN: How did you figure out what you wanted to do with your life?

#37

Post by nicbou »

codazoda wrote: post #32
nicbou wrote: post #30

tl;dr: Take risks, try new stuff often, change directions if you want to I wanted to study business, but a software dev booth at my college convinced me otherwise. I loved computers and already paid rent by making websites. A few years later, I'm studying software engineering in university. Some senior convinces me to go abroad while it's easy. I find an internship in Germany. A few months later, it's time to go back…

Love the story. I feel like I also rolled the dice more than others. Somehow, I haven’t ever hit. Well, that’s not true, my career has been good to me. Maybe that’s why, but my crazy ideas never seem to work or I give up too early. I wrote about a bunch of my hits and failures a few years back. https://joeldare.com/how-to-lose-money-with-25-years-of-fail...

Original career aside, I only struck gold once, and I didn't realise what I was sitting on for a while. I'm almost a decade in, and I'm still learning.

p.s. what a fitting name!

Re: Ask HN: How did you figure out what you wanted to do with your life?

#40

Post by guzfip »

wanderingpixel wrote: post #7

I'm 45 and I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I have had 2 distinct successful "career paths" up till now, and am at a point in life where I can do pretty much anything but not everything. Essentially, you pick a path that in this moment a) you feel like doing, b) you have access to, and c) aligns sufficiently with your values, expectations and life needs. You can be very strategic about it, or you…

Problem is criteria b) excludes most every career that wouldn’t violate a) and c)
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