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Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#141

Post by throwaway10001 »

argonaut wrote: post #124
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…

Okay. MSFT Research is great. It would be unreasonable to offer that as a viable alternative for even a highly gifted and ambitious (but not genius-level) 19 year old.

Why not? If he's good to try his chance at Google like startups, why not at MSR? Can we agree that having been at MSR does wonders to your resume?

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#143

Post by lewispollard »

Selfcommit wrote: post #36
avolcano wrote: post #9

I'm 19, and just started as a software engineer at a startup in NYC. It's been absolutely incredible - I never thought I'd be here a year ago. I'll admit that my situation isn't universal - luckily, I could get my foot in the door with many startups by being in the last batch of Hacker School - but if you, like me, hate academia and want to get to work, don't let your age stop you. Sure, there's companies that care a…

Please understand that my intent here is not to begrudge you in any way - I think it's wonderful that you're working as an SE at such a young age - but.. I'm 10 years older than you. I code in the evenings, I spend my morning commute listing to any computer science online course I can find... I have over 5 years experience as a Systems Admin... I've interviewed with a number of big companies and startups but I don't…

Don't forget that at your age, I'm guessing you have more financial responsibilities, maybe a mortgage, maybe even kids... You need a 'stable', well paid job. A 19 year old will happily work for less, in a junior position, with the knowledge that the job might not be a permanent thing.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#144

Post by eli_gottlieb »

beat wrote: post #114
shazow wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This worries me. I've met all too many designers and engineers who started out exactly like this, and years later come to realize that they've been underpaid by more than 50% below market rate for half a decade, and have little more to show for it than one entry on their resume and a case of Stockholm syndrome. That's a home they could have bought if they knew their real value and weren't being exploited by a greedy…

I've shown her exactly what "entry level graphic designer salary" is on the 'net. Moreover, she's been told that if she isn't delivering 100%, I'll let her go, because the company needs that full-tilt startup delivery. She knows what she's getting into. She's actually thrilled with it - she instinctively understands the value of giving 100% as a measure of self-worth. Keep in mind she has no education beyond high sch…

I've shown her exactly what "entry level graphic designer salary" is on the 'net. Moreover, she's been told that if she isn't delivering 100%, I'll let her go, because the company needs that full-tilt startup delivery.

So you're exploiting her and psychologically pressuring her.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#145

Post by [deleted] »

argonaut wrote: post #119
rgbrenner wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft has 100,000 employees (42k in WA).. of course SOME of them are bad. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/inside_ms.aspx

This is overly nitpicky. Of course some people are bad in any company. Clearly the blog author means to say that there tends to be more "bad" engineers at MSFT than you would expect from its outward reputation. The problem with that is that if every blog author hedges in exacting detail their every argument, discussions would devolve into technicalities.

[deleted]

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#146

Post by kayoone »

argonaut wrote: post #122
kayoone wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds strange to me. I put alot of my own money and some of my parents into my startup, got seed financing and failed 2 years later. I am now 30 and still have to pay back my parents and havent saved a dime in my life while being a pretty decent software developer (not in the US). I learned a ton, but financially it has been a disaster. So a Big-Co job ist still not too bad when starting out imo, you probably wont l…

Well, the mistake you made (and that a 19-year old starting a company should avoid) was getting into debt in the first place, even if it was with your family.

yeah, felt like the right decision back then though as we were gaining traction.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#147

Post by stephencanon »

FakeSamAltman wrote: post #120
ruswick wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Three kids, a safe job and an Audi is not ambitious . And it certainly isn't netting you a YC partnership at 25.

Founding yet another tumblr-for-cats and selling ads isn't ambitious either; you can do mundane work at startups just as easily as you can in a big corporation. You can do ambitious work at both of them, too. For kids who don't come from a wealthy family, there's something to be said for building up a minimal safety net early on by doing ambitious things in a relatively stable large firm. It's not the only way, though (obviously).

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#148

Post by pc86 »

beat wrote: post #114
shazow wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This worries me. I've met all too many designers and engineers who started out exactly like this, and years later come to realize that they've been underpaid by more than 50% below market rate for half a decade, and have little more to show for it than one entry on their resume and a case of Stockholm syndrome. That's a home they could have bought if they knew their real value and weren't being exploited by a greedy…

I've shown her exactly what "entry level graphic designer salary" is on the 'net. Moreover, she's been told that if she isn't delivering 100%, I'll let her go, because the company needs that full-tilt startup delivery. She knows what she's getting into. She's actually thrilled with it - she instinctively understands the value of giving 100% as a measure of self-worth. Keep in mind she has no education beyond high sch…

If you cannot afford a "full-tilt startup" designer, you should question the morality of taking advantage of a teenage girl to try and get that.

> she instinctively understands the value of giving 100% as a measure of self-worth.

Instead of money, of course. She's not worth that.

> she has no education beyond high school

Completely irrelevant.

> when her skills are rounded out and the money is there, I'll pay her going rate, and glady.

No, you won't. There will always be one more skill she lacks and there will always be one more thing you need to buy "for the company" (but use yourself, of course, because it's your company).

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#149

Post by LatvjuAvs »

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.

You would not be you and I would not be I if there wasn't someone constantly telling me what to do or not to do.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#150

Post by LatvjuAvs »

jonnathanson wrote: post #94

It's often dismissed as cheesy, but it's the most important career advice there is: find your passion. Ninety nine people out of 100 never have a great answer to the question, "Where do you want to be in 10 years?" Instead, they treat their careers in ad hoc fashion, hopping opportunistically from job to job. The best way to succeed is to have a very clear answer to that cheesy question. Such a clear answer that you'…

I do not want to be someone in future, 10 years, or even 30 years.

I am here, now, enjoying myself :)

Money, position, income, it is forced drug we must take so enjoyment could be numbed.

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