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Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?

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Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?

#41

Post by apolymath »

blowski wrote: post #6
meagher wrote: post #3

be prepared to move where the action/great people are and optimize for learning. the connections/friendships and knowledge you acquire now will compound over the rest of your career. i'd rather work with people i like working with on interesting things, than "dig holes" for slightly more compensation. disclaimer: current 25 year old.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. For the record, I'm now 36. For me, after turning 30 it became much harder to attend meetups, learn new things, build side-projects, work on open-source stuff. I now have so many more commitments, and my brain seems to have slowed down. So my advice is to take advantage of all that free time and mental energy you typically have in your mid-20s. As you said, your bank balance will than…

Strange, I'm 35 and I feel like I can write code faster than ever, I have started many more open source projects in the past year than in my whole career, and they are in late stage development at the moment. Also, I'm about to launch my first mobile app, developed in React Native. At the age of 35, I am more responsible & less distracted than I was at 25.

Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?

#42

Post by ThirdFoundation »

lazyjones wrote: post #35

Worked at university as researcher and on my PhD, unsuccessfully. Should have had kids and spent more time on my side projects instead (one of which got turned into a very successful business 2 years later).

This is such an interesting response to me as it's a little different than a lot of the other ones. Why do you say you "should have had kids"?

It's interesting to me because many I speak to wish they had waited longer. Is it just the value they bring to your life? Or a timing thing?

Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?

#43

Post by sbpayne »

I'm 25 now, so can't really answer the advice question. As for what I'm doing:

* Just ended a 5 year relationship that I felt was ultimately going to hold me back in life * Saying yes to more things that scare the hell out of me -- those things are often the most fun (a way to beat the anxiety out of me _shrug_) * Working as a machine learning tech lead at a large tech company and considering the possibility of going into management soonish * Working on being really intentional with my time and who I spend it with * Working on health in all aspects (physical, mental, emotional, and financial)

Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?

#44

Post by Entalpi »

codeafin wrote: post #25
meowface wrote: post #4

Currently 25. Not really sure where I'm going or even what I'm doing (remote dev job, currently), but I think one thing I'm starting to learn and appreciate is that personal meaning and fulfillment matters a lot more than money or even "career". (Though I also appreciate that a majority of people can't flexibly make such a choice and need to provide for their families.) Also that I shouldn't hesitate leaving jobs I'm…

What do you do for fulfillment? I'm 25 too and the only fulfillment I experience is from thinking about/eating good food which is just sad. I've forced myself into reading a lot of books and doing a lot of hobby programming but it feels empty.

This read to me as if you were putting my thoughts and life into text.

I am currently 24 and an exchange student in München, Germany. I will soon leave Bavaria and return to Sweden in order to finish up my masters. Been working on the side in a field I am interested in but I feel like I am so incompetent that I can hardly contribute anything useful. It is demoralizing.

Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?

#45

Post by sloaken »

At 25, (just before turning 26), I had been working for a startup for 5 years. I lived in an apartment with my brother who was in school. Kind of had a girlfriend. Good savings (10 - 20K). Car that had aged faster than it should have, it was like 8 years old, but was more like 15 in issues.

I was burnt out at work. Too many long hours. I would go to work and I could not motivate myself to do anything. Went to my boss and asked for 2 money leave without pay. His reply was I was too valuable to have gone that long. Not surprisingly my salary did not show that. So I quit. I was not really getting anything done and I hated going into work.

Packed up stuff on my bicycle and rode from Florida to Maine in 6 weeks - should have been faster but I was not in a rush. During which I turned 26 so I guess I need to stop telling my tale until you ask for what I was doing at 26...

Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?

#46

Post by caymanjim »

Not that 25yo me would listen to any advice (I'm 45 now and I still won't listen to any advice), but my advice would be: forget about your career goals. Move to an island and be a bartender/scuba instructor/tour guide/beach bum. Get tan, get laid, and enjoy your 20s. Or 30s. Or the rest of your life.

Or you can burn yourself out in thankless failed startups, soul-sucking corporate offices, and an endless stream of high-paying jobs and then some day realize you're old and never had any fun.

Or you can be like me and alternate between those two extremes every couple years.

Or figure out some way to do both. And then let me know.

Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?

#48

Post by 0x4f3759df »

Advice to my younger self: Get really fit. Like do upside-down-handstand-push-ups fit. Fitness is an easy way to get status that requires essentially no luck. Women are attracted to high status individuals. It shows you are a hard worker, a trait that people respect. It gives you energy and health, and is much more fun than being on a computer.

Family advice: life after 40 for most people is about family and the children (that they presumably had in their 20s and 30s)

Biz advice: People will happily pay you much much less than your worth if you put up with it.

Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?

#49

Post by k1ns »

codeafin wrote: post #25
meowface wrote: post #4

Currently 25. Not really sure where I'm going or even what I'm doing (remote dev job, currently), but I think one thing I'm starting to learn and appreciate is that personal meaning and fulfillment matters a lot more than money or even "career". (Though I also appreciate that a majority of people can't flexibly make such a choice and need to provide for their families.) Also that I shouldn't hesitate leaving jobs I'm…

What do you do for fulfillment? I'm 25 too and the only fulfillment I experience is from thinking about/eating good food which is just sad. I've forced myself into reading a lot of books and doing a lot of hobby programming but it feels empty.

Personally, my children provide more fulfillment for me than anything else ever has. It's mind boggling how the tiniest gesture from one of my kids can send me over the moon.

I relate to your comment; I've read a lot of books, put thousands of hours into hacking on side projects, played an obscene amount of video games. But nothing, nothing, has come close to filling my heart as much as spending time with my children. As far as I'm concerned, my career is a means to an end. The goal is to achieve financial security so that I can spend as much time as possible with my kids.

I'm not saying to go have kids willy-nilly, but this is my perspective.

Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?

#50

Post by tajen »

At 25 I was employed as a programmer in a French service company, and they sent me abroad for this specific project.

Here’s the advice for my 25-self:

- Change jobs as soon as you can be paid more (I’d probably have gained 50%-100% more over time, with BOTH pay and skills, and be much less frustrated with working hard for little recognition),

- Don’t hesitate to do hard things. Like international jobs. Travelling jobs. Etc. You’ve got plenty of time for family after 32, when you’re a male in the current world. Earning skills is the main factor of your future life.

- I wish I had known more about the dating sociology. So much lost time and frustration trying to search for love based on friends advice, girls advicr or common knowledge, they’re all incredibly dead ends: I was sold the dream that my wife would be competent in business and equal to me, but those girls are extremely rare and when they exist, they pursue higher-class people. As a middleclass good-looking man (well, with a million dollars now at 35, ironically), I should have settled with any correct-looking girl that is psychologically stable. That would have saved me years of searching for an equality girl with interesting conversation. After all, the #1 criteria is that she has the magic belly that creates little humans.

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