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Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#131

Post by majani »

pg wrote: post #128

Sam was just telling me how much he regretted looking at this thread. "Oh, you should never read Hacker News comments about anything you write," I told him. Whereupon it immediately struck me how strange and sad it was to be saying this, as the person who started HN. Seriously, some of the comments on this thread are HN at its very worst: bitter, willful misinterpretations of what Sam is saying.

I think a lot of the blowback Sam gets around here can actually be attributed to you presenting him as your "favourite founder" when its not apparent to the rest of us what makes him so great.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#132

Post by dutchbrit »

pg wrote: post #128

Sam was just telling me how much he regretted looking at this thread. "Oh, you should never read Hacker News comments about anything you write," I told him. Whereupon it immediately struck me how strange and sad it was to be saying this, as the person who started HN. Seriously, some of the comments on this thread are HN at its very worst: bitter, willful misinterpretations of what Sam is saying.

I wholeheartedly agree, some people here really miss the point, including myself from time to time.

Sam, I actually think your advise is really good, I wish I'd followed this when I was 19. But I'm still ambitious, I'm not too late. Thanks for the good read!

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#133

Post by dutchbrit »

majani wrote: post #131
pg wrote: post #128

Sam was just telling me how much he regretted looking at this thread. "Oh, you should never read Hacker News comments about anything you write," I told him. Whereupon it immediately struck me how strange and sad it was to be saying this, as the person who started HN. Seriously, some of the comments on this thread are HN at its very worst: bitter, willful misinterpretations of what Sam is saying.

I think a lot of the blowback Sam gets around here can actually be attributed to you presenting him as your "favourite founder" when its not apparent to the rest of us what makes him so great.

I'm probably going to get down-voted for this, but here goes. Have you met Sam in person? Have you experienced his energy? His vibe? I can't say I have, but I think a lot of people pre-judge others without actually even meeting them. I didn't know PG presented him as his 'one favourite founder', but if he really does, I guess there has to be a very good reason... That being said, he might just recognise a lot of himself in Sam.

The way you put it makes it sound like the rest of HN is just bashing him out of jealously in all honesty, which is, well, just for the wrong reason & plain sad at the end of the day.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#134

Post by barry-cotter »

minimaxir wrote: post #6
the_watcher wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is why the title is Advice for Ambitious 19 Year Olds, not Advice for 19 Year Olds Looking for Security

I don't see how the two are mutually exclusive. Having a solid foundation for a life-long career with real-world experience is definitely ambitious.

They're not exclusive but maximising for security and ambition/impact lead in very different directions. There is not always and everywhere a risk reward trade off but in any but a very young field it's the way to bet.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#135

Post by barry-cotter »

selimthegrim wrote: post #95
throwaway10001 wrote: post #75

I just watched someone turn down one of these breakout companies because Microsoft offered him $30k per year more in salary—that was a terrible decision. He will not build interesting things and may not work with smart people. Interesting things....like making people click on ads? Microsoft products are used by billions of people worldwide and by virtually every Fortune () company. And then we have Microsoft Research…

I've met and had the opportunity to learn from top people at Microsoft Research in Santa Barbara. I guarantee you Sam Altman isn't fit to tie their shoelaces. No disrespect to him and not saying he couldn't get there, but they're just in a totally different ballpark and level of problem solving and execution. They're solving problems people don't even realize they're going to have yet.

I guarantee you Sam Altman isn't fit to tie their shoelaces. No disrespect to him.

My ass.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#136

Post by [deleted] »

pg wrote: post #128

Sam was just telling me how much he regretted looking at this thread. "Oh, you should never read Hacker News comments about anything you write," I told him. Whereupon it immediately struck me how strange and sad it was to be saying this, as the person who started HN. Seriously, some of the comments on this thread are HN at its very worst: bitter, willful misinterpretations of what Sam is saying.

[deleted]

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#137

Post by onedev »

majani wrote: post #131
pg wrote: post #128

Sam was just telling me how much he regretted looking at this thread. "Oh, you should never read Hacker News comments about anything you write," I told him. Whereupon it immediately struck me how strange and sad it was to be saying this, as the person who started HN. Seriously, some of the comments on this thread are HN at its very worst: bitter, willful misinterpretations of what Sam is saying.

I think a lot of the blowback Sam gets around here can actually be attributed to you presenting him as your "favourite founder" when its not apparent to the rest of us what makes him so great.

I like mint chocolate chip ice cream.

I don't give a fuck if it's not apparent to anyone else what makes it so great. I like how it tastes.

Why is it unreasonable for PG to have someone as his favorite founder? What if they're just good friends and he really resonates with this Sam guy? Why does it matter if you can't see what's so great about someone you've never met in your life? Maybe Sam is funny in person and has a great attitude. You wouldn't know. Just accept it for what it is. Maybe PG's reasons ARE irrational. Who cares? I have a ton of irrational favorite things.

You people are crazy sometimes.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#138

Post by tuacker »

pg wrote: post #128

Sam was just telling me how much he regretted looking at this thread. "Oh, you should never read Hacker News comments about anything you write," I told him. Whereupon it immediately struck me how strange and sad it was to be saying this, as the person who started HN. Seriously, some of the comments on this thread are HN at its very worst: bitter, willful misinterpretations of what Sam is saying.

I've been thinking about why open forums tend to go eternal September and I've come to think it has a lot to do with how veteran users act.

In the early days of a site like this if a new user comes along and makes negative/snarky comments which don't fit the community it is pointed out, politely. Usually someone posts a reply friendly reminding that this sort of behavior is not welcome. This helps both the offender in question and lurkers to understand how to behave.

Then, at some point, people just snap. They've got enough, they don't want to help new people any more. Even though it has always been like that. Obviously, as the site grows faster users stepping out of line happens more often. So they start making 'everything's getting worse' posts. They are perpetuating the idea that all hope is lost.

So let me propose to try and tell people why they're wrong instead of just making a global assertion, even if true. Next time anyone wants to make a post how 'this community is getting worse and worse' instead try to salvage the discussion instead.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#139

Post by eli_gottlieb »

ruswick wrote: post #112
mitchcolleran wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This quote from the post was pulled and is now being criticized without the most important context of the article. Sam isn't giving general career advice here -- read this advice as if you're giving it to a risk-seeking, ambitious, 19-year old (the title of the article...). In that context -- his advice makes perfect sense.

> risk-seeking, ambitious, 19-year old The article isn't explicitly directed at "risk-seekers," but merely at ambitious people. It's incorrect to conflate the two. Ambition can just easily manifest itself as a desire to seek a large salary, climb the corporate hierarchy, and seek a nice lifestyle. As a member of the cohort at which this piece was directed, I don't know why everyone assumes that we want to expose ours…

Also, why does everyone buy into the neoliberal bullshit that it's business which changes the world?

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#140

Post by hatu »

beat wrote: post #64
enraged_camel wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. $30,000 more per year is nothing to balk at. It is a serious amount of money. In addition, working for Microsoft is fantastic for a resume. The person in question probably improved his future career prospects by an order of magnitude by taking the job. And let's not even forget the fantastic benefits that Microsoft offers its employees that most startups cannot afford to.

"Future career prospects"... well, that depends. What does he want that future career to be? More work as a peon in other giant corporations, climbing the ladder to middle management? That sort of thing can lead to looking back twenty years, thinking, "Why on Earth did I waste all that time?" Believe me, I know. I often quote Mr. Morden from Babylon 5 , asking "What do you want?" Most people don't have the nerve to e…

When you're fresh out of college and/or looking for your first real job, working for any company with great engineering is very good for you and your career. You don't have to stay there for 20 years and become middle management. You can go from junior to staff/senior level programmer and learn real-world software development while getting compensated nicely. The same problems and lessons are learned as by going the startup way.
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