Ask HN: what was the best life/programming choice you ever made?

Basically, I wrote a Masters thesis and exited my program with as much grace as possible. I actually managed to tie up a fun side project and assist with a couple of other students' projects on my way out (more productive than my PhD thesis!), but the most important thing is that I left.

Second-order results were an awesome new job doing something more fun; a huge increase in my day-to-day happiness and satisfaction; getting married; and an even more awesome job, and a move to California.

Life: Figured out the loud "noises" in my life that were pinning me down. - Day job and unwanted social relationships. Gave up television, politics and anything that seem to bring a very high bias into thinking. The best outcome has been that it has helped me leave my comfort zone time and again.

Programming: A worry of mine was how much was I thinking about things, that needed a deeper/rigorous computer science understanding. Coursera and some other courses have been a life saver here (in my case). Have been taking courses that I felt I needed to understand better conceptually. This seems like being in a maze that leads all the way to very basic fundamentals that I have forgotten; So adding math skills now (Calculus, linear algebra etc). I hope connect the dots.

[Edit: Grammar]

It is popular to 'bash' MBAs, so everybody says that - in defense of the MBA. But I am fairly certain that most MBA programs will cover this stuff.

I did mine at the University of Tampa, but I don't think you need to necessarily go there to have the same experience I did.

Once you go with an open-mind, I would encourage you to take Econ, Accounting & Finance courses. You don't have to go nuts with these courses either, you can take the other management courses....but the ones that provided the most value to me are those.

Learning to think like someone on Wall Street - with respect to seeing the world as it is, not seeing it how I want it to be - is the most valuable thing I learned.

That being said, the connections are good too - but I am yet to have to draw on them.

Given that I am in the tech startup industry, I don't suppose they will help me much right now. But who knows what the future will hold.

Also, for what it's worth, understanding finance and not being intimidated by legal contracts is also very useful in a startup environment. Every dime I earn, I can visualize my financial statements in my head - which I guess is a good thing.

I guess the trick is to just want to learn these stuff, and in most reputable programs, you will.

It's easy to get into the "I just want to get an A" mindset - don't do that.

Not quite although have a massive amount of respect for what the art.sy guys are doing. We (inguide.co.uk) are trying to put together a guide book platform which spans multiple art galleries and museums then learns about you and tailors the interpretation and info offered to the users level of expertise.

Life: Taking a few months off work to do something creative, fulfilling, relaxing, exciting...etc.. I work less (but since I'm consulting my yearly take is about the same, if not more). But the biggest difference is down-shifting. I've gone from spending 90% of what I earn, to about 25%. And, if anything, I do far more travelling...

Programming: Quitting my permy job, then starting my own consultancy has given me so much more autonomy. It's scary, but fun. And while I'm still selling my time for money, I am transitioning to doing my own thing. Still blown away that people pay me money to do something I love so much...