What I would say to my 25 year old self. “Aren’t you lucky the girl you picked was kind and loving as well as good looking”.
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?
#172Well, this falls nicely into the "bucket of common experiences lots of people can talk about". :P Turning 25 in two-ish weeks. Currently just past my 3rd year at a FAANG after failing to figure out a "path more interesting than just a software job"* during college. Life isn't rainbows and unicorns, but I'm building a nest egg while figuring-out-what-I-acutually-want-to-be-when-I-grow-up, learning, and playing with pi…
I'd love to hear more about your experience as a mathlete, as someone whose bad at math trying to be decent at it, I'd love to know how you got good at math. What sorts of things did you do (aside from just spending a lot of time doing math).
To be honest, I've always been "good" at math (cue memories of learning how to cont to 100 as a 3 year old, being forced to memorize multiplication tables at age 6) so I never "got good".
That said, years of math competition did teach me how to study. You don't just go through problems blindly - you have to first diagnose what is at the cusp of your knowledge and then do those problems over and over again, reading the answers if need be until you understand that "class" of problems.
Sadly, the"over and over again" bit is the part that I seem to have issues with these days...
Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?
#173Well, this falls nicely into the "bucket of common experiences lots of people can talk about". :P Turning 25 in two-ish weeks. Currently just past my 3rd year at a FAANG after failing to figure out a "path more interesting than just a software job"* during college. Life isn't rainbows and unicorns, but I'm building a nest egg while figuring-out-what-I-acutually-want-to-be-when-I-grow-up, learning, and playing with pi…
I never thought about the negatives of open office areas.
Even with all the negative articles about them on HN? ;)
On a more serious note, I don't have any opposition to the open office layout in themselves... But they do have a feeling of "cows in a cowpin" that rivals the fields of cubicles of old.
Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
+100 to fitness. Especially since its much easier to get fit when you're younger. Maintaining the same level of fitness is much much easier than having to achieve it later in life.
Do you think a 29 y'old skinnyfat is too late to get properly fit?
I'm not a physical therapist so I can only offer kind words... hopes and dreams heh.
All I'll say is that its worth a shot. Its really nice to be fit, both physiologically, because it feels good and because you become more attractive.
Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?
#175Worked 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?
What followed was a 15 years long entrepreneurship „crunch“ that wrecked my private life and at 40+ it‘s a little late to start planning for a family (or 2). People with comfortable 9-5 jobs really have it much easier, despite the worries w.r.t. job security.
Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
What followed was a 15 years long entrepreneurship „crunch“ that wrecked my private life and at 40+ it‘s a little late to start planning for a family (or 2). People with comfortable 9-5 jobs really have it much easier, despite the worries w.r.t. job security.
Ah, makes sense, thanks.
I obviously don't know your situation, but if it offers anything my dad was 44 when he had me and 47 when he had my brother. He's been a great dad. Sure, I wish he was younger so that I'd have more time with him, but I also think we kept him younger (both mentally and more physically active).
Re: Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change?
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would you tell me a bit more about how exactly you alternate?
Try something, get exhausted, take some time off, then get involved in something else. Rinse and repeat until dead.
I once heard a saying I liked: life is about making and breaking patterns. You do some stuff, get bored, change it up, keep it interesting, then when you had enough, try something else.