What If You Could Do It All Over? • Hacker News Board

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#181

Post by ubertoop » Sun, Dec 27, 2020, 3:38 AM UTC

pansa2 wrote: post #140

acwan93 wrote: post #8

This reminds me of “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, which has a quote Aziz Ansari used in his series “Master of None”: > "I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor,…

Fantastic analogy. To go a bit further, what surprised me when trying to choose which branch to take was how narrow each branch is. It’s not enough to pick the “software development” branch, you have to pick a specialty within that. And, it has to be a single specialty. In my particular case, it was hard to accept that I couldn’t be both a successful programming language designer and a successful game developer.

I think everyone wrestles with this a little bit.

Should you really dig in and focus on mobile, web, server, game, firmware? If so, should you focus on one language?

I don't so much question paths in my life as I feel very lucky to have ended up where I am. I do question on a daily basis, whether I should stop learning and adopting new technologies, and focus on ONE domain for the rest of my life.

It seems I am destined to be a jack of all trades, master of none, if I let life continue to unfold as it has over the last 10 years, bumping around as needed from my employers to new or different domains.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#182

Post by onecommentman » Sun, Dec 27, 2020, 3:45 AM UTC

bonoboTP wrote: post #50

spacechild1 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many software developers actually get a chance to “add to the world's treasures“? Building yet another CRUD web app doesn't meet the definition in my book. I'm not saying it's not possible, but you have to be rather lucky.

How many normal people get a chance to work at a top law firm in a fancy position just because they graduated from some law school? Better jobs are competed for strongly. Good stuff is never free and never available by default.

The really good stuff is always free. If you take a more expansive interpretation of “stuff”.

The pretty good stuff is often in short supply.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#183

Post by Spooky23 » Sun, Dec 27, 2020, 3:45 AM UTC

warent wrote: post #160

abnercoimbre wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

29 and ditto. You know the phrase "30's is the new 20's." There's some truth to it, right?

I've never really understood what this means. Did people in their 20s have their life pretty well together in the past? or does it mean when you're in your 30s is the best time to start partying and throwing caution to the wind? Is your 30s when you first leave home and get a higher education? It's really a really confusing turn of phrase to me. I must be missing context

Most people would be married with families by their late 20s. Now many enter into a sort of second childhood and settle down in their 30s or beyond. Hell, I still have some acquaintances from school who are slowly transitioning into the creepy old guy hitting on 24 year olds.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#184

Post by ekanes » Sun, Dec 27, 2020, 3:45 AM UTC

warent wrote: post #160

abnercoimbre wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

29 and ditto. You know the phrase "30's is the new 20's." There's some truth to it, right?

I've never really understood what this means. Did people in their 20s have their life pretty well together in the past? or does it mean when you're in your 30s is the best time to start partying and throwing caution to the wind? Is your 30s when you first leave home and get a higher education? It's really a really confusing turn of phrase to me. I must be missing context

My take on it is: At whatever age you are, you still feel like there's lots of time ahead of you, because people live longer/can do more/etc.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#185

Post by ekanes » Sun, Dec 27, 2020, 3:46 AM UTC

costcopizza wrote: post #147

dorchadas wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who feels like I've wasted most of my 20s since graduating university (turning 29 in 2021) with a job(s) I don't see any future in, man this hits hard. My lack of risk taking, and an unfortunately timed death in the family in 2016, really are me sitting there watching these figs dry up. Damn.

I feel the exact same way, and am the exact same age. But we’re 29, not 49 or even 39. There’re still figs on the tree.

46 year old here. Wave I remember feeling like I'd wasted so much time and was irreversibly behind in my twenties. Like, it was all decided. There are so so many figs left. Many many chances ahead of you!

That said, time is ticking and while it isn't too late, now is the best time to start!

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#186

Post by onecommentman » Sun, Dec 27, 2020, 3:47 AM UTC

runawaybottle wrote: post #54

phnofive wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it may be on the lower end for a number of reasons which lead back to the low barrier to entry - there’s no need to pay your dues with a decade of schooling, in hundreds of thousands in tuition, and to professional associations, state boards of licensure, or both. However, there are crappy doctors and architects - just like there are famous software engineers. Prestige - outside the ingroup - is a function of…

It’s fundamentally disrespected by people at a core level. I’ll prove my point with the one question they always ask us versus any other profession, ‘what is it that you actually do at the company?’. I swear, I’d never think to ask this of anyone, doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, cops, literally, I can’t think of one profession that gets asked this, I’ll try again, pilots, chemists, diplomats, translators, artists…

May I introduce you to accounting...

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#187

Post by anderspitman » Sun, Dec 27, 2020, 3:54 AM UTC

pansa2 wrote: post #140

acwan93 wrote: post #8

This reminds me of “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, which has a quote Aziz Ansari used in his series “Master of None”: > "I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor,…

Fantastic analogy. To go a bit further, what surprised me when trying to choose which branch to take was how narrow each branch is. It’s not enough to pick the “software development” branch, you have to pick a specialty within that. And, it has to be a single specialty. In my particular case, it was hard to accept that I couldn’t be both a successful programming language designer and a successful game developer.

> I couldn’t be both a successful programming language designer and a successful game developer

Why not? Jonathan Blow seems to be making a pretty good run at it.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#188

Post by Apocryphon » Sun, Dec 27, 2020, 3:58 AM UTC

klyrs wrote: post #161

Apocryphon wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the twelve step programs tell us, everyone has a god, whether divine or not.

That's no more convincing than a missionary telling me that I'll go to hell if I don't repent. Simple solution: don't open the door for missionaries.

The idea is that everyone has unifying motivations, often in a higher power, where they derive their personal sense of morality from. Whether religion, family, tradition, survival, knowledge, the invisible hand of the market, a love of humanity or life for its own sake, sheer pleasure, whatever.

The point is that regardless of the original intent of the Judeo-Christian text, it seems an admirable enough message that can be recontextualized easily enough to fit those of different ethical and theological viewpoints on this forum. No hair-splitting or holy wars necessary.

The allusion to Alcoholics Anonymous is that the “acknowledging a higher power” step, while commonly assumed as pushing crypto-Christianity, can be reinterpreted by each individual participant as their own unifying motivator.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#189

Post by acwan93 » Sun, Dec 27, 2020, 4:02 AM UTC

ternaryoperator wrote: post #78

acwan93 wrote: post #8

This reminds me of “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, which has a quote Aziz Ansari used in his series “Master of None”: > "I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor,…

That book contains some the finest writing ever done in the English language. Her ability to capture emotions and present them in detail-perfect images is breathtaking.

Yeah I got the book as soon as I heard that quote from Master of None. It’s an eloquent novel that really highlights mental health and self-identity.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#190

Post by bonniemuffin » Sun, Dec 27, 2020, 4:04 AM UTC

dorchadas wrote: post #144

acwan93 wrote: post #8

This reminds me of “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, which has a quote Aziz Ansari used in his series “Master of None”: > "I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor,…

As someone who feels like I've wasted most of my 20s since graduating university (turning 29 in 2021) with a job(s) I don't see any future in, man this hits hard. My lack of risk taking, and an unfortunately timed death in the family in 2016, really are me sitting there watching these figs dry up. Damn.

I executed a major career pivot at age 32 and now that I'm approaching 40, I'm so glad I did. It was hard but worth it. You have plenty of time, as long as you can put aside the feelings that you've waited too long and start looking for a path from your current life to the life you want. Those feelings will only hold you back. Now is a good time to pick a fig and start eating it. :)