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A nice story of how a young boy's enthusiasm and unhindered spirit got in the right place at the right time. I feel happy for him and his family to stumble upon

A nice story of how a young boy's enthusiasm and unhindered spirit got in the right place at the right time. I feel happy for him and his family to stumble upon this path in life - and then smashing it an building his own gold road! Alas, I also feel sad at the same time, for myself not having that opportunity and having wasted my programming skills all together after I went to university,due to outside pressures and chasing my own dick, so to say.

ohaideredevs 7y ago
The funny thing is that someone very close to me knew how to program, and never once did they think it would be cool to show me how. I didn't write my first line of code until I was 26 or so. Maybe even later. To be honest, I think that's how you become good - by working on your own stuff. I feel like my skills are rotting at work. I work with "cool tech," but I basically "learn it" for long enough to implement it and never look at it again.
- 0x8BADF00D 7y ago
  You become good by spending long amounts of time on your computer, sometimes for 12 hours a day. It is a lonely and solitary activity.
  - pizza 7y ago
    "Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but don't nobody want to lift no heavy-ass weights." - Ronnie Coleman
  - isodude 7y ago
    Having a good tutor helps alot. It's like having a multiple added to the grinding effect.
  - voltagex_ 7y ago
    Some of the best coders I know are 9-5ers, with busy lives outside of anything to do with computers. I understand where you're coming from but this is also a harmful mindset for anyone coming into the profession - I have been careful to emphasise to the people I'm tutoring to not make my mistakes and sacrifice life outside of work in the pursuit of "better" coding skills.
    - p1esk 7y ago
      Best coders I know became good at coding long before they started working.
  - amatecha 7y ago
    Solitary, sure, but definitely not lonely! I got my 120wpm+ typing speed by chatting for hours and hours with friends online :)
  - gwd 7y ago
    To be fair, long amounts of time practicing is how you get to be a really good musician, or basketball player, or skateboarder, or anything. But that doesn't preclude practicing in the same general area as other people with similar interests. And even if you end up practicing for 4 hours a day entirely by yourself, there are still 12 other waking hours you can spend doing things with other people.
moneywoes 7y ago
I'm dull, what do you mean by chasing your own dick?
- thrower123 7y ago
  I suspect it has to do with pursuing the carnal pleasures rather than the computational variety.
- fbi-director 7y ago
  As user 'thrower123' replied, I was busy jackin it and playing with girls which obliterated my previous schedule of learning 24/7 and being eager to do so. I genuinely despise the change that lead to who I am. But as I write this I also realize that it was all me and this is just a bunch of self pity and I'm being a whiny little bitch that should not be scared of doing stuff for fear if not being as easy/able to as when I was younger. Fear of failure? Possibly. Probably. I'm too drunk to keep going and need help. Or money so I can take some time off and work on myself physically and mentally.
xwdv 7y ago
If it’s any comfort the alternative doesn’t turn out much better. Most of my life I looked down on prurient interests and instead chose to master my profession, convinced it had to be the smart choice. Now I find myself on the wrong side of 30 with a collection of useless money and assets slowly coming to accept that I’ll never have that ideal lifelong relationship with someone that matters. Soon I’ll have more years behind me than there are ahead and anyone I find will never have the shared experience of being with me during my prime years. They can never be a life partner now, they are simply a partner joining me as I age and go downhill from here. I wish I had spent more time on the hunt when I still had my entire life ahead of me. So if that’s what you did, don’t worry, it works out better in the end.
- draw_down 7y ago
  Good grief. Plenty of people are poor AND don’t have someone to love them.
- newnewpdro 7y ago
  This attitude is not helping your cause at all. Do you have your health? Are you fit? Because if you've taken good care of yourself throughout all these years, you can definitely get yourself a great life partner. If not, then you might have to work on it. Either way, change your outlook if you want to attract quality. People with options won't want to voluntarily subject themselves to this persona, it's miserable, learn to love yourself. The combination of good health and fitness, financial stability, no debt, no kids, no divorce, is exponentially increasingly rare and desirable with age. It's a hell of a catch, a damn unicorn. When I was in my 20s I found fit cougars undesirable as all hell, in my 40s now when I see a fit single woman over 35 without any kids, no divorce, no drama or evidence of crazy, I get very interested. It's the same for women. If you make it into your late 30s and beyond without getting trapped with a bunch of baggage and are in great health, you've dodged multiple bullets! You just have to put yourself out there and meet members of the opposite sex (or same if that's your preference) who are in a similar position and discover your real prime years.
  - p1esk 7y ago

ohaideredevs 7y ago

The funny thing is that someone very close to me knew how to program, and never once did they think it would be cool to show me how. I didn't write my first line of code until I was 26 or so. Maybe even later. To be honest, I think that's how you become good - by working on your own stuff. I feel like my skills are rotting at work. I work with "cool tech," but I basically "learn it" for long enough to implement it and never look at it again.

0x8BADF00D 7y ago
You become good by spending long amounts of time on your computer, sometimes for 12 hours a day. It is a lonely and solitary activity.
- pizza 7y ago
  "Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but don't nobody want to lift no heavy-ass weights." - Ronnie Coleman
- isodude 7y ago
  Having a good tutor helps alot. It's like having a multiple added to the grinding effect.
- voltagex_ 7y ago
  Some of the best coders I know are 9-5ers, with busy lives outside of anything to do with computers. I understand where you're coming from but this is also a harmful mindset for anyone coming into the profession - I have been careful to emphasise to the people I'm tutoring to not make my mistakes and sacrifice life outside of work in the pursuit of "better" coding skills.
  - p1esk 7y ago
    Best coders I know became good at coding long before they started working.
- amatecha 7y ago
  Solitary, sure, but definitely not lonely! I got my 120wpm+ typing speed by chatting for hours and hours with friends online :)
- gwd 7y ago
  To be fair, long amounts of time practicing is how you get to be a really good musician, or basketball player, or skateboarder, or anything. But that doesn't preclude practicing in the same general area as other people with similar interests. And even if you end up practicing for 4 hours a day entirely by yourself, there are still 12 other waking hours you can spend doing things with other people.

moneywoes 7y ago

I'm dull, what do you mean by chasing your own dick?

thrower123 7y ago
I suspect it has to do with pursuing the carnal pleasures rather than the computational variety.
fbi-director 7y ago
As user 'thrower123' replied, I was busy jackin it and playing with girls which obliterated my previous schedule of learning 24/7 and being eager to do so. I genuinely despise the change that lead to who I am. But as I write this I also realize that it was all me and this is just a bunch of self pity and I'm being a whiny little bitch that should not be scared of doing stuff for fear if not being as easy/able to as when I was younger. Fear of failure? Possibly. Probably. I'm too drunk to keep going and need help. Or money so I can take some time off and work on myself physically and mentally.

xwdv 7y ago

If it’s any comfort the alternative doesn’t turn out much better. Most of my life I looked down on prurient interests and instead chose to master my profession, convinced it had to be the smart choice. Now I find myself on the wrong side of 30 with a collection of useless money and assets slowly coming to accept that I’ll never have that ideal lifelong relationship with someone that matters. Soon I’ll have more years behind me than there are ahead and anyone I find will never have the shared experience of being with me during my prime years. They can never be a life partner now, they are simply a partner joining me as I age and go downhill from here. I wish I had spent more time on the hunt when I still had my entire life ahead of me. So if that’s what you did, don’t worry, it works out better in the end.

draw_down 7y ago
Good grief. Plenty of people are poor AND don’t have someone to love them.
newnewpdro 7y ago
This attitude is not helping your cause at all. Do you have your health? Are you fit? Because if you've taken good care of yourself throughout all these years, you can definitely get yourself a great life partner. If not, then you might have to work on it. Either way, change your outlook if you want to attract quality. People with options won't want to voluntarily subject themselves to this persona, it's miserable, learn to love yourself. The combination of good health and fitness, financial stability, no debt, no kids, no divorce, is exponentially increasingly rare and desirable with age. It's a hell of a catch, a damn unicorn. When I was in my 20s I found fit cougars undesirable as all hell, in my 40s now when I see a fit single woman over 35 without any kids, no divorce, no drama or evidence of crazy, I get very interested. It's the same for women. If you make it into your late 30s and beyond without getting trapped with a bunch of baggage and are in great health, you've dodged multiple bullets! You just have to put yourself out there and meet members of the opposite sex (or same if that's your preference) who are in a similar position and discover your real prime years.
- p1esk 7y ago