Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?

Coding alone is a bit worthless unless you understand some spefic domain really well. So, either find some domain that you find intrinsically interesting and learn _everything_ about it or get a university degree.

If you lock down on some field make it an interesting one or else you might find yourself hating your job one day. University degree will give you way more options but does not guarantee any outcomes.

A good way to make money by programming is to first understand some other domain really well and then implement solutions that help there.

"Coding" means you are skilled in instructing a computer. Now, what should those instructions be? Why? Most domains worth anything are complex - intrinsically or accidentally. Hence understanding a domain is critical to become a valuable contributor.

Write a novel.

Do what feels right for you, what you feel is interesting to you, what you see your body and mind enjoy doing and want to do more of.

Feed your brain by reading, doing and teaching, be it coding or (preferably also) something else. Strengthen your will a bit (not too much!) by taking some obligations and responsibilities, be it financial, social or personal. Help your body work better and feel good through exercise, rest and diet. Nurture your heart with family, friends, opponents, romance, the successes and the inevitable setbacks. Understand honesty by standing up for what you believe and, because of that, losing things and people you had earned. Respect yourself and your time alone. Value others and the time you take from and give to them.

Don't let survivors talk your into taking risks you don't truly and wholeheartedly want to take yourself. Don't let anyone tell you what a life well lived means.

You definitely don't need a career to be happy, let alone one that pays well. This is usually the society we're in that tells us that this is the only truth. Same with posts about {m, b}illionaires being portrayed as "successful at life", when in fact being a CEO probably ranks high on the list called things-that-aren't-guaranteed-to-make-you-happy-but-people-think-they-do. Society draws a circle and says "these people are winners" and anyone outside of it are losers and should strive to be back inside the circle.

I don't have much work experience, but I am employed at a global top5 tech company and the number of people around me who are miserable even with all the benefits the company provides that outsiders consider sources of happiness (above median salary, indoors swimming pool/gym, free food, onsite medical personnel [gp, dentist, therapist], flex hours) tells me that it's not entirely up to the environment.

The happiest people are the ones that seem to do whatever they feel like doing. I've also noticed that almost all of them, fit or not, go to the gym and do some sort of physical exercise.

I'm in my early 30s, and two very important things I've realised are: - Life is happening right now. Not in a year or 10. Plan ahead if you want to, but don't sacrifice so much that you're not enjoying yourself. - Nothing is black and white. Life is not a piece of code; things are not 'either 1 or 0'. Everything exists on a spectrum; everything is a shade of grey. Even the things you think are absolute truths can be inferred to be different in other circumstances.

Pink Floyd's lyrics have always resonated with me, and I guess this is one of my favourite bits:

  For long you'll live and high you'll fly
  And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
  And all you touch and all you see
  Is all your life will ever be

which is followed by a take on modern life and how it requires us to work at all times:

  Run, rabbit, run
  Dig that hole, forget the sun,
  And when at last the work is done
  Don't sit down, it's time to dig another one

Do whatever you feel like doing, but know that with every decision you're choosing a path which is different than the one you could have taken before the decision. Sure, you can follow multiple paths and achieve more goals, but there will always be something else you could've done...

...and that's OK.