What should I do with my life? • Hacker News Board

Re: What should I do with my life?

#31

Post by rjbond3rd » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 5:34 PM UTC

mannicken wrote: post #4

niico wrote: post #2

Dude, you're 20. Go back to school and get a freaking diploma. Take those 4 years to figure out what the hell you want with your life. After that you will be.. what... 24? Life haven't even started yet kid.

Diploma in what? I'm all over the place, and I can't just choose one area of study. What if I want to study art but the diploma will be useless? What if I want to study business but end up writing TPS reports for 100 hours a week at Wall Street? What if I want to study math but will end up hating whatever it is I studied. The possibilities frighten me and excite me at the same time.

If you were one of my students, here's how I would advise you:

1. Don't get paralysis.

2. Pick something that gives you good career options. The rest are your hobbies (and it's good to have hobbies).

4. Be cautious taking on any educational debt -- make sure it's worth it.

Your career will take many turns but you want your opening move to be strong.

Frankly, if you can program and enjoy math, your future is bright. When you love your work, you won't need the escapism of substances.

Re: What should I do with my life?

#32

Post by mannicken » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 5:56 PM UTC

rjbond3rd wrote: post #31

mannicken wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diploma in what? I'm all over the place, and I can't just choose one area of study. What if I want to study art but the diploma will be useless? What if I want to study business but end up writing TPS reports for 100 hours a week at Wall Street? What if I want to study math but will end up hating whatever it is I studied. The possibilities frighten me and excite me at the same time.

If you were one of my students, here's how I would advise you: 1. Don't get paralysis. 2. Pick something that gives you good career options. The rest are your hobbies (and it's good to have hobbies). 4. Be cautious taking on any educational debt -- make sure it's worth it. Your career will take many turns but you want your opening move to be strong. Frankly, if you can program and enjoy math, your future is bright. W…

I can program but I do not necessarily enjoy it. I enjoy it maybe 5% of the time, the rest is spend thinking "god this sucks". Perhaps wrong-career choice very early on is what made me turn to substances/get depressed.

Re: What should I do with my life?

#33

Post by ronbeltran » Tue, Jul 05, 2011, 1:28 AM UTC

I hope steve blank's commencement speech gives you direction, like you he never finished high school.

Re: What should I do with my life?

#34

Post by codito » Tue, Jul 05, 2011, 4:54 PM UTC

maurycy wrote: post #26

No one is going to provide you the answer, as no one, except you, is able to know what you really want. I think it makes no sense to give you detailed recommendations, as there are few rather good ones already, so let me try to give you a slightly broader perspective. Obviously, take all responses with a grain of salt, especially mine. No one, except you, is going to experience the wrong decision, and people tend to…

+1 for being careful about emotions. Most of the bad decisions I took were in a state where my thinking was clouded with emotions and immediate events.

Sit on your idea for a few days. Decide with a clear heart (and intellect too).

Re: What should I do with my life?

#35

Post by downNout52 » Tue, Jul 05, 2011, 6:44 PM UTC

at least your only 20 - i've lost EVERYTHING at 52 and have NO chance of every again living any semblance of a "normal" life. Non-degreed IT engr. with 20 yrs experience means dick these days - for some frickin reason everyone expects that if your into it you have a piece of sheepskin. wtf. i too am worried as to what will happen - but I'm not at home, and mere steps away from living on the streets. i can't catch a break, and all the gee-wiz kids (no offense, there are a lot of bright ones out there) are all up on the latest & greatest, whereas, I know 60-80% as much but being an old fart - I always get the cold shoulder. I hate my life, stay away from coding or move overseas since that's the only place you'll find a job in 3 years. fck america, fu* bush. now where's my fifth...time to get wasted and forget the misery.

Re: What should I do with my life?

#36

Post by mannicken » Thu, Jul 07, 2011, 6:16 AM UTC

downNout52 wrote: post #35

at least your only 20 - i've lost EVERYTHING at 52 and have NO chance of every again living any semblance of a "normal" life. Non-degreed IT engr. with 20 yrs experience means dick these days - for some frickin reason everyone expects that if your into it you have a piece of sheepskin. wtf. i too am worried as to what will happen - but I'm not at home, and mere steps away from living on the streets. i can't catch a b…

That sucks. But there are some things that are real and some things that look really like reality but are actually illusions created by our emotions. Your desperation sounds like the latter one.

Re: What should I do with my life?

#37

Post by danielhodgins » Thu, Jul 07, 2011, 7:13 AM UTC

Be where you are. Get a job, save money, do fun stuff with friends. Get outside. Draw. Paint. Travel, Learn guitar. Learn Spanish. Try a new sport. Join a group of some sort. Meet girls! Get outside your comfort zone, and get used to that feeling.

You'll have lots of chances to learn life's tougher lessons along the way - trust me.

At 20 I was a surf bum that had done very little post secondary. Have now completed a two year diploma from a technical school, a university degree, instructor certifications plus one season each of teaching windsurfing and snowboarding professionally, and I am now a self-taught designer/developer - Rails/Ruby/HTML/CSS. It took 11 years between age 20-31 to figure this all out, so be where you are.

Re: What should I do with my life?

#38

Post by runjake » Thu, Jul 07, 2011, 4:25 PM UTC

Have fun right now, don't worry about anything.

I'm almost 40, married with 3 kids. I can't remember many of my mistakes at 20, but I can sure remember all the good, wild times.

Be (reasonably) reckless, and have fun discovering who you are, as an adult. Don't get tied down with any debt. Be frugal. Travel a lot.

Stability? Pfft. Stop worrying. I'm laughing at you worrying.

Re: What should I do with my life?

#39

Post by dmazin » Tue, Jul 12, 2011, 9:28 PM UTC

I had a friend in community college that was 26. He was a roadie until 24 or so and then got his life on track - so in my head you are relatively way, way ahead. Maybe it's not what you want, but you might consider going to community college with the intent to transfer to a four-year.