Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

17 y/o kicked out of house - seeking devilishly motivated partner

docs.google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 96 posts

Re: 17 y/o kicked out of house - seeking devilishly motivated partner

#21

Post by wittedhaddock »

pliny wrote: post #15

If you can't get As in high school humanities because you're too busy managing a single desktop computer & residential internet connection, you're probably not half as smart as you think you are. You should take about 5-10 years off for introspection.

I disagree with this claim. It is my firm belief that high school grades do not reflect intelligence. But rather, applied work ethic. Indirectly, I chose to get poor grades by allocating my time to things I thought were of greater importance. Then again, is that in it of itself indicative of ill-wit?

Re: 17 y/o kicked out of house - seeking devilishly motivated partner

#22

Post by [deleted] »

cnlwsu wrote: post #20

Best of luck but try to be cautious in who you trust. Make sure anyone who bites on this offer to work with you is not trying to just take advantage of you because of your age. Is interesting seeing the difference between all the comments about how useless college is in one thread and here so many recommending college. That said I loved college and couldn't imagine my life if I haven't taken it. Paid for itself withi…

[deleted]

Re: 17 y/o kicked out of house - seeking devilishly motivated partner

#24

Post by homakov »

coherentpony wrote: post #7

Believe it, it's possible to not succeed yet want to succeed more than anyone else on the planet. Go to college. Take 4 years to earn a qualification as something to lean back on just in case anything goes wrong. You'll still be 18 in college. You can still do things on the side. You are 17 years old, and have no experience dealing with other people. The fact you are willing to let anyone invest in you without knowin…

>Believe it, it's possible to not succeed yet want to succeed more than anyone else on the planet

absolutely

Re: 17 y/o kicked out of house - seeking devilishly motivated partner

#25

Post by carterschonwald »

jychang wrote: post #9
wittedhaddock wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you mean by that.

Yes. Because there are many, many 17 year olds just like you, or better than you. There are very few who are "successes", at age 17. To invest in you is like putting money in the lottery. In fact, if I were you, I would distrust any offers you DO get, because those people are probably not good with their own money and would not have YOUR best interests in mind.

well put, I second this sentiment. The people chiming in on HN who are advocating a more thoughtful approach, of figuring out how to make school work out, are the folks on your side.

it takes time and years of effort to be successful. Make it easier by forcing yourself to level up with more education etc first.

Re: 17 y/o kicked out of house - seeking devilishly motivated partner

#26

Post by pliny »

wittedhaddock wrote: post #21
pliny wrote: post #15

If you can't get As in high school humanities because you're too busy managing a single desktop computer & residential internet connection, you're probably not half as smart as you think you are. You should take about 5-10 years off for introspection.

I disagree with this claim. It is my firm belief that high school grades do not reflect intelligence. But rather, applied work ethic. Indirectly, I chose to get poor grades by allocating my time to things I thought were of greater importance. Then again, is that in it of itself indicative of ill-wit?

Why is your writing so formal?

Re: 17 y/o kicked out of house - seeking devilishly motivated partner

#27

Post by wittedhaddock »

cmwelsh wrote: post #16

Your story isn't unique. Thousands of people on this forum were kids just like you once. Put some code on your GitHub profile. That's the most important external link you could have included in this post, yet it's conspicuously missing. Spend some time in the business world learning to "conform to the societal bullshit" and spend your evenings bootstrapping your next startup. You sound like you have the technical ski…

Cmwelsh, thank you for your feedback and time. That sounds like dogma.

Re: 17 y/o kicked out of house - seeking devilishly motivated partner

#28

Post by wittedhaddock »

homakov wrote: post #24
coherentpony wrote: post #7

Believe it, it's possible to not succeed yet want to succeed more than anyone else on the planet. Go to college. Take 4 years to earn a qualification as something to lean back on just in case anything goes wrong. You'll still be 18 in college. You can still do things on the side. You are 17 years old, and have no experience dealing with other people. The fact you are willing to let anyone invest in you without knowin…

>Believe it, it's possible to not succeed yet want to succeed more than anyone else on the planet absolutely

I wholeheartedly disagree.

Re: 17 y/o kicked out of house - seeking devilishly motivated partner

#29

Post by kyro »

If you want to do something big, go to college and major in a non-CS subject. People are realizing social/apps has been so overdone and that there are more interesting and profitable ideas to work on -- ideas that require domain expertise in more than just CS, like healthcare, neuroscience, biotechnology, ecology, electrical/mechanical engineering, physics, real estate, interior design, architecture, etc. You can look to the recent YC classes for evidence of this trend.

At worst you'll graduate with a degree and lots of friends at 22 with almost twice that left before you qualify to receive Social Security benefits.

Re: 17 y/o kicked out of house - seeking devilishly motivated partner

#30

Post by bithive123 »

wittedhaddock wrote: post #14
mattdeboard wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Shakespeare?

I'll sacrifice some potential wit and explain that your writing style is rather self important. It's not uncommon at your age (not trying to be insulting here) but you need to balance your desire to self-promote with a demonstrated ability to get to the point. People will notice more if you show instead of tell.

Your letter has a lot of words in it which are clearly used in an attempt to impress. Coupled with the numerous grammatical errors (read it aloud, carefully) and breathless tone, it will likely remind many on HN of their younger selves, emphasis on younger. I hope you do find someone with your intensity, because those have been some of the most rewarding friendships I've had (I'm 30 now but remember what it was like to be your age).

Post reply on HN