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Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#31

Post by k-mcgrady »

kayoone wrote: post #14

"Incidentally, don’t let salary be a factor. 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." That quote drips so much of elitism its disgusting. MS still has many brilliant engineers and is building alot of really complex stuff, probably mo…

Couldn't agree more. And when you're 19 $30K is a lot. You don't have much expenditure and can put most of your salary in savings. That could really impact your life in 10 years time.

It's also important to remember some of the really cool research projects companies like MS are working on and then think about the pretty basic low tech consumer facing products a lot of startups are working on.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#32

Post by enraged_camel »

sama wrote: post #27
minikites wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if you're 19 or 20 and you put that extra $30k into an index fund, the magic of compound interest will give you much more money than if you start shoveling three times the amount in when you're in your mid-30s.

Depends what you believe will happen with the markets and inflation over the next 15 years. I believe a better approach in today's world is to put yourself in a position where you're less dependent on historical market performance.

You are free to believe that. Historically, the stock market has returned 7% on average. That is after inflation and takes into account the several terrible crashes that have occurred.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#33

Post by rgbrenner »

kayoone wrote: post #14

"Incidentally, don’t let salary be a factor. 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." That quote drips so much of elitism its disgusting. MS still has many brilliant engineers and is building alot of really complex stuff, probably mo…

What you said... plus:

"I just watched someone turn down one of these breakout companies ... that was a terrible decision"

What is this company? How does he know that it's a breakout company? Is he able to tell the future? Because there's an EXCELLENT chance it's not a breakout company. There's an excellent chance it WILL go bankrupt.

Microsoft + 30k more.. or a startup that has a fantastic chance of failing.

Anyone who chooses Microsoft over a startup, I completely understand.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#34

Post by sama »

susi22 wrote: post #16

This is awful advice. I'm sorry but when you're 19 you should go out into the _world_ (not the US) and discover it. Go book a cheap flight to South America and go backpacking for a few months. Live on $300 a month, meet interesting people. Techies, nerds and entrepreneurs aren't _that_ interesting. But sure, if all that you care about is success and you happen to define success like most other Americans (i.e. by maki…

Travel is not wasting a year or two; you should do it. It doesn't answer the question of what you should do when you get back.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#35

Post by jamesaguilar »

ritchiea wrote: post #23
jamesaguilar wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you waste a year or two, nothing will run away and your opportunities will still be there when you're 25. Something tells me this is an aspirational claim rather than a statement with empirical support. On the other hand, there is a lot of data to support the view that being out of work for years is very bad for finding a job when you finally do want one.

I disagree. There are lots of different types of venturing out into the world that aren't necessarily just bumming around on the beach. I went traveling when I was 20 and ended up spending months at a hostel in exchange for building them a new website. And not only was I working, but I was also spending time with people older than my peers in the US and hearing about their life experiences. If you travel with the rig…

I don't think you've contradicted anything I said, but maybe I'm misreading you? I said being out of work for years is known to lead to worse employment outcomes in some cases. You said, "I disagree, you can travel and not be out of work." So, you don't disagree, in other words?

Anyway, I'm not saying that one shouldn't travel, even if you don't work while traveling. But let's not fool ourselves into thinking there are no risks involved. You should be aware of the pros and cons of both approaches and balance them with your personal preferences.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#36

Post by Selfcommit »

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 feel nearly prepared enough to land an SE role.

How is it possible a 19 year old can?

I can accept that perhaps that 19 year old is just more clever than I am, but I'm a pretty clever guy. What am I missing?

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#37

Post by sama »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #31
kayoone wrote: post #14

"Incidentally, don’t let salary be a factor. 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." That quote drips so much of elitism its disgusting. MS still has many brilliant engineers and is building alot of really complex stuff, probably mo…

Couldn't agree more. And when you're 19 $30K is a lot. You don't have much expenditure and can put most of your salary in savings. That could really impact your life in 10 years time. It's also important to remember some of the really cool research projects companies like MS are working on and then think about the pretty basic low tech consumer facing products a lot of startups are working on.

The problem is most 19 year olds will spend that money instead of saving it.

MS research is pretty awesome.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#38

Post by sevenironcows »

peter_l_downs wrote: post #10

> No matter what you choose, build stuff and be around smart people. I'm 19, and this rings true for me. I put off my admission to MIT to take a "gap year" and work at a tech startup in SF. The most interesting and enjoyable moments have come from building with and learning from my co-workers, all of whom are brilliant. Other young people reading this: I've found taking a gap year to be a good hedge between "I want t…

Me too! Spent my gap year working at an awesome startup in London and learned a crazy amount. Sadly one now needs to work out whether taking up that place at University is worthwhile. For me, whilst staying in "the real world" is an attractive option, going to Uni seems like the choice which will open the most doors long run. Very happy to be proved wrong on that on, however.

Re: Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

#39

Post by jtbigwoo »

sama wrote: post #25
notaddicted wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only people with money say "Don't worry about money".

I still said that when I had a negative checking account balance while starting my company. I think you should worry about money, but that you should take a long-term view of it.

I think it depends on your background. I'm guessing that you had a bigger net beneath you had a bigger net beneath you than most people (student at Stanford, probably from an upper-middle class family that would support you if things got bad). For somebody whose parents said GTFO at 18, going the boring route at first makes perfect sense.
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