> short guys looking for girlfriends, unattractive/aging women looking for husbands These sound like buckets you created to fulfill your own subjective stereotypes. > Doing things by myself is boring and depressing, and getting into a group of "normal" friends, of both genders, to hang out and laugh with, seems like an impossible goal. This is a harsh thing to say, but maybe its you. You disparage people who are look…
Ask HN: At a peak of my dev career, I hate my life
191–200 of 522 posts
Re: Ask HN: At a peak of my dev career, I hate my life
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
RE: activity This may sound crazy, but join a Crossfit gym. Look on google maps, find one that is convenient, show up, talk to the coach, and sign up for a month. Crossfit is instant community. And you will get fit and feel better about yourself while you do it. Will it solve everything? Maybe not. But there's it's SUCH a simple way to make real progress on isolation, health, and self esteem. There are a million othe…
There's a 1000 similar options. Ballroom dancing, martial arts, bird watching, D&D. Most are happy to have new recruits.
Re: Ask HN: At a peak of my dev career, I hate my life
#193“I tried to meet new people at hobbies and dance lessons, but guess what - they're all full of lonely developers and other socially awkward people - short guys looking for girlfriends, unattractive/aging women looking for husbands, etc.“ I wonder why you have trouble making friends.
Re: Ask HN: At a peak of my dev career, I hate my life
#194Re: Ask HN: At a peak of my dev career, I hate my life
#195Work part time. As a developer, you can make 7-10k usd a month working part time, without much effort, from any part of the world. This is pure luck, we live a time with free money, VCs are pouring the tech with billions and billions, grab the cash.
No western country: Move to a place with sun, parties and good food like mexico or thailand. It's much more easy to make new friends in your 30s in a foreign country because western migrants are always grouping together, in small communities easy to find and to join. Bonus point, go to a place with peaceful locals, no stressed commuters and welcoming people. Learn the local language, make new friends in the new country.
Improve yourself, now you have free time to travel deeply in yourself, understand the whole psychologic movement happening in your brain. You have time to experiment and ultimately learn how peace and hapiness is generated in your brain and body. You will also learn how to understand other people, which will lead to new friendships.
Re: Ask HN: At a peak of my dev career, I hate my life
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
you dont give a depression diagnostic based on comments on the internet. and asking oneself questions about their future is not a sign of illness, its what conscious beings usually do.
Agree that depression diagnosis might be wrong. But the therapy is incredibly effective against all the symptoms he has described in details. Therapy is not just for depressed people. I have met different therapists and I was never diagnosed of clinical depression. However, I have faced many of the symptoms that he has described. It makes sense to meet a therapist (if he can afford it) and take their help. Also, in m…
Think: If you see benefit from therapy are you not more likely to keep going?
Re: Ask HN: At a peak of my dev career, I hate my life
#197Re: Ask HN: At a peak of my dev career, I hate my life
#198One way to meet lots of people you’d be able to relate to without abandoning your engineering career is to start a startup - your own company, where you use your developer skills to make a product.
That’s what I did, and the only time I dove back into depression was after we got acquired and I had to deal with a regular job again.
If you don’t have any ideas, there are lots of folks looking for technical cofounders - e.g. at this YC resource: https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching
Being a founder comes with its own set of challenges, but over the past few years mental health in entrepreneurship has been adopted as a serious issue by the community - you’d have a wealth of resources and plenty of people will help you without expecting anything in return.
Re: Ask HN: At a peak of my dev career, I hate my life
#199Re: Ask HN: At a peak of my dev career, I hate my life
#200This is extremely common. In their 30s, people get married, have kids, and move to the suburbs. Finding and keeping friends in your 30s is quite a challenge. Some tips: - move to a city - things are much much easier in a city as people are more transient, groups aren't as established, and new people arrive all the time - it sounds like you have some friends - ask them if they have any friends in your area you should…
The more non-nerdy, the more likely you are to find non-nerdy people I'd also add the more "regular", the more likely you are to find regular people. The stereotypical events & hobbies recommended for meeting people can unsurprisingly wind up chock-full of outcast-sorts who are also looking to meet people. If you want to find a real group, and a variety of ordinary folks, you want to expressly avoid all the sort of t…