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Why you should take your 20's seriously

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Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#121

Post by clauretano »

gefh wrote: post #86
derwiki wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are programming/rock climbing overlapping interests everywhere or more so in the Bay Area? The problem solving aspect of climbing (particularly bouldering) always appealed to me, and I always see programmers at the climbing gym. But it seems like a disproportionately high number of programmer friends (compared to other friends) climb in SF.

At the Seattle Bouldering Project I estimate a quarter of all climbers are from Google, Amazon or MS. Also a high proportion of resumés crossing my desk mention climbing.

also in Seattle, and I can verify from my sample of friends that at least 80% of them are into going to SBP, and 100% of those people work at Amazon.

Sounds like a great place for networking.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#122

Post by kahawe »

barrkel wrote: post #10

Contra: you only live once. The risk with spending so much of your youth building for a future - in essence, living for the tomorrow you're trying to create - is that you won't want it when you get there. When you're young, you're at the point at which you most likely have fewer worries of any kind than you will in the rest of your life. And you won't appreciate this until it's gone. A slightly more advanced career i…

The more I think about it, the less I understand this common concept of sweating and working NOW for the good you might one day reap... having been born in the West, you are in the extremely fortunate position of being able to perfectly work on skills and slowly building a career while at the same time enjoying life to the fullest. It is a very strange thing we always put the good times off for later and slave away now only to make more money to one day finally eventually reap all the benefits when we are 50, 60 or 70 - a time in life when your options are way more limited than they were in your 20s and 30s.

I agree with you, we live too much in the "one glorious day" fantasy world and we agree too much to become chased rats battling for minor increments of personal wealth when the truly wealthy people of the world are absolutely untouchable and forever out of our reach.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#123

Post by saryant »

purplelobster wrote: post #26
simonsarris wrote: post #14

I've spent a considerable amount of time thinking about this, ever since the topic came up on reddit about why so few people in their 20's seem to "have their shit together." I think it comes down to two reasons. The first one is huge, but its essentially luck. I think the reason I'm even afforded the opportunity to take my 20's seriously is almost completely happenstantial. Looking at my friends and (distant) family…

Great post. I also consider myself very lucky, much the same way as you. I've had some setbacks, but nothing that couldn't be handled. I also feel this pull from these two lifestyles, the "boring" stable desk job, or traveling the planet, code whatever I want and live life like there's no tomorrow. My fiancée is two years older than me (27), so that puts some pressure on getting kids and settling down fast. I've mana…

Other than being single, I'm in the exact same position as you. I'm pulled between building a career and travelling the world.

I graduated last spring and spent the summer backpacking in Asia before starting a boring desk job. I live with my parents still so I'm saving almost all of my income.

Now I'm seriously considering quitting in six months and heading back to Asia until I figure out what I want to do. My job is terrible, especially since I was effectively lied to about what I'd be doing, but I'm more or less getting paid to do nothing. In six months I'll have enough money to spend a year backpacking across SE Asia, Eastern Europe, South America, wherever.

Or I could just quit now and go find a job I like. I'm honestly not sure what to do.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#124

Post by kisielk »

derwiki wrote: post #47
diego wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree with what cletus says. I'm 43 years old today. Some things just feel uninteresting because I started doing them too young. Interestingly programming is not one of them, I have been doing it for 30 years. On the other hand, I have been rock climbing for 7 years and I'm better than ever [in case you care: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olEgfe4cYuU ]. It still feels pretty new to me. I know 25-year-ol…

Are programming/rock climbing overlapping interests everywhere or more so in the Bay Area? The problem solving aspect of climbing (particularly bouldering) always appealed to me, and I always see programmers at the climbing gym. But it seems like a disproportionately high number of programmer friends (compared to other friends) climb in SF.

Here in Vancouver there is definitely a lot of programming types at the rock climbing gym and at the crags. Other professionals that seem to be attracted to it are Engineers (of all types), Geologists, and Environmental Sciences people.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#125

Post by neverm0re »

freyr wrote: post #88

There are some good points here, but my advice is that you should take your teens seriously. It seems like the prevailing advice today for anyone in their teens is to live their lives free of any commitments and as independent and undirected as possible. But lately I realized the importance of my teens to a degree I never had and it has changed how I plan to approach the last few years of my teens. I'm not going to w…

> Also, since everybody peaks in their twenties

Oh how you're going to laugh at that one later on.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#126

Post by Cacti »

cletus wrote: post #19

This is a delicate subject because one can view it as a call for those in their 20s to make the most of that time, which is a fine message, to something tantamount to ageism. While it's true that those in their 30s or older can be closed to new idea, that's not because they're "old", it's because they're people and some people are closed-minded. I find a lot of these complaints are more about the cultural and lifesty…

It's well known that for men the peak years are 40-50.

Yes, 20s are awesome, but, unless you're producing Nobel-winning stuff in your early 20s, then you had best learn to age well.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#127

Post by neverm0re »

kahawe wrote: post #120
flyosity wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a 29-year old male who spent his 20s building a career I love and now has a 6-month old daughter, so this quote: > Don't waste your 20's "building a career". You've got your 30's and 40's and 50's to do that. Don't be in a rush to have kids too soon. Doesn't really make sense to me. If you don't build a career and finances in your 20s, you either can't afford to have a kid in your early 30s or you have one and ca…

I more or less just came into my 30s and I spent my 20s pretty much exclusively on computers, studying and working and playing. Computer were pretty much 95% of my life. Last time I changed job, I more than doubled my after-tax salary and I have not once had to go through the process of really applying; whenever I showed up to HR things were pretty much decided already in advance, they just had to keep up appearances…

Speaking from the other side here, I started programming at eight and abandoned that in my late teens for partying, sex and adventure through my twenties. Despite landing a scholarship at a respectable school, I walked out the door two months later to go chase a girl.

It's only been now in my thirties that I've taken programming and such seriously, because it's suddenly far more fun to me than social games. There's this vague sense of regret much like you're describing, except inverted -- I could have probably accomplished a LOT had I stayed on point. Despite that, I'm still successful by standards I set out for myself in my early twenties and I've got some rather ambitious plans for my forties, yet.

At the end of the day: I've been here since Usenet was a thing, dotcoms are still as hilarious as they were in the 90s and I honestly think it's just the media fixation on the notion of precocious children that perpetuates this culture obsessed with how we're all supposedly dead at thirty -- when really, that's when many creative individuals begin to hit their stride as many artists discover their talents later in life.

Really, people should stop worrying about any of this shit, as most of it is just talk from people trying to sandbag you.

+1 for being brave enough to talk so candidly.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#128

Post by sunjain »

On the contrary, I suggest 20s is the best time to explore who you actually are - so called "hippy" stuff. As later on it just becomes that much more difficult. Whether you end up building a great company or end up doing a regular job in your later years, it will not mean much if you did not find out who you actually are, what is your purpose in life (all those silly questions we all pondered sometimes but never actually pursued). Once explored thoroughly, and if the conclusion was that your purpose in life was to do a start-p(or startups) and establish a successful company, then it will be worth it. Otherwise, neither your startup will be successful, or if successful, your life will still be miserable. Better to figure all this out in 20s, instead of focusing primarily on your career.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#129

Post by petercooper »

propercoil wrote: post #116
petercooper wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of Britain's wealthiest men had a similar experience in his 20s. He didn't get started or even have a bank account until he was 30: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Bannatyne

relevent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2h_GIP019c

Awesome! I've just posted this to HN in case it's interesting to anyone else.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#130

Post by comicjk »

engtech wrote: post #48

"2) Statistically, women need to have all their children by 35. According to the author, a woman’s ability to get pregnant plummets starting in her mid-thirties. To make matters worse, the odds of a miscarriage for a woman over 35 is one in four." Our family doctor gave the odds as 3 in 5. In practical experience, I know of four friends who have miscarried at 35 (after being pregnant for over 3 months), out of about…

Wow, I guess my family have some handy mutations here...my mom and dad were both born to mothers older than 36, and my mom gave birth to me and my brother at 39 and 42, respectively.

As fertility technology improves, don't you think that such experiences will become more common?

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