5 ms·

Ask HN: What decision has made the largest impact on your life?

25 points by adawg_4 7y ago

I want to soak up some life lessons today!

farrelmahaztra 7y ago
I'm 19 so the bar for "impact on my life" is relatively low, but probably choosing to cold-email a bunch of startup CEOs whose emails I guessed at the start of 2019. It got me my first SWE internship, which helped me get full-time positions afterwards.
- jeremiecoullon 7y ago
  Nice one! How many email addresses did you try for each CEO ? I'm guessing the most common one is firstname.lastname@company.com ?
  - farrelmahaztra 7y ago
    I sent only one each since I put in my guesses in some free email validation site beforehand. I also sent out emails to other C-level people. The formats were usually firstname@company.com for most of them, but firstname.lastname came up a few times.
Trias11 7y ago
Writing a blog post about something I built in my spare time and then sneaked-in to share with co-workers. Then boss reprimanded me, but another company read my blog post and hired me. Turned to be the best job of my life.
hola_mundo 7y ago
In 2012, somebody stole half of my life savings. I was halfway through college (I was an econ major) and had hired somebody to build a website for me. Immediately upon paying them half of the invoice, they fell off the face of the earth and never shipped a line of code. I was left cash-less and code-less. I decided to teach myself how to program so that I'd never need to be that dependent on somebody. I watched hours upon hours of YouTube, audited a handful of CS courses at my university (UVA), and, after about a year, I had become a decent iOS developer. As school neared an end, a mutual friend pitched me on a startup idea he was working on. I agreed to build the MVP, joined him as CTO, and our startup went on to have a $50M+ exit a few years after I graduated. Hugely impactful decision. I'd probably working some finance job I hate if I hadn't made that decision.
ajeet_dhaliwal 7y ago
Three come to mind rather than one. Deciding at 13 I had to learn how to make video games. Having the guts to ask out my future wife at 19. Deciding in my 20s I would no longer allow myself to be tormented by bullies/events of the past. I’m 36 now. I’m happy I made these decisions, huge impact.

25 points by adawg_4 7y ago

I want to soak up some life lessons today!

I'm 19 so the bar for "impact on my life" is relatively low, but probably choosing to cold-email a bunch of startup CEOs whose emails I guessed at the start of 2019. It got me my first SWE internship, which helped me get full-time positions afterwards.

jeremiecoullon 7y ago
Nice one! How many email addresses did you try for each CEO ? I'm guessing the most common one is firstname.lastname@company.com ?
- farrelmahaztra 7y ago
  I sent only one each since I put in my guesses in some free email validation site beforehand. I also sent out emails to other C-level people. The formats were usually firstname@company.com for most of them, but firstname.lastname came up a few times.

Trias11 7y ago

Writing a blog post about something I built in my spare time and then sneaked-in to share with co-workers. Then boss reprimanded me, but another company read my blog post and hired me. Turned to be the best job of my life.

hola_mundo 7y ago

In 2012, somebody stole half of my life savings. I was halfway through college (I was an econ major) and had hired somebody to build a website for me. Immediately upon paying them half of the invoice, they fell off the face of the earth and never shipped a line of code. I was left cash-less and code-less. I decided to teach myself how to program so that I'd never need to be that dependent on somebody. I watched hours upon hours of YouTube, audited a handful of CS courses at my university (UVA), and, after about a year, I had become a decent iOS developer. As school neared an end, a mutual friend pitched me on a startup idea he was working on. I agreed to build the MVP, joined him as CTO, and our startup went on to have a $50M+ exit a few years after I graduated. Hugely impactful decision. I'd probably working some finance job I hate if I hadn't made that decision.

ajeet_dhaliwal 7y ago

Three come to mind rather than one. Deciding at 13 I had to learn how to make video games. Having the guts to ask out my future wife at 19. Deciding in my 20s I would no longer allow myself to be tormented by bullies/events of the past. I’m 36 now. I’m happy I made these decisions, huge impact.