111–120 of 167 posts
Also agree on "where did my money go". I've always assumed a huge amount of it went to administration and groundskeeping.
I'm currently in a Master program (data science: maths, maths, maths and maths, oh and maths). I'm almost 50 years old. I was very happy to read that article because it doesn't mention a little detail : age. The sort of effort the author has done is really something he should be proud of, but at 29 your brain is still quite up to to the task. At almost 50 (+kids, +family to keep care of (even if family is incredibly…
When did you start noticing this? I'm 39 and dont feel this at all. I have less motivation and energy for lots of things. But that stems from a jadedness and pickiness. It's different to what you describe. I feel my mental faculties are as strong as ever, and my gut feel is that they're not declining anytime soon.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it your actual brain or is it having a million things to worry about? Eg. if you could do a one-month retreat away from it all, would you get the same out of it as your younger self? Of course it's also true one's younger self had other distractions, so it can be hard to compare.
The full story is I had a severe burn out (so that means exactly that : your brain is really damaged). My family is super supportive so I don't have that many things to think about. As a young er student, I had tons of "side projects" (like coding games) :-) So I was definitely not studying all the time. Nowadays I'm 100% focus so it means I work about 8-10 hours a day on my courses. I have very good sleeping habits,…
I'm currently in a Master program (data science: maths, maths, maths and maths, oh and maths). I'm almost 50 years old. I was very happy to read that article because it doesn't mention a little detail : age. The sort of effort the author has done is really something he should be proud of, but at 29 your brain is still quite up to to the task. At almost 50 (+kids, +family to keep care of (even if family is incredibly…
Work is full of ambiguities and complexities whereas academic work has straightforward success criteria and you're always starting from a blank slate. I enjoyed it, but I was also lucky to have the support of my family to spend my time that way.
I'm currently in a Master program (data science: maths, maths, maths and maths, oh and maths). I'm almost 50 years old. I was very happy to read that article because it doesn't mention a little detail : age. The sort of effort the author has done is really something he should be proud of, but at 29 your brain is still quite up to to the task. At almost 50 (+kids, +family to keep care of (even if family is incredibly…
It was my third time going to school. The first one was to take a undergrad+grad in CS when I was 18. I did not even know why I was there. The second one was I was 29 for grad school in quantitative finance, why? Because everybody in my professional environment was doing it. I definitely did not enjoy that either and did not learn much. My third time, well I clearly knew I wanted to learn becase I truly enjoyed the matter, no professional need but I simply liked it. And I knew about the math part.
Now I am almost 40 and I know almost for sure I am in the same shape or even better to go to school again and enjoy it. To me is just to do something because you like it, not because of social pressure, professional reasons or hype. Also, I think to have a good time while doing it you have to be aware of your personal situation. Mine was totally favorable.
Assuming that you could have landed the job at Google without studying part-time (could you?), I’m a bit baffled by your experience. Unless your degree really propels you in your career (read: your employer values academic degrees over experience), couldn’t you have learned those skills without putting up with the cost and timely investment of formally enrolling for a master’s degree? I’d even go as far as to say: in…
Some context: during my part-time masters degree, which took 3 years to complete, I wrote the following from scratch: a MIPS and ARMv4 CPU in FPGA, an emulator for ARMv4, an assembler for it, a compiler for C89, an OS kernel with a shell, a 3d game, and several websites, webapps and mobile apps. A job at Google won't bring you even close to be able to learn all of that on the job. The real world version of most of su…
Did that too while working full time and raising two kids, thesis and all. Glad I did it, gladder I’m done.
I also completed my master's while working full time way back then (+10 years ago). I wouldn't say it was the happiest or most relaxed time of my life, but I'm glad it was over in a year. BTW in restrospect doing a master's degree wasn't such a good choice anyway.
Curious why you feel that way? I did mine because my employer paid for 100% of it - I don't think it would have been worth it if I'd had to pay for it myself, but otherwise I got a lot out of it.
I couldn't do it. From 2008 to 2011, I was 3 credits and half a thesis paper short, had to quit for my health. I had lost too much weight, down to 150 lbs at 6'3", I was falling asleep at work and not meeting expectations. It was horrendous. Props to anyone who can make it work. And to those who were bailed out by the Bank of Mom and Dad, a big fuck you.
Wouldn't you as a parent want to help your children avoid things you experienced? I think you always want your children to go through less hassle than yourself? I personally believe that guiding children through struggles we experienced is not a good idea of parenting. Disclaimer: I didn't finish college as well, for same reasons as you. Edit: I've realized my comment might've sounded like a critique of your parentin…
Anyway, I do like the academic side of things and so many topics that I would have never gotten into (compilers, formal methods...), so I wouldn't want to miss it. Just wish I had finished sooner...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Your brain has slowed down by a factor of at least 2 I've made it into a mantra to never accept this kind of sentiment (even if it were to be scientifically proven some day). It's dangerous and only serves to undermine motivation. Sure there is an overrepresentation of old people who are tired., but that doesn't mean you have to be.
> Your brain has slowed down by a factor of at least 2 This is only if you let it. The human brain has something called neuroplasticity. If you exercise your brain, regularly and with variety, you can slow/prevent a degradation of neuroplasticity. Some example activities include doing coding in new programming language, learning a new spoken language, doing sudoku and other puzzles, doing painting if you are right br…
But as I kept learning, I saw that a certain set of people decided that they were just done learning new stuff the second they were done with college, and resisted any change that wasn't taught to them by their professors. This affected young and old people at roughly the same rate (at least from what I observed), but it's more apparent for the older people just because they've been half-assing the learning for longer (and because what they learned in college is probably more out of date).
This is also why I make it a point to attend conferences where I am the "dumbest guy in the room" like ICFP. These things are a bit intimidating (I do not like feeling dumb), but work as exceptional ways of highlighting gaps in my knowledge, and giving me a "path to google later".