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Ask HN: 19, developer, burnt out, advice please

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Re: Ask HN: 19, developer, burnt out, advice please

#41
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like an interesting plan. I'm in the south east U.S, any suggestions on where to apply? What state would be the best? I've got $1k laying around, for a single dude I can make that stretch.

I did Park City, Utah. Best snow on Earth and SLC is 35 mins away and has a burgeoning startup scene (even their own YC style program in BoomStartup). Rent is about in the 500 - 600 range. Less if you live 20 south in Heber.

Park City is in my mind way better than Mammoth and SLC is a short hop away. Utah isn't exactly California but it has Boulder and Denver near by if you want to run to a "heavy" startup scene in the summer.

I was burned out of a job 2 years out of college and decided to drop it all and head to Jackson Wyoming. You are locked off from a lot of civilization but you meet some amazing people, have plenty of time to ski/snowboard and code. Needless to say I have been away for 2 years and miss it dearly.

Good luck, burnouts are fun hurdles

Re: Ask HN: 19, developer, burnt out, advice please

#42
post #40

Go to college. Take science to discover something you're good at. Take humanities to discover something you may love. Take at least one art or music class. Take at least one advanced math class. Join a fraternity. Learn how to play bridge (and play all night sometime). Learn how to play foosball. Get drunk. Learn how to play foosball while drunk. Get laid. Play an intramural team sport. Get a part time job. Eat somet…

Get laid. <--- this.

Re: Ask HN: 19, developer, burnt out, advice please

#43
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like an interesting plan. I'm in the south east U.S, any suggestions on where to apply? What state would be the best? I've got $1k laying around, for a single dude I can make that stretch.

Vermont. But I'm biased. http://burlington.craigslist.org/wri/1989157735.html http://www.smuggs.com/pages/universal/jobs/current.php etc...

Big props for the east coasters. Sunday River (home town mountain) in Maine if you want is amazing as well. Hop a train, you are in Boston in 2-2 1/2 hours.

Re: Ask HN: 19, developer, burnt out, advice please

#44
post #40

Go to college. Take science to discover something you're good at. Take humanities to discover something you may love. Take at least one art or music class. Take at least one advanced math class. Join a fraternity. Learn how to play bridge (and play all night sometime). Learn how to play foosball. Get drunk. Learn how to play foosball while drunk. Get laid. Play an intramural team sport. Get a part time job. Eat somet…

It was very satisfying seeing your post on HN. Too often, it seems, the bigger picture of the college experience is lost on HN.

Heed edw's advice. Go to college. College is as much about the education you get in the classroom as it is about the education you get outside of it.

Re: Ask HN: 19, developer, burnt out, advice please

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man you must really enjoy paying bills and filling out paperwork and other wonderful, fun, life affirming activities (haggling over a car, getting sick, stuck in traffic, selling stuff). 'cause you can't get through life without that.

But "haggling over a car, getting sick, stuck in traffic, selling stuff" are minor annoyances compared to sitting at a desk for at least 6 hours every day, 5 days a week, 261 days a year working on what amounts in your mind to be absolute BS. And, this is coming from someone who works a 9-to-5 (albeit from home, which I believe helps IMMENSELY), and who is working on starting his second business (the first one was to…

It's a pyramid. Lots of folks, particularly young people in my experience, don't really understand that you have to do lots of crap work in order to get to do the fun stuff. It's simply not possible to only do fun things, or if it is, I've never met anybody who was able to do it.

Most of the stuff you have to do to live is crap work nobody has a passion for or wants to do, then there's some measure that's tolerable, then a little bit that you look forward to, then there's a teeny tiny little bit up top that's awesome fun.

If you try and set unrealistic expectations that you only want to work on the teeny little bit that's fun, you'll always end up disappointed because the rest of the crap work supports you being able to do the fun stuff.

Of course, if your job never lets you experience any fun stuff, then what's the point? Move on. But don't expect you'll find a place that's only fun.

Even the craziest 90s dot-com companies, with pool tables, lava lamps, comfy chairs, top-of-the-line machines, liberal dog policy, etc. ended up not really being terribly fun places to work in the end, because they forgot to do the crap work that nobody wants to do.

This phenomenon actually manifests itself in a very real way in the open source world. Nobody actually wants to write device drivers or boot loaders or other such drudgery, so that stuff simply doesn't get worked on. What we end up with then is upteen million shells, window managers, audio subsystems, and other junk yet nobody can get their wireless card to work. (okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but until the open source world found itself corporate sponsors, lots of necessary but boring stuff simply didn't get built).

Re: Ask HN: 19, developer, burnt out, advice please

#49
Start a company, something you feel passionate about.

Another important thing: Have a balanced life. Focusing too much on one thing works great for a while, but it never lasts. You always need time to wrap your head around other problems or, better yet, nothing at all (entertainment). It's like listening to the same song over and over again -- it sounds terrible eventually.

Re: Ask HN: 19, developer, burnt out, advice please

#50
post #40

Go to college. Take science to discover something you're good at. Take humanities to discover something you may love. Take at least one art or music class. Take at least one advanced math class. Join a fraternity. Learn how to play bridge (and play all night sometime). Learn how to play foosball. Get drunk. Learn how to play foosball while drunk. Get laid. Play an intramural team sport. Get a part time job. Eat somet…

All. Of. This. (maybe not the high part)

You're actually in an interesting spot, because a year or two of community college, while not exactly like a 4-year school, will help you determine whether or not you really want to put forth the effort to complete a degree. It will also be cheaper than a 4-year if you decide not to stick with it.

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