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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?

#91

Post by dorchadas »

syndacks wrote: post #78

I was teaching HS math at a NYC public high school. A great job in many ways, miss it except for the low pay. Did that for 5 years before quitting to travel/cycle. Was sitting at my parents' place (unemployed) after the traveling and read a NYT article about baristas becoming developers after a boot camp, so figured I could teach myself... Fast forward to now, I'm 32, a developer...it's ok, I'm proud of the career ch…

So, I'm in a similar position. I turn 26 tomorrow, being hte only difference I'm a HS math teacher and, well, I enjoy it, but I -hate- the area I'm in. I do enjoy the job and there's none of the usual BS that goes along with teaching, thankfully. And it's in a high-need field in a low-income district, so my loans will be repaid after 10 years.

But, I'm not really enjoying it. I would love to move to Ireland, and have taught myself some developing skills to do that. I've applied to developing jobs here in America, but because I live in the rural South, I haven't been able to network much. I'm seriously considering going back to school in Ireland and trying to use that to network but more loans scare me.

Overall, I'm just not in a good place, and feel like I need to make a change. What advice would you have to give to someone who's in a roughly similar situation to what you were 7 years ago?

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

#92

Post by dorchadas »

themodelplumber wrote: post #23

At age 25 I was trying to figure out how to really get into the game. I had a promising job offer in the mountain west and decided instead to move to Portland and wait for the awesome tech job offers to flow into my inbox. I ended up moving to PDX and burning through my savings, finally taking a job at a company that turned out to be deeply unethical. They spied on personal phone calls, asked employees if they were o…

Any advice on how to find a good coach?

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

#93

Post by fibers »

AJC-Official wrote: post #52

25 and a half now: Working on my CPA certification - 1 more test to go! Proposing to my girlfriend of 7 years next month. Quit my public accounting job in March to do a bootcamp - finish up in a month or so. Complacency is what I felt in my job. I just got promoted in December and was on a pretty easy path to senior, when I realized that I was unfulfilled professionally and that was leading me to waste my personal ti…

I'm 25 too and thank myself every day I didn't go into public

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

#94

Post by dorchadas »

Currently 25 myself, though I turn 26 tomorrow (well, 2 and half hours, now). I'm in a job (secondary mathematics teacher) I don't hate, but don't love. Really, I wish I could get over my fears. Fear of failure, but mostly fear of my student loans. I want to move and work abroad, specifically Ireland, and I feel that going back to school would be the best way to get a job (mostly because it would give me time and an easy path to network) since all my technical skills are self-taught (I've built a few websites using Python, Django/Flask, and Javascript/varying frameworks as well as some unpublished/unpolished Android apps).

As I said, I'm afraid of my loans more than anything, and the fact that I'll have to take out more loans to do this, unless I wait even longer... at which point I then worry about age issues with hiring, etc.

Really, I just needed to vent; definitely not in the best place of my life currently, and maybe someone here will have some good encouragement/advice or be able to at least sympathize.

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

#95

Post by mettamage »

Doing 2 master degrees and 1 bachelor degree at the same time. My advice: drop the bachelor degree. Keep the masters and don’t wait for the perfect thesis to come along. It takes too much time. High grades don’t matter and you didn’t want high grades in the first place. You just wanted useful knowledge. That’s a good thing.

Try to get as much work experience as possible.

Keep the relationship you have with your GF. Yes you’re going to break up in 2 years but it will teach you a lot, you need it.

Be more convinced of your own thoughts, you listen to other people too much and forget to formulate your own opinion. Other people their thoughts are interesting but so are yours. You know more than you think.

I am 29 now.

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

#96

Post by themodelplumber »

dorchadas wrote: post #92
themodelplumber wrote: post #23

At age 25 I was trying to figure out how to really get into the game. I had a promising job offer in the mountain west and decided instead to move to Portland and wait for the awesome tech job offers to flow into my inbox. I ended up moving to PDX and burning through my savings, finally taking a job at a company that turned out to be deeply unethical. They spied on personal phone calls, asked employees if they were o…

Any advice on how to find a good coach?

Most coaches are pretty good. I feel fortunate to have met enough of them to be able to say that. They all have different models and approaches. I derive my own coaching models from personality psychology. Another coach I know uses the Co-active model. Yet another uses her own model based on athletic performance.

I advise people to spend the time and actually experience the coaches they find--try it out--then reflect on how the experience went. This gets the subjective and objective concerns in the same space so you can see how things shake out. The objective concern (concern about the coach and their qualities) needs to be balanced with the subjective concern (how can I make sure I'm capable of being coached, and not undercutting myself, not shooting the messenger as a defense mechanism, etc.).

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

#99

Post by poulsbohemian »

Had a degree, a spouse, a house, had done some traveling, nominally I was moving along in my career but I was impatient, restless, and unhappy with it. Was trying to figure out how to get a side hustle started.

At 40, my advice to a 25 year old would be: -- Considered carefully the life-changing nature of marriage and children. -- Invest well and live frugally. Even if money comes to you, continue to live within as small a budget as possible. -- Eat well and exercise. This should not be underestimated. -- Seek career opportunities not just based on income, but also on the connections and experiences it can give you. -- Consider going abroad. There's a big world out there, not only for travel but also for career opportunities. -- There is no time like the present to undertake your life's work.

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