A parent dying in my early 20s. Now I'm in my 40s, but because of that age maybe (not handling death maturely), I became obsessed with the immortality / singularity movements. Now it's become who I am, someone that believes technology is the answer to everything and I find anything else boring / immaterial (stopped caring about sports, recreational maths, fiction, politics etc, that I had a passion for in my teens).
Ask HN: How did you find your passion?
51–60 of 89 posts
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your passion?
#52My two (biggest) passions are code and the guitar. The latter I discovered after I found a html-guitar-course on my friend's laptop when I was 14 and simply went for it (I'm 32 now).
Finding the former was more interesting. I started coding a little bit when I was 12/13-ish, but it was never more than the basics. Some QBasic, HTML and Visual Basic. I wanted to do an apprenticeship as a software-dev, but I guess my math-grades were too bad back then, and I was discouraged to pursue the path any further. So by 18 I did one in an unrelated field (banking) and during that started drawing/painting a lot.
I thought I found my calling/passion/etc. and went to an artistic secondary school and studied Design in Munich (Graduated with a BA).
Around the middle of Uni (26), I had posted a painting [1] to ConceptArt.org for critiques. I had spent several hours on that one. One respected and popular member mentioned, that the painting is nicely rendered and all, but it doesn't make sense; it has no message; it's saying nothing.
That comment and lots of thinking made me realize that I actually wanted to _have painted_, and not really to paint. I had nothing to say, there was no purpose I wanted to fulfill by doing art, other than get likes and compliments.
It took some time (years) until I was completely honest to myself regarding art. (Nowadays I do pixel-art, calligraphy and caricatures occasionally, but seldom)
Thankfully, we had a very good HTML/CSS-Intro-Course in Uni, which enabled me to make a website for my friend's band, which helped me get an internship at an agency where I did design and HTML/CSS. I very quickly discovered what I should have known for 15 years: that coding and building digital stuff is my passion.
I am still working there. Now as Senior Front-End-Developer. Every day I am grateful that I can work in this awesome (and well-paid) field, doing work I like and enjoy.
[1] http://radovcic.blogspot.com/2011/01/guitar-girl-ii.html
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your passion?
#53My two (biggest) passions are code and the guitar. The latter I discovered after I found a html-guitar-course on my friend's laptop when I was 14 and simply went for it (I'm 32 now). Finding the former was more interesting. I started coding a little bit when I was 12/13-ish, but it was never more than the basics. Some QBasic, HTML and Visual Basic. I wanted to do an apprenticeship as a software-dev, but I guess my ma…
> I actually wanted to _have painted_, and not really to paint.
Oh, this resonates so much with me... But WRT purpose of art and it having a message, I don't think that that's a valid approach. I'm into writing fiction and poetry, and (also as a graduate in literature) believe that art is not a medium for messages. It's a form of reflection, exploration, thinking, experimentation. If there ever is a message, it's what the spectator/reader/listener collects.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your passion?
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel you. Food production is a big one with me right now and I've been drastically reducing the animal products in my diet and switching to less processed foods (black beans have become my staple). I find writing can help manage it a bit, in fact I just finished a piece on food production and indoor farming https://www.ryanmercer.com/ryansthoughts/2018/7/8/tackling-t...
What are some good things to do with black beans?
That I haven't figured out yet, I've just been eating them with cornbread or using them for taco-filling as a meat substitute. It's getting old real quick.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your passion?
#55Re: Ask HN: How did you find your passion?
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're not wasting your life sitting in a cubicle. Your mind is always free to create and discover...
Sometimes a low stress job is ideal for the opportunity to create.
But high stress can do some amazing things to your brain.
And immediately when I found this out I use it at my advantage.
For years I worked on my project with results like "a step forward, two steps behind". So I quit my job with only a few thousands $$ and put as much stress on my "system".
I found my "eureka moment" a few days before I ran out of $$.
They call this the survival instinct.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your passion?
#57I read Steven Levy's Hackers. I'd been doing tiny bits and pieces of coding here and there (this is pre High School) in ActionScript, VisualBasic/FoxPro etc, but that was the book that inspired the hell out of me.
I started spending more and more time learning things and here I am. (Software/InfoSec/UX)
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your passion?
#58After years of hearing people I respected on podcasts talking about how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is one of the most dominant fighting sports, a smaller guy can beat a bigger guy, etc... I hear a philosopher I like talk about how it is the most thoughtful and complex practices he does. He says he's like an addict who is carefully maneuvering around injuries to practice it for the rest of his life. I decide I'll give it a s…
Do you still lift? I'm pretty into weightlifting and I'd like to add a martial art and BJJ looks like the best fit for me, but I don't want to lose muscle definition.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your passion?
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sometimes a low stress job is ideal for the opportunity to create.
But high stress can do some amazing things to your brain. And immediately when I found this out I use it at my advantage. For years I worked on my project with results like "a step forward, two steps behind". So I quit my job with only a few thousands $$ and put as much stress on my "system". I found my "eureka moment" a few days before I ran out of $$. They call this the survival instinct.
I think it's great that you succeeded but you shouldn't generalize your experience. I also put everything on the line for a business idea and failed miserably with a lot of debt. There are a lot of factors involved in success. It's not only persistence.
Re: Ask HN: How did you find your passion?
#60[deleted]