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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

#151

Post by jasonkester »

diego wrote: post #37
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…

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…

Nice looking problem. Castle rock is one of my favorite spots in the states. Small, but by Fontainebleau-esque in style.

And hey, if you do ever make it out to Font itself, look me up. It's paradise for the 7a (V6) boulderer, and we've got a house here. It'd be cool to meet a fellow HN'r on the rocks.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#152

Post by mcpherrinm »

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.

Waterloo, Ontario is a minor Canadian tech hub, and the climbing gym here is definitely full of programmers, mathematicians, physicists, and generally nerdy types.

This came up a few weeks ago when I was discussing a ray tracer with a classmate in the locker room and everybody else in the room had something to chip in. I wouldn't even expect that programmer-density on campus, never mind a gym 30 minutes away.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#153

Post by creamyhorror »

gaza3g wrote: post #137
kahawe wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Your post somewhat strikes a chord with me in a way. Where I come from, most guys at around 20(after junior college) would have to serve the army for 2.5 years. I felt that, that part of my life was seriously wasted since many of my friends who didn't have to serve were doing so many different and interesting things with their life. I felt kinda robbed. Robbed of the prime time of my life. After serving time there, I…

As a fellow Singaporean I feel the same way about NS, and also regret not investing in personal relationships as much as I should have. I'm trying to fix that now, but it doesn't come naturally to me.

I actually kept away from programming and tech for many years because I felt it wasn't "practical" - instead I went towards business and finance because that was where the well-paying jobs were. I regret that choice now, because I always really enjoyed the times I dabbled in coding.

You can still leave everything to discover yourself, even at 30. But I think if you really like tech, you'll come back to it soon enough - whether in a town in Vietnam, or a hostel in Europe. Good luck.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#155

Post by usaar333 »

randomdata wrote: post #73
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…

are at a higher risk of birth defects From everything I have read, the risk doubles. That may sound like a big deal, but quoting from memory, it doubles from a 0.5% chance to a 1% chance, which is still exceedingly low odds. I'm not sure that risk alone is enough to warrant holding back on having children later in life.

I assume you mean from 35 to 40? The odds jump from 0.5% to 1% for Down Syndrome specifically; risk of any birth defect would be higher.

That said, the bigger issue is infertility, which increases by 20%: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_and_female_fertility

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#157

Post by jarospisak »

diego wrote: post #37
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…

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…

>I'm 43 years old today.

Happy Birthday!

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#158

Post by kayoone »

andrewljohnson wrote: post #46
AngryParsley wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's blatant ageism. As much as we hate to admit it, our minds and bodies start to decline almost as soon as we reach maturity. Not only does raw intelligence drop as we age, but some personality traits change. Of the Big Five, openness to new experiences takes the biggest hit. See http://www.gwern.net/DNB%20FAQ#aging and http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/www/external/labor/agin... for the scientific evidence…

Being open to new experiences, in my opinion, is much more a matter of the people you surround yourself with, than with physiology. Sure, your brain may change a little bit in your 20s and not so much in your 30s, but if you have the right friends, perhaps some younger friends, they will drag you into new things. I have felt that palpably running my own company for the last 5 years. In the first few years, it was jus…

reading this i thought you might be 40+ and was suprised you write "turned 30 this year". You make yourself much older than you are..i will turn 30 too in 2 months but i have never felt to need to "surround myself with younger people in their 20s"..Many of my friends are late 20s, mid 20s or even early 20s, still nobody feels that anyone of the other is "old" or "young", its just not much of a difference to be noticed anyway.

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#159

Post by tudorizer »

willholloway wrote: post #64

I have a different take: College Years, 18-23: This is the time to just be. You can treat college as a stressful strive-fest for meaningless grades, or you can treat it like a 4-5 year vacation. Optimize for gentleman's C's. You still get all the social and class benefits. 23-30: These are your prime productive years. This is the time to amass your fortune. 30 to death: Travel, play golf, foster community and friends…

That's my plan :)

Re: Why you should take your 20's seriously

#160

Post by freyr »

neverm0re wrote: post #125
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.

My comment was meant as parody (I'm not actually in my teens), but I guess it missed the mark. I agree with the general sentiment of the article, but it would carry a lot more weight coming from someone who has actually lived a little.
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