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Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
61–70 of 199 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just to emphasize, parents point is to “live well” Not all teens enjoy what is described in the first paragraph. So if it is not your cup of tea, then don’t be afraid to be true to yourself. If living well for you means spending time in your basement in front of your monitor, reading books, barely interacting with other people, then just do that. Don’t try to fit yourself in something that you are not. Regarding codi…
So if it is not your cup of tea, then don’t be afraid to be true to yourself. If living well for you means spending time in your basement in front of your monitor, reading books, barely interacting with other people, then just do that. Even then, for 90% of the people there far more obligations >30 (partner, kids, mortgage, work, etc.). When you are young you are much more agile, enjoying that is good advice, or you…
> you might be 40 and missing the life that you never had
I've never understood this. How can you miss something you never had? Is it that people regret not doing something? Everybody has regrets, but I'd regret losing everything I have now more than I'll ever regret not having done something in my childhood.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#63If I had to give advice to my 17yo self it would be this: - ditch "gaming" as a hobby. Its a lot of fun but you'll regret most of the time you spent later on. Go create more stuff instead... - think about the "business side" of software too, not just the technical part. There are more ways to make money than you know / can think of! (I was surrounded with loads of crappy share- and freeware tools where people were st…
As an aside, VB contractors make a _WEDGE_ in the UK. While I wouldn't suggest it being your sole language, if you want money, it may be something to keep relevant. That being said, I haven't used it since 2004.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hate the notion that once you become an adult it's too late to enjoy yourself. Everything you suggested he do can also be done as an adult. Quite frankly, some people just aren't interested in doing stupid typical teenage stuff. I could code at 17, but I focused on school until I graduated. Then I got a job doing freelance game development when I was 18. Paid better than stacking shelves at the local grocery store…
The time and energy cost of being social rises massively as you grow older. It's hard to make close friends in your 30s, very hard in your 40s and older. Those early friendships and social contacts are extremely useful in later adulthood. Be it support, advice, whatever. They're also a great gateway into meeting more people in an unguarded setting, like a dinner party. It's easy to make friends when you have friends,…
Is it really harder to make close friends or harder to make a lot of friends?
Kids will force you into having less friends but the friends or family that remain will be closer plus kids will force you into social situations. In your 20s you can give trust more freely because you have less to lose but when you involve kids the trust and closeness requirements increase so the circle decreases.
I think the desire for a lot of friends goes down as well the older you get as well.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
package { import flash.display. ; import flash.events. ; import flash.system. ; import flash.text. ; import playerio. ; dynamic public class srhack extends MovieClip { public var Coins:TextField; public var Type:TextField; public var ban_btn:SimpleButton; public var dbdetails:TextField; public var fbname:TextField; public var fbuid:TextField; public var get_btn:SimpleButton; public var out_txt:TextField; public var t…
You _do_ realize Flash is dead, right?
Yes, but sifdine is dead too, so there you go.
So to summarize the advice from the dead to jmeyer2k:
1) Don't use Flash.
2) Whatever tools or languages or libraries you choose to use and put a lot of time into learning and becoming proficient at, don't sweat it when the die, just move on to better tools. It will happen again and again. It gets easier and easier each time.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#661) Get into fitness and nutrition, to maintain a high energy level as your metabolism slows down. Also don't smoke. 2) Learn another language 3) The normal pipeline is HS-> College -> Entry level corporate job -> change jobs -> slightly better corporate job -> change job -> ... -> senior programmer in a corporate setting.... I'm at the end of this pipeline, and it pays the bills but its not that great... How to get o…
I want to stick up for the "normal pipeline" of going to university for Computer Science. It should really be the default choice of anyone who wants to get into programming. Granted, I know plenty of other people who are programmers now who didn't do CS, but they almost all still did university, and they regret not having done CS in hindsight because it would have been more applicable to what they ended up doing. Spending four years doing CS really does help you a lot when it comes to solving tricky problems (and on Big 4-style coding interviews). It's hard to be disciplined enough to do all of that book-learning on your own.
Also, at 17, you're likely to think you are way better at programming than you actually are. A high quality CS program will quickly disabuse you of that notion, thus allowing you to get better.
And like many others have said, of course, still have fun along the way.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#67> I'm 17 and I can code at a relatively high level. I thought that when I was 17, and I was proven laughably wrong when I started university and learnt how to program properly. Then once again I thought I was pretty good at programming and went in to industry - and once again I found my skills were nowhere near as good as I thought them to be. My advice is to put aside notions that you are good and always be looking…
Finally, someone with actual good advice.
_This_ guy gets it.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#68Just have fun.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#69With pay comes expectations and that can be ugly. You have the rest of your life to get paid.
The first question is: how do you know you can code at a 'relatively high level'? Don't be surprised to learn that you still have a lot to learn (actually, there is always more to learn, get used to it) For example, from the small amount of code on the github, I see no documentation or tests. Also javascript and python are fine, but they are only a beginning. The best education you can get, before you go to college(!), would be to join an open source project and try to contribute. The feedback you get may be brutal, so choose a project you can care about and that is well structured for newbies (look for projects that include specific provisions for new contributors like a 'graded' bug list that have a category for easy fixes waiting to be done). Start looking at the code so you develop the skill of reading and understanding OTHER peoples' code and then fix a few bugs and submit them for review. You will learn more in a month this way than you will in a year on your own.
Coding is very different as soon as you start working with other people, whether they are other developers, customers, bosses, etc. The best way to learn those other skills is before there is money involved.
If you really want to take on projects, look for volunteer organizations in your area that might want help with their websites. They often have at least small budgets and might be able to pay you something for that help. Even your high school IT department might need some help. Ask! Does your high school get any sponsorship from area companies for things like tech or robots? Contact those companies and see if they have any needs.
Good luck!
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#70Fall in love with a person. Learn how to sell. Travel and sxpand your mind. When you get to college, enjoy yourself. You’ll be working the rest of your life. When the time comes to bring people together and start a company, you’ll know.