3 ms·

1) Get into fitness and nutrition, to maintain a high energy level as your metabolism slows down. Also don't smoke. 2) Learn another language 3) The normal pi

1) Get into fitness and nutrition, to maintain a high energy level as your metabolism slows down. Also don't smoke. 2) Learn another language 3) The normal pipeline is HS-> College -> Entry level corporate job -> change jobs -> slightly better corporate job -> change job -> ... -> senior programmer in a corporate setting.... I'm at the end of this pipeline, and it pays the bills but its not that great... How to get out of the pipeline? Make money in a non-standard way: start a tiny business, make money in the stock market, or day trade crypto, or sell t-shirts, or make an iPhone app, or start a newsletter, anything... apply your mind to making money in a different way, because the alternative is the a boring corporate pipeline. Most successful entrepreneurs start their first business around your age, which usually doesn't succeed but they learn the skills to make a better business the next time around... and keep leveling up. 4) Also if you are going to go to college, learn from my mistake... I went to college in Madison, WI, but its a transitory school (few people stay in Madison after college), so my network of people all moved away... If you know you want to work in NYC, then go to college in NYC because when you graduate you can leverage all those connections because they will probably still be in town and not all move away. 5) If you are in the US and going to take SAT/ACT study / or take a prep class and plan on acing the things. High score can result in entrance to the best school and/or tremendous savings in terms of scholarships

CydeWeys 9y ago
I want to stick up for the "normal pipeline" of going to university for Computer Science. It should really be the default choice of anyone who wants to get into programming. Granted, I know plenty of other people who are programmers now who didn't do CS, but they almost all still did university, and they regret not having done CS in hindsight because it would have been more applicable to what they ended up doing. Spending four years doing CS really does help you a lot when it comes to solving tricky problems (and on Big 4-style coding interviews). It's hard to be disciplined enough to do all of that book-learning on your own. Also, at 17, you're likely to think you are way better at programming than you actually are. A high quality CS program will quickly disabuse you of that notion, thus allowing you to get better. And like many others have said, of course, still have fun along the way.
- tjr 9y ago
  Also, at 17, you're likely to think you are way better at programming than you actually are. A high quality CS program will quickly disabuse you of that notion, thus allowing you to get better. At 17, I thought I was a brilliant programmer. Twenty years later, I think I'm finally pretty competent, and I realize how embarrassingly little 17-year-old me actually knew.
ljw1001 9y ago
> The normal pipeline is HS-> College -> Entry level corporate job -> change jobs -> slightly better corporate job -> change job -> ... -> senior programmer in a corporate setting....I'm at the end of this pipeline, and it pays the bills but it's not that great... This, in a nutshell is the problem with investing your youth in coding. There is more to life than optimizing your potential as a producer so you can optimize your potential as a consumer. I, too, am at the end of this pipeline. There are worse places, but explore your options first. If you want quality life advice, look elsewhere. More generally, don't look for it in any narrow community where most people are still young. Being young doesn't preclude wisdom but being young and narrowly focused doesn't improve your odds of finding it. If I were starting over I would spend more time understanding my goals and values, work harder at building deeper social bonds, and invest more in caring for my mental and physical health. I think this would have made me a better person, a better parent, and even a better employee.

CydeWeys 9y ago

I want to stick up for the "normal pipeline" of going to university for Computer Science. It should really be the default choice of anyone who wants to get into programming. Granted, I know plenty of other people who are programmers now who didn't do CS, but they almost all still did university, and they regret not having done CS in hindsight because it would have been more applicable to what they ended up doing. Spending four years doing CS really does help you a lot when it comes to solving tricky problems (and on Big 4-style coding interviews). It's hard to be disciplined enough to do all of that book-learning on your own. Also, at 17, you're likely to think you are way better at programming than you actually are. A high quality CS program will quickly disabuse you of that notion, thus allowing you to get better. And like many others have said, of course, still have fun along the way.

tjr 9y ago
Also, at 17, you're likely to think you are way better at programming than you actually are. A high quality CS program will quickly disabuse you of that notion, thus allowing you to get better. At 17, I thought I was a brilliant programmer. Twenty years later, I think I'm finally pretty competent, and I realize how embarrassingly little 17-year-old me actually knew.

ljw1001 9y ago

> The normal pipeline is HS-> College -> Entry level corporate job -> change jobs -> slightly better corporate job -> change job -> ... -> senior programmer in a corporate setting....I'm at the end of this pipeline, and it pays the bills but it's not that great... This, in a nutshell is the problem with investing your youth in coding. There is more to life than optimizing your potential as a producer so you can optimize your potential as a consumer. I, too, am at the end of this pipeline. There are worse places, but explore your options first. If you want quality life advice, look elsewhere. More generally, don't look for it in any narrow community where most people are still young. Being young doesn't preclude wisdom but being young and narrowly focused doesn't improve your odds of finding it. If I were starting over I would spend more time understanding my goals and values, work harder at building deeper social bonds, and invest more in caring for my mental and physical health. I think this would have made me a better person, a better parent, and even a better employee.