5 ms·
Tell HN: It's your fucking life, do what the fuck makes you happy. If you find being an undergrad painful and you're bored to tears, and you're only doing it i
by kgo 16y ago
Tell HN: It's your fucking life, do what the fuck makes you happy.
If you find being an undergrad painful and you're bored to tears, and you're only doing it is because your parents and peers tell you you'll end up as a janitor without that piece of paper, and you're literally itching to get into the 'real world', drop the fuck out and work on that startup.
If you're fascinated with Viking Poetry, and it's all you can think about, and people are telling you what a waste of money that Viking Poetry PhD is, tell them to fuck off and get that PhD anyway.
If you wanna be an actor, move to NY or LA, get a job as a waiter, and bust your fucking ass working on your craft. Don't stay at home and get that HR degree from University of Phoenix.
Both this post and the "X isn't worth it in the long run" articles it's responding to make the same mistakes. Assuming everyone has the same path in life. I think ultimately, deep down, all the posters want you to chase YOUR dream. But instead they take their dreams or their choices and find evidence prove to themselves that it's the right choice. And it probably is the right choice for them. It may or may not be the right choice for you.
As long as you're making the choices because that's what you really want, and not out of fear, they're the right choices. So yeah, if the only reason you didn't go to college was because your high-school sweetheart was a year younger, you made the wrong choice.
Why am I a software professional? Not because it pays well, but that sure helps. It's because I used to sit mesmerized in front of a computer typing in code from magazines, amazed that they followed my commands. It's because even before I had a computer to type the code into, I used to read the same code listings in the books, fascinated by them, even though I couldn't even run them. I didn't read the Economist's list of hot-fucking-jobs-for-the-next-ten-years and pick the top item on the list.
- aeurielesn 16y ago> It's because I used to sit mesmerized in front of a computer > typing in code from magazines and books, amazed that they followed my commands. Amen. P.S. Don't forget books.
- siddhant 16y ago> Tell HN: It's your fucking life, do what the fuck makes you happy. Yes. But also make it a point to listen to people who've been there (which is exactly how I see these "Tell HN" and the "X isn't worth it in the long run" posts). Doing what makes you happy might make you happy in the short term. It might not necessarily be the best choice in the long run.
- kgo 16y agoWell yeah, but if you're on the fence about a big life decision, you should go out and research it, and not rely on hacker news to spoon-feed you the appropriate info. I'd hate to to think that someone considering a PhD program read yesterday's 'not worth it' article, but didn't get online over the weekend, missing the 'yes it is' article, and made his decision accordingly. I think we all agree that would be absurd, possibly even insane. That's why I always feel like these articles and their upvotes are more about hn'ers trying to justify or rationalize their choices, than trying to help someone else out.
- Loic 16y agoI am sorry if you interpreted my post this way. The thing is that this year has seen many many articles in big journals about the "education bubble" etc. Basically, a lot of higher education bashing. And pg, with YCombinator is also kind of going that way with the mantra to get new entrepreneurs as young as possible. If you start a business being 18, you will never have the opportunity to discover then learn enough in some really interesting fields of engineering. This is what longer education provides. I just wanted people not to forget about the good sides of a longer education. Nothing more.
- kgo 16y agoI'm actually sorry. Apologies. I know the core of your message was "you can get a PhD, and things will work out okay." I might be being intentionally provocative up above, because I too am sick of the many articles about education sucking, and comments that equate happiness in life with the Golden Rule. (The guy who has the most gold wins.) Maybe I'm just mad that it's gotten to the point that people feel they need to post rebuttals to these silly articles.
- siddhant 16y agoAbsolutely. But a little perspective from someone who's already done that is always helpful.
- YuriNiyazov 16y ago
- mdda 16y agoI agree with everything you say - except for the part where you cite the Economist for having a stupid list of hot jobs : That's not their style at all. You're thinking Business Week or Forbes, etc. The Economist is (despite having offended lots of people here with its overview of the current start-up scene last week) much more about utility maximization than about money... Actually, why not pick up the winter special issue? - I'm guessing you'll find it much more thought-provoking than you currently imagine. [ Trust me - I did a PhD for love, not money. But it's working out pretty well, AFAICT ]