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I'm a loser and I want to change that - now

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: I'm a loser and I want to change that - now

#231

Post by hmbg »

edw519 wrote: post #54

I have been a dreamer all my life. It took me until last year to figure this out, and only thanks to this community. Great. Dreaming is necessary but not sufficient for great accomplishments. Glad you're one of us. I hardly ever tried - and when I tried, I didn't persist. It has been my goal to start a business since ever I can remember. And yet I never really tried (until last year, which resulted in abysmal failure…

> Bullshit. I didn't do my first startup until I was 32. Stop thinking like that. If you're a programmer, your prime is still 20 years ahead of you. (Believe me, I know.)

I love you a little for that

Re: I'm a loser and I want to change that - now

#232

Post by knightni »

rohern wrote: post #193
knightni wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Being a programmer is fucking boring ... They want you to spend your time ... optimizing their databases Honestly, I really fucking love optimising databases. I can't believe my luck that people want to pay me to do that sort of work for 8 hours a day. To me, hell is having to define and defend my own problem. I would loathe running a startup - I love the feeling, instead, of having people come to me to solve their…

You are probably a wonderful person to work with and any team is really lucky to have you. Having someone who is deeply passionate about these problems is very important and these are important problems!

That's kind of you to say! I think, honestly, that it's great to work with/for anyone who takes joy in what they do.

Re: I'm a loser and I want to change that - now

#233

Post by skoky »

Do not worry - I started to programming in Java also after long pause (more than 10 years) in my early 30s, now I am 6 years in Java development and I greatly increase my value on the market and it is fun. Java is simple comparing to C++ so do not worry and start with something. More or less nowadays is more about knowing libraries/frameworks and combine them together. It is doable if you have basics from C++. At the end it is just about taking data from point A and transfer them to point B with some transformations on the way (if I take mainstream programming nowadays)

Re: I'm a loser and I want to change that - now

#238

Post by rimantas »

jdefr89 wrote: post #208
edw519 wrote: post #54

I have been a dreamer all my life. It took me until last year to figure this out, and only thanks to this community. Great. Dreaming is necessary but not sufficient for great accomplishments. Glad you're one of us. I hardly ever tried - and when I tried, I didn't persist. It has been my goal to start a business since ever I can remember. And yet I never really tried (until last year, which resulted in abysmal failure…

I will agree with everything except for two points. The "stop reading code" snippet.. I think its important he continues to read code and mess around, it is what keeps passion alive and influences you. He should start building things on top of what he already doing Another point, about "the best software is written by one person" is completely false. Any significant software project usually requires a team with good…

So you say Knuth (TEX), Bill Atkinson (QuickDraw, MacPaint, HyperCard), Bellard (ffmpeg, QEMU, etc.) ar all myths?

Re: I'm a loser and I want to change that - now

#240

Post by RougeFemme »

At least at first, stop comparing yourself with others. Compare yourself today with yourself yesterday and look for improvement. This is absolutely not your last chance to get your life back on track. Your last chance won't occur until you are on your deathbed. And maybe look a little beyond HN. There are people out there who are still asking, optimistically,"what do I want to be when I grow up?". . .and enjoying the journey, which is rarely a straight line, travelled through a fraction of your life.
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