Ask YC: In the hack of life, is it the people or the code?

If you're only 20-something and already thinking about how to reach your highest potential in life etc, I'd say you're well on your way to doing just that.

You're sickeningly young (from the point of view of someone who's 31 soon), and you have all the time in the world.

Heck, even I still have a twinkle of hope of making something worthwhile out of my life.

At any given moment in time, just do what you feel like doing - especially in your case, where anything you feel like doing is likely to be productive/useful anyway.

As others have quoted all kinds of important people too, here's mine:

"Don't worry - be happy" (Bobby McFerrin)

:)

Why set up this dichotomy?

You don't have to hang out with the kind of people who go to "hipster parties and concerts."

Follow the smarts. Smart people, smart ideas... smart code.

If you're asking, do you follow a path in life to make money off of code or socializing with people, why not do both? Be a manager, technical writer, or UI specialist.

Hey, I didn't mean that in terms of anything being cool or not cool, just that peoples' minds work differently. I know plenty of programmers who really don't care about design at all (even though they know it's important) and would rather shoot themselves than spend an hour redesigning an interface when they could be coding NEW FEATURES! :)

Both. I'm a big fan of what Paul said (Paul of biblical fame :) ) He was all about "All things in moderation". The idea that even the best things in life can be detrimental if you go overboard with them is probably the single best guiding principle I have found by which to live.

Sure, a week of coding without peeking your head out of your room isn't a bad thing per-se but balance that with some socialization the next week. Things tend to run in seasons and cycles for people like us who can get lost in our current obsession. I think it's ok to dive into a mad rush to finish a project or an idea, just be intentional about pulling back and balancing that out with broader things when you are done.

I tend to find that reminding myself to try and focus on meeting somebody else's need allows me to enjoy social occasions more, as odd as that sounds. Letting somebody else complain to me about their week for 15 minutes might not be all that interesting but being able to serve somebody else in that way can actually be very fulfilling and as a whole, looking at social interactions from that perspective can give you a whole new outlook on things. (again, within balance)

cowmoo was being sarcastic.