# apply to jobs and internships despite not meeting requirements. it's just a numbers game in the end. eventually you get in somewhere.
# improve social game - go to parties, go dating, travel, get drunk.
# build products, ship and post on producthunt. there are many teens getting exposure there.
# find likeminded people in your own age to share thoughts. join a young maker collective.
Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
101–110 of 199 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#102I’ve got my first programmer job a couple weeks after I turned 18.
IMO before you have years of work experience, on a job, you’ll learn useful stuff much faster that you’re able to do by yourself or by participating in open source projects.
One reason is motivation: salary, boss, peer pressure.
Another reason, as an inexperienced programmer, on your first jobs you’ll be surrounded by people with much more experienced then you have. For me, the equation has changed after a ~decade in the profession. Before I got that experience however, I was lucky to work with very nice people much smarter than I was. I have learned a lot from them, probably more than a half of what I know to do now.
Select these first employers carefully. Don’t focus on salary. You don’t want to work in a large company where the software is not the core business. Prefer small to medium companies (not necessarily startups, 10-50 people are still OK). Prefer companies where the software (or hardware running that) is their core business. Prefer companies who do some R&D, not just coding. Prefer companies who do what you’d like to do.
Don’t afraid to switch jobs. Especially switch into different fields/platforms/languages.
Good luck.
P.S. I’m much older then you are, and I’m well outside US. Because of that, take my advice with a grain of salt: I’m not sure how well that applies to your environment. But for me I think it worked more or less OK.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#103Close your laptop.
Go outside.
Listen to live music.
Make friends in your community.
Travel abroad.
Fall in love.
You're already on a great trajectory - so at worst you'll earn a 6 figure salary and at best you will be the next zillionaire startup founder. Don't waste your youth on HackerNews and Github.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Make mistakes, they are cheaper to correct at your age." No, no they're not. The "be stupid early" plan is a major fail IRL. The idea that society will forgive you for it is proven wrong every day. When employers look for anything to disqualify you, that old FB post with you being stupid is made to order, or the arrest for DUI, or any of those early mistakes, are very handy. It's actually much harder to overcome ear…
You misinterpret neither everything I said. The "make mistakes" isn't, "do drugs and get STDs and fuck up your life!", it is "try things that you might not like" or "date two women at once" or any variety of "mistakes" that people are afraid of doing at that age. Also, life doesn't end at 30, quite the opposite. I love being my age (well over 30!) and am very physically active. But traveling is a hell of a lot easier…
I don't think I misinterpreted, "do things you can't do when you are in your 30s". That's a categorical statement and wrong. Yes, a 30something (40, 50, ...) is not a 20something, some plus, some minus, but nothing zero simply due to age.
I also don't think "make mistakes" and "try new things" are equivalent. Especially in the context of the lovely set of 'mistakes' advised in quite a few other posts in the thread.
Based on your followup, what you meant, is, unfortunately, not what you actually wrote. Nuance is important.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#105Context: I was 17 about 5 years ago, and was also coding at the time (but definitely not at a "relatively high level"!).
At 17 I was also quite focused on making money doing stuff like freelancing, and I did do some, but unless you/your family have a desperate need for more money right now (I hope you don't, and I'm thankful that I didn't) then I think it's a bit pointless - freelancing/consulting is a great gig if done through the "right" channels, but doing it via Upwork (back in my day the big one was GetACoder.com) isn't particularly fulfilling imo - it's a race to the bottom in terms of money and quality, and you're competing with people outside the UK/US for whom the pay on these sites is actually alright. Making money at 17 is quite nice though and I'd probably recommend doing it for a short amount of time, just to realise that being rich for your age isn't actually that exciting.
If I were you I wouldn't worry too much about doing an internship right now, unless there's a company that you really really like. Just focus on improving your skills, and do cool stuff that you find interesting, whether that's working on open source, random website/app ideas, learning theoretical CS/maths, whatever.
Being good at coding is a great skill to have, so if you enjoy it then it's great to regularly do it and get better, but don't forget about the rest of your life - don't get too bogged down in having to do this stuff 24/7, despite all the news stories you probably hear about 17 year olds making $$$ from their [app/website/startup]. Make sure you're happy and healthy day-to-day :)
On the coding side of things, I regret not learning theory and how to do things "properly" sooner - I spent the first few years hacking together web apps semi-blindly without bothering to brush up on technical knowledge, which I think slowed me down in the long-term, so find a good balance between "learning by doing" and "learning by reading" imo.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#106I was 17 once. I could code once. What's the best way to spend your time? Basking in the sun. Finding a scam to score some schnapps or beer or weed. Telling somebody you love them, and just going for it. Recklessly driving a car at a high rate of speed down an old country road. Learn how to play a bass guitar. Spend your waning hours getting your hands dirty while there's still time, and before the world judges you t…
I knew with 100% certainty that this comment would be in here. I didn't know which of you down-home relate-able everymen was going to write it this time, but I knew it would be here.
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Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#107Do whatever you want. Figure out ahead of time if you want to be into coding for $$$ or because you actually love to code. HN or not, there is absolutely nothing wrong with not loving to code.
If you end up realizing that coding is in somehow related to $$$, and that is your goal - then stop now, and proceed directly to law or finance.
edit: And oh god - do the MOST IMPORTANT THING you can as a young person: exercise! Becoming(and remaining) fit at a young age is so much easier than putting it off - and it will absolutely give you future benefits beyond your comprehension at this point in time.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#108I was 17 once. I could code once. What's the best way to spend your time? Basking in the sun. Finding a scam to score some schnapps or beer or weed. Telling somebody you love them, and just going for it. Recklessly driving a car at a high rate of speed down an old country road. Learn how to play a bass guitar. Spend your waning hours getting your hands dirty while there's still time, and before the world judges you t…
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…
Sounds like you dont have any kids. If you don't intend to have kids then your life can continue as is but once you have kids you have a new perspective on time, life and productivity.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#109You should spend your time coding. That’s what I did. People told me not to, but I did it anyway. I got shit grades at school but I got a lot better at coding. In the end, grades didn’t mean shit but the fact I had a lot more practice at coding than everyone else (while they did homework I did coding) had a lot to do with what job I was able to get.
Don’t worry about getting a coding job yet. You should build your own personal projects as much as possible while you are still unhireable for reasons you don’t control (age). Doing your own projects will help you learn how to structure large things. See how big of a program you can get to before the code starts to feel like shit. The more you practice, the better you’ll get at structuring code in a way that allows you to grow it a lot. This is a skill you can practice, and you should do that now to maximize your competitive advantage once you can work.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?
#110I was 17 once. I could code once. What's the best way to spend your time? Basking in the sun. Finding a scam to score some schnapps or beer or weed. Telling somebody you love them, and just going for it. Recklessly driving a car at a high rate of speed down an old country road. Learn how to play a bass guitar. Spend your waning hours getting your hands dirty while there's still time, and before the world judges you t…
I was 17 once, was a good programmer, and learned how to play a bass guitar. ;-)
I have a slightly different twist on the same advice. Living well doesn't necessarily need to be the "cool" stuff such as described above. Nerdy things can be cool too. Learn math, or physics, or electronics. Studying those things was "living well" for me. It could expand your options for what you can do with programming, or for when you get bored with it.