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Ask HN: what was the best life/programming choice you ever made?
For me:
Life: deciding that I wanted to take care of my body.
Programming: deciding that I wanted to master 1 new tool and a language every year. Last year was Python/Emacs and this year it is Rust/DTrace.
- pistoriusp 14y agoI started caring more about what the code does than how the code works or what it looks like.
- lhnz 14y agoLife: starting to read again and reading broadly: psychology, architecture, software, theatre, business, anthropology, great literature, philosophy, linguistics. Work: realising that I am not stupid and that I can make a difference, I began to apply a three-word philosophy to life: "Belief, Thought, Action." All beliefs that withstand scrutiny must be acted upon.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- Ixiaus 14y agoYou should write and if you do I want to know where you put your writing.
- karterk 14y agoTo never get overly attached to my tools - programming languages, frameworks, paradigms, patterns etc. and to always choose the right tool for the right job, by putting aside my own personal bias.
- swah 14y agoI'd like to do that but could never actually achieve it.
- anujkk 14y agoI have an exactly opposite problem. I always want to work in a new language/tool. Once I learn the language/tool I lose interest in it unless the work I am doing is challenging in itself.
- swah 14y agoTrue, that also happens to me. The grass is always greener even as I move from my house to my neighbours, and back.
- fogus 14y agolife: read Walden. http://blog.fogus.me/2006/10/26/the-floating-books/ http://blog.fogus.me/2006/10/26/the-floating-books/ programming: going to college
- jwmoz 14y agoLife: moving to London. Programming: quitting permie jobs and going for a contract in London.
- cchooper 14y agoHaving just quit my job for a contractor role in London, I am so glad to see this here.
- suhailpatel 14y agoAlso a Londoner here and would love to go into contracting sometime in the not too distant future. Please keep us updated on progress
- cchooper 14y agoWell if that's not an invitation to finally start my blog, I don't know what is.
- DividesByZero 14y agoLife: To buy only the minimum number of things I need, and work out the rest as I go along. Programming: The realisation that once you understand the same basic structures (declarations, loops, recursion, data types) and the underlying paradigm in one programming language, you can easily learn any other programming language.
- kstenerud 14y agoLife: The day I learned to stop worrying and love the chaos. Programming: The day I pulled my head out of my ass and started learning from my peers.
- z92 14y ago> The day I learned to stop worrying and love the chaos. That was the one of the greatest turning point in my life too.
- tern 14y agoYes! A close friend told me a few years ago: "life is chaos". At the time I didn't understand how this shed any insight. My immediate reaction was to think: "but life is a mixture of order and disorder – is not your statement obviously false?" A year later it hit me. Perhaps this is not what she meant, but I formulated it for myself as follows: "The universe has absolutely no compulsion to be orderly or just." Your life will be a mess. The world will be incredibly unjust. Billions do and will suffer. You are helpless to affect this in any meaningful way. Your task is to learn to cope with all this and find path to inner serenity. -- Reading Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao Te Ching helped form some structure around this idea for me by fitting it into a framework for positive action and providing a number of helpful mantras: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/taote-v3.html http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/taote...
- crucio 14y agoLife: Making the decision last year to do things outside of my comfort zone in an attempt to bring them inside. I went travelling for a few months, moved to London, and now have a lot of paths open for work Programming: attempting to build an MMO each year and getting further each time. The problems are hard and very interesting to me, so I love to learn in this area
- riffraff 14y agolife: going to study abroad as an exchange student. programming: learning ruby in 2001. Not the language per se, but the community at the time was full of smart people (lispers, smalltalkers, random PL geeks) and dumber people like me would learn a lot.
- akie 14y agoLife: Leaving my comfort zone and moving abroad. Professional: Working as an independent developer, instead of as a wage slave.
- brudgers 14y agoMy most important decision was having a child. Returning to my first love, Lisp, pales in comparison.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- lazyjones 14y agoLife: leaving the academic world and doing things that actually affect / matter to people. Programming: writing an Atari ST emulator (it landed me a job offer by a prestigious game company)
- ph0rcyas 14y agoI feel you on the 'life' part. Only people that have been deeply commited to academia, and realizing its role in this era, can understand the emotional impact on this choice.
- pramodbiligiri 14y agoCould you explain what you mean by "its role in this era"? Do you believe academic institutions are becoming more or less relevant?
- napoleond 14y agoQuick question for you and the GP, if you would be so kind: I'm currently working on a project which is set to become my master's thesis (I'm writing my final undergrad exams this month). I started it a few weeks ago; before that I never thought I would go to grad school and I had a severe distaste for academia. Now I'm feeling academia suck me in. It's hard to describe, but I'm "good" at the aspects of academia that I hate--the bizarre politics of it, for one. I also really enjoy having the freedom to work on hard problems without any immediate paths to monetisation. Do I get out now? Is it okay to do this for a while? I am obviously not asking strangers on a message board to make my life decisions for me, but I'm very curious to hear your thoughts.
- lazyjones 14y agoAn academic career was my dream job while I was an undergrad, but it disappointed me later when I actually reached that goal. I'd say go for it if you feel it'll be rewarding, but don't stick with it out of stubbornness when it no longer makes you happy. There's more freedom waiting elsewhere if you don't shun the responsibility (in entrepreneurship). But just because it didn't work for me, it doesn't mean it's generally bad. Many people seem to be quite happy working in academia.
- forkrulassail 14y agoLife: Doing what I loved first, consistently and without fear. Programming: Switching to emacs and dvorak.
- jacquesm 14y agoHard to put just one, so I'll cheat. Life: having a family, emigration, travel, stop caring about money beyond what I need for day to day living programming: read more code instead of writing more code
- jopython 14y agoLife: Moving to the United States Programming: Discovering Lisp after 15 years.
- meaty 14y agoLife: stopped doing overtime, stopped eating meat and started living minimally (items I own total expenditure of £600). Programming: ignoring fads and applying engineering discipline to problems.
- sokoloff 14y agoLife: Learned a little bit late to stop being a totally selfish/asshole boyfriend, leaving me open to finding a great relationship and now two kids. It's helped other relationships as well, and there's a few exes to whom I should apologize if it weren't so socially inappropriate to do so. :) Programming: leaving a couple of fun and well-paying jobs to go to places where I wasn't the best at everything. Learning from others (and teaching others in areas where I excel) has given me more happiness/satisfaction/growth than any single language, project or other discrete event.
- rickdale 14y agoLife: Slow carb diet and P90x. (a little embarrassing, but true) Programming: Diving farther into photoshop. I know thats not programming, but I really like to play around in photoshop during long code sessions. It helps my brain relax.
- suhailpatel 14y agoI want to try P90X soon and was wondering if you've felt it's made a difference?
- donnfelker 14y agoP90x will work, but the key is diet. CrossFit will work too, but again the key is diet. P90x provides that meal planning. Stick to that and workout and it will work. Or go slow carb and hit up CrossFit. But the key thing to remember is that you can't out train a bad diet. Garbage in == garbage out.
- rickdale 14y agoI enjoy P90x because I do it in my small home office. Its perfect for the non gym goer in my opinion. The results are good. I just do the slow carb diet with it. I hate looking at a 'diet plan'. I lost over 50lbs this year. Right at 15%bf now. Good stuff.
- jondot 14y agoLife: Don't generate human waste - be lean. Make everything you do have a value (even if its gaming - it has mental value). Stop watching syndication TV/Facebook/IM etc. Programming: Be very aggressive with learning. Set a goal of books to read, programming languages to learn, per half a year. Read a TON of code in the process.
- suhailpatel 14y agoLife: Getting fitter. I wasn't too overweight at my peak weight but I was getting a beer belly from sitting all day, feeling extremely tired at the end of each day (I'm only 20 years of age and it's not normal) and I decided to do something about it. I've always been intimidated by what other people think which is why I didn't join the gym earlier but I sucked up and joined 11 weeks ago and it's the best choice i've ever made. It's motivated me so much. Work: Scoping out and learning new technologies. I've been iPhone programming for ages and realised I hadn't really dived into other stacks such as Rails or JS programming. Definitely need to do more of this though.
- natejenkins 14y agoMy advice: start climbing. It's like going to the gym but fun.
- DanielBMarkham 14y agoGiving up video games in my 20s. If I hadn't done that, I'd still be stuck in front of a game somewhere. Those things will eat your life.
- asselinpaul 14y agoAgree with this. Recently stopped (around 6 month ago), games just look boring now and they waste so much of you're time.
- TeMPOraL 14y agoI don't even try to play multiplayer games anymore, as within moments I get the feeling of time wasted. I do however, from time to time, play single-player games (like Portal, or Modern Warfare series, or more recently, Bioshock) for their artistic / story value. The best games have stories much better and deeper than most of the movies, so I find them important intellectually and artisticly.
- Tyr42 14y agoI'd recommend playing Mark of the Ninja. I sat there, thinking for a long time at the end. And if you like puzzles, there's spacechem.
- TeMPOraL 14y agoI'll check out Mark of the Ninja, thanks. SpaceChem is awesome, I played it a lot on PC and also now on tablet (it's more playable with mouse, though). Also worth checking are all other games by Zachronics Industries (maker of SpaceChem)[0] - I particularly liked "The Bureau of Steam Engineering", where the goal is to route steam via pipes, valves, etc. inside a mech to make it fight other mechs. [0] - http://www.zachtronicsindustries.com/ http://www.zachtronicsindustries.com/
- nathannecro 14y agoI'm not sure if this is up your alley, but, the game 'Spec Ops: The Line' is one of the most intellectually stimulating games I have played in a long while. Spec Ops: The Line is one of the first games I've really seen traverse from the collection of descriptors we normally use for video games (childish, immature, time waster, brainless fun, etc) into the realm of what I'll call "deep media". I'll define deep media as the collection of literary and artistic work which is created not with the primary goal of entertainment, but with conveying an outlook or a perspective of the world. Spec Ops: The Line is not a pretty, nor particularly fun game, but by golly is it good.
- anujkk 14y agoLife : To stop taking things too seriously, enjoying the ups and downs of life, and making little progress every day in various roles I play in life. Programming : Working for myself and not for a monthly pay-check. To do work that I enjoy doing while earning enough for day to day living.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- huhtenberg 14y agoAccepting that there are better programmers than myself, and subsequently listening to what they were saying a bit more closely :)
- jeremiep 14y agoLife: dropped the TV subscription, stopped reading newspapers and generally disconnected myself from the mainstream world. Thinking outside the box becomes natural then. Programming: Teaching myself Lisp and Emacs, dropping Agile methodologies, ditching OOP for functional, writing my code as if I'm replaceable and the next guy needs to pick up where I left without any trouble. The last point actually gives me more value in the eyes of my employer!
- nsm 14y agoNot questioning your choice, I disconnected myself from the mainstream world once as well. But now I'm starting to think that our tendency to do this (specifically stop reading newspapers) may be leading to a disconnect from participating in the community. Which leads to a lot of decisions being made against the interests of the community due to people not participating in local governance issues. This combined with the fact that governments don't particularly attract attention to issues [1] is leading to serious problems in society. Also, aren't you worried about being trapped in a filter bubble [2] by sticking to your own world? Looking for your thoughts. [1] http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_meslin_the_antidote_to_apathy.html http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_meslin_the_antidote_to_apathy.... [2] http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bu...
- rwallace 14y agoThere is positive value in participating in the community, but negative value in reading newspapers or listening to the news on TV or radio; those things will make your decisions worse not better. (An analogy: news media are like a bottling company that takes a thousand liters of slightly dirty water, separates it into 999 liters of pure water and one liter of concentrated poison - and throws away the pure water and sells the poison.) Much better to spend your time instead doing something that will bring you into contact with people in real life.
- jeremiep 14y agoFor one, I would say that mainstream is the filter bubble; big media doesn't have freedom of speech whatsoever. Newspapers are especially boring repeating the same rehashed stories everyday. For most of the mainstream community, this is all they know. I would argue this is the cause of our society's serious problems. I'm a programmer so for me mainstream translates to Singleton<FilteredWorldEventsStream> mainStream; and that's, as Steve Yegge would say[1], a case of the Simpleton pattern; as a fun note, it's about the appropriate LISP to C++ translation too! If this were the only API offered to you, you'd probably hack your unfiltered stream library on the side too; oh but it's C++ and everything useful is private under proprietary licensing, good luck. Isn't that how open-source was born in the first place? It seems to be doing pretty well compared to proprietary mainstream software nowadays. Secondly, I believe sticking to your own world is a very good thing. This is where your imagination lives, this is where you create links between ideas to better picture them and therefore understand them. Be it for art, science or faith, this is where fresh ideas comes from to then be adopted by the mainstream, who forgot they too have this ability. People don't participate in governance because they believe it isn't their 'job', they did vote and it ends there for them; they just had a hard day and want to spend the evening watching American Idol, the results of a consumption society. Our society is based on work for money, not work for the bettering of said society. Otherwise we wouldn't need marketing, public relations, sales, and other jobs we had to came up with to keep the illusion of it all going on. This led me to disconnecting from the mainstream. However, you don't really disconnect from the community since the internet provides an open and free media platform to build your own filters upon; it also happens to build critical thinking. What you disconnect from is the endless stream of bullshit goods and services produced for the sole purpose of profits going through the mainstream pipes. I've always liked to view capitalism as a dog chasing it's own tail; produce goods or services to make money, to spend on goods and services. If it does so for a while, you'll notice all the money going to the center due to the centripetal force of its circular motion. Why isn't society about collectively working to go forward instead of in circles? Mainstream. I'm not for anarchy either, that's just as bad on the opposite end of the spectrum. But the open source model would definitely be interesting to apply to society as a whole; drop the ideas of government and corporations, structure society as an hierarchical flatland and let everyone contribute to everything they want to. Until then, I'll be quietly hacking away since I actually learn useful things that way, which I can then use to help create a better world. [1] https://sites.google.com/site/steveyegge2/singleton-considered-stupid https://sites.google.com/site/steveyegge2/singleton-consider...
- Achshar 14y agoprogramming/life: taking up a project i thought i would never be able to pull off but now am 70% done after almost 9 months and countless new stuff learned.
- ph0rcyas 14y agoLife: Knowing life is pointless, and it's completely up to you to make a point. Programming: Common Lisp. And... not being overzealous about it.
- rooshdi 14y agoLife: Lived what I wanted. Programming: Programmed what I wanted.
- elorant 14y agoStarting to learn about art (aka going to Museums, art galleries, reading art books). It soothes my soul. By far the most intellectual challenging activity I've ever done.
- nphrk 14y agoCould you recommend some introductory books? I've always felt bad not having clue about art.
- sonabinu 14y agovist a museum and read the 'Agony and the Ecstasy' and 'Lust for Life' by Irving Stone. The first book is on Michealangelo and the second is on the life of Vincent Van Gogh.
- joshuakarjala 14y agoA great light-handed introduction to Modern Art was produced by the BBC in 1999: This is Modern Art: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoSjRRv6ZrE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoSjRRv6ZrE A book was also written by Matthew Collings: http://www.amazon.com/This-Modern-Art-Matthew-Collings/dp/1841881007 http://www.amazon.com/This-Modern-Art-Matthew-Collings/dp/18...
- talkingquickly 14y agoWould also love to hear about how you started learning, I've been working with a team on a product to try and make art galleries more accesible to "none arty" people so any pointers on the type of thing you found helpful would be really interesting.
- milesokeefe 14y agoMaking art.sy I see?
- talkingquickly 14y agoNot quite although have a massive amount of respect for what the art.sy guys are doing. We (inguide.co.uk) are trying to put together a guide book platform which spans multiple art galleries and museums then learns about you and tailors the interpretation and info offered to the users level of expertise.
- beagle3 14y agoLife: Start questioning everything. That is, questioning accepted wisdom with respect to nutrition, medicine, sport and everything, accepting things I can verify myself, but most importantly, disregarding things I can disprove myself. I'm healthier, wealthier and happier as a result. Programming: Same; in this respect, that's ignoring common wisdom about OO and TDD. These things have value, but not of the type (and not really the magnitude) that they are assumed to have. It's much more mainstream now, but 10 years ago, I was considered a crazy heretic.
- azatris 14y agoLife: Exactly the same as above. Programming: I'm still 20 and in the uni, haven't had much experience to have had a best decision about this.
- chrisblackwell 14y agoYour ideas intrigue me sir, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
- sonier 14y agoagree
- biscarch 14y agoLife: Learning how to break psychological barriers so I can pursue my interests culminating in living a happier life. (examples: Public Speaking, Schooling level as a self-value system). By doing this I seem to have created a self-selection process for my potential social circles. (example: some people I've met seem to equate dropping out of college with being an utter failure. They usually never contact me again.) Also for Life: Learning how to Learn. (Currently putting this to the test: http://christopherbiscardi.github.com/blog//coursera/2012/11/30/the-coursera-experiment.html http://christopherbiscardi.github.com/blog//coursera/2012/11...) Programming: Lisp.
- daleharvey 14y agoLife: Realising that I am in a privileged position and have the freedom to do what I want / where I want, and realising that although I love my job, the bugs will still be there if I leave the computer for a couple of days. Programming: Deciding that I only wanted to work on open source software, Its not global to open source, but the culture of sharing, building on top of giants, and encouraging + learning from each other has been incredible.
- mbtmbt 14y agoFlying across the country to meet the girl I met online. We've been married for 15 years.
- GojiMan 14y agoLife: Deciding to view large decisions/situations with "Whats the worse that can happen?" And finding solutions to all of the worse case scenarios. All of a sudden, things you thought were scary and impossible become approachable and you almost feel dumb for not doing it for so long. Programming: When I decided to stop focus on being a "Programmer" and focus on being a business owner. My code isn't what gets me paid. I still do all the programming at my company, but now I do the minimum that needs to be done that will still allow me to make changes. I'm in the business of making money, not pull requests.
- TeMPOraL 14y agoLife: ultimately not caring about what I'm told to learn/do, but instead learning what I'm interested in. My current career started as an impicit decision that "math homework is boring" and "making games is fun". I was 13 then. This choice led me to programming, to technology and made me a man I now am. (Maths grades did suffer and never recovered even until university - I ended up learning everything anyway, but usually a year too late; but there were also many bits, mostly related to game programming, I knew years before I should have) Programming: Discovering Lisp 3 years ago. It turned my programming upside-down, gave me a job in Erlang (that I had since quitted) and seriously expanded my thinking. Also led me to pg's essays, HackerNews and LessWrong, all of which transformed my way of thinking and - I feel - made me much more rational person than I was.
- emp_ 14y agoProgramming: embracing the fact I came from a design background instead of trying to hide it so I wouldn't get cast out as a jack of all trades, I now do exactly that and love it -- and knowing you can deliver end-to-end solutions is very empowering and casts a new light on deciding who you should be working with since you don't need the other roles you can simply try and work with people you like.
- talkingquickly 14y agoLife: Realising that the worst that can happen is almost always "not that much" and that by giving something a go, even if it doesn't work out, you're still a long way ahead of a lot of people. Programming: Focussing on the end product at least as much as technical elegance.
- sonabinu 14y agoLife: Letting go Programming: Choosing to learn simple code before going to complex ones. Revisiting code I do not understand and learning the logic.
- kenjackson 14y agoLife: Having a child. The first six months were mad hard. But he's been what gets me up in the morning now... Literally Programming: Not caring about trends. I've realized I can learn pretty much anything on demand. So I find interesting problems and try to solve them, rather than spend alot of time learning frameworks and languages and hope to apply them. And I've found learning on demand for real problems causes me to learn In a way that sticks better too.
- scottmagdalein 14y agoOh man, having a kid was and is amazing. I used to hate kids, but I can't stand being away from my son now. My wife and I were just talking this morning about having another.
- cnlwsu 14y agoHaving a kid was amazing for life and didn't affect my programming at all... they sleep a lot :)
- adimitrov 14y agoHere's a thought: you probably have an awesome spouse. Which is not to say your spouse is doing all the work for you (I don't know that. Maybe they are, maybe they're not.) But when a couple works well together as a team, that's when they can be relaxed about having kids. Unfortunately, many people don't work well together (and don't know it until they actually have to do something major together.)
- _dark_matter_ 14y agoThe first six months will be over in ten days for my fiancé and I…and damn are we excited about her future!
- gtirloni 14y agoI barely find time to do the things I want. I can't conciliate the idea of having to take care of a kid right now. Perhaps having a kid would make me stop wasting time on useless stuff though.
- moco85 14y agoLife: After a certain age you stop working to better your life and start working to better your children's. Programming: Working on side projects that use technology I want to work with. It gets out that urge to do your own thing and employers love to see your side projects.
- j2labs 14y agoLife: Leaving financial services voluntarily, never taking unemployment while I was without work, and going all in on whatever future that meant for me. Programming: Committing to the idea that ideas must, must, must be expressed cleanly.
- sandipc 14y agoNever taking unemployment while without work -- may I ask why?
- j2labs 14y agoI took a healthy severance from a company that bought my previous employer with government backing. It felt like I was already given unemployment. In addition to that, other people surely needed the funds, which seemed limited at the time, more than I did.
- sejje 14y agoI also would never take unemployment, and it's because I don't believe it's the role of the state to provide for me.
- marcamillion 14y agoI am sure this means that you've never been starving with all your help fully tapped out. Until you reach that point, please don't make such concrete declarations.
- w33ble 14y agoLife: Reading more books. I've read more book in the last two years than I have in the rest of my life, both in physical and in audio forms. It's amazing what little bits of information you pick up from all kinds of different books. Programming: Learning Node. It got me excited about development again, which caused me to get out and meet other developers in my community. I was so enamored with it that I quit my day job in order to have more time to learn Node and many other new web technologies. As a bonus, I used the stuff I learned in that time to get a new job that I like more and make nearly twice the income at.
- thiderman 14y agoLife: Started getting up early and going to the gym every morning. I wake up at 0530 and then I go to the gym, shower, and eat breakfast before I leave for work at about 0800. Having that much time in the morning greatly reduces stress, so I do it even if I skip working out for a day. Programming: Joining the local meetup groups, attending both areas where I am very knowledgeable and areas I want to know more about. I've learned a lot and I've met hundreds of inspiring people. Giving talks at the meetup groups is also very rewarding and highly recommended.
- parth115 14y agoLife choice : better internship over grades. Programming choice : giving up php in favour of python.
- donnfelker 14y agoLife: Going Paleo (not 100% strict but maybe 80%) and focusing on everything that alters my mood and testing it to see if removing it makes a difference (alcohol, caffeine, excess sugar, etc) Programming: focusing on building a business with software and not getting so anal about every line of code. Learning to be lean in all ways possible really helped here.
- fjordan 14y agoThis is very interesting. I have been able to tell that so many foods, not just alcohol, caffeine, and sugar are able to impact my mind and mood. Specifically, I am referring to different amounts and types of fat as well as the effects of different foods based on the glycemic index spectrum. What effects have you noticed?
- bcambel 14y agoLife: Moving to Netherlands Programming: Leaving .NET behind after 6 years.
- GFischer 14y agoWhat language(s) did you leave .NET for? I'm still stuck on .NET (and I like it) but I know I can't build decent web or mobile applications with it.
- sivakumar_k 14y agoI use .Net and Java stack, I don't want to start a war here but I never felt held back due to any reason for developing web apps in either of the two. For mobile apps, its a different story, I stick to phonegap.
- GFischer 14y agoI'm pretty sure you can make great web apps with .NET, but I don't get the impression that the ecosystem is very supportive. I found a lot more support online for other stacks. For example, I wanted to do a tiny webpage, and host it online cheap or for free. The cheapest options were Google App Engine and AWS. I looked into Azure pricing and ran away. I'm probably ignorant of the best solutions (Rackspace seems to have a startup program, there was a .NET hosting I liked, there's also BizSpark), but most .NET hosting was a lot more expensive than I wanted, and not supportive of "weekend project" types.
- bcambel 14y agoI don't know that much about Java world, however what I can say about Windows + .NET is you are less productive. Why ? 1. Linux > Windows ( For .NET ) 2. Python + Django/Flask are really powerful. Ruby & Rails as well. 3. You're basically writing and reading more code. Most of them is unnecessary. .NET is designed for enterprises. 4. Especially for startups, time & speed matters a lot. I also think some of the above reasons applies for the Java world as well. Fantastic OS projects though in Java world.
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- scottmagdalein 14y agoLife: forgiving my wife after she had an affair. It was hard, but a single mistake doesn't negate the fact that she is a great mom, we are good together and our son deserves a shot at having his dad in the house. Programming: learning by doing instead of by reading. I started learning Rails when I wanted to build PicDigest and the mistakes I've made have helped me learn faster on a broader foundation.
- dissapointed 14y agoYou are a weak man!
- msutherl 14y agoNo, he is a strong man.
- franze 14y agohe is, who he chooses to be, instead of a sterotype
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- sks 14y agoAre you serious? I think he is a very strong man. He rose above petty concerns, like how his masculinity will be judged in a public forum, to forgive his wife and then share the fact.
- lifehouse67 14y agoNice to hear you forgave your wife afyer an affair, i can't imagine how you felt
- besharp 14y agoA really hard decision, I think he is a man with brave heart.
- bufordtwain 14y agoLife: incorporating exercise into my daily routine in a way that I enjoy (walking, biking) Programming: switching back into programming from management
- earllee 14y agoThis should be on Quora. Life: Deciding that I want to make a difference in the world. Programming: To start programming.
- gregfjohnson 14y agoLife: It's all about love, not personal ambition. I love and am loved by my family. I do meditation and find there that I love and am loved by my higher power. I love others I don't know (and possibly even some I do know) by writing software for intensive-case unit medical devices. Finding a way to use my programming skills to selflessly help others has been transformative. Programming: Two for the price of one: 1) Really understanding locality of concerns. I.e., creating and using granite-like abstractions so that when I use them I don't have to think at all about what is under the hood. So, when I need to reason through a given piece of code, I have a local and finite amount of the rest of the system that I have to load into my finite brain. I can inductively assume that the abstractions I am viewing as primitives are themselves reliable. 2) Beginning programmers write simple code. Intermediate programmers write complex code. Master programmers write simple code.
- brettkw 14y agoLife: Quitting an MMORPG when I was 13(nearly 13 years ago) and deciding never to play one again. I can't imagine how I would have ended up if I hadn't. Programming: Finally deciding to just dive into a project rather than continually reading books. I'm not a very good programmer by any means though so take that as you will.
- lifehouse67 14y agoLife: Accepting Jesus as saviour. I have prayed for wisdom and understanding. This has helped me to deal and understand every kind pf situation am facing and also understand people. Programming: Having an understanding of every situation i face.
- itg 14y agoAre some people seriously downvoting this?
- Anderkent 14y agoI'm not surprised if they are. 'Programming: Having an understanding of every situation i face.' - that's not a decision, that's preaching. 'Look I am religious and magically understand every situation I face'.
- caw 14y agoIf you take the programming statement to be "take the time to get an understanding of situations" then that is a pretty good change. It would imply that previously the GP made decisions rashly, based on a programming ideology, or without all of the facts. If the statement means exactly what it says, then you're correct.
- ajdecon 14y agoRealizing that being happy was more important than achieving an arbitrary goal (a PhD) that was (a) making me miserable, and (b) didn't matter to anyone but me. Getting past that mental block was basically necessary for a lot of amazing things that have happened since, both in work and life.
- vpans 14y agoAs someone doing a PhD who only got into it because I didn't know what else to do really... this really hits home. What changes did you make?
- ajdecon 14y agoBasically, I wrote a Masters thesis and exited my program with as much grace as possible. I actually managed to tie up a fun side project and assist with a couple of other students' projects on my way out (more productive than my PhD thesis!), but the most important thing is that I left. Second-order results were an awesome new job doing something more fun; a huge increase in my day-to-day happiness and satisfaction; getting married; and an even more awesome job, and a move to California.
- noinput 14y agoLife: work for and achieve Eagle Scout as a kid. Not only did it keep me focused, I got to spend every weekend with my father who unfortunately passed away early. Code: listened to The Dip from Seth Godin and followed his advice. Dropping everything I wasn't the best at and focusing on just what I was.
- EddieB 14y agoLife: Quitting my my full time dev job to go freelance (less money, but I've always got a smile on my face now) Programming: Putting aside spending all my time learning best practices and paradigms and just creating something I have in my head.
- lumberjack 14y agoLife: (1) Learning to choose the most productive and rewarding options even (for example I could spend a day tinkering on the next ProjectEuler.net problem or I could focus that effort on studying or finishing my latest project). (2) Learning never to cease working. This is subjective but personally I tend to find it hard to start working after a long break but once I get the momentum I can keep it up very well without stress. (3) Opening my mind up to the possibilities. Learning and knowledge are never bad and it's not healthy to be overly sure of yourself. Programming: (1) Getting into the functional programming mindset. I am not going to completely ditch OOp but there are times when I find functional programming much more intuitive. (2) Getting the basics of algorithms and data structures. This was a long time ago but I remember it affecting my whole perspective of what programming was about. (3) Implementing non-intuitive algorithms to solve hard problems, mostly still considered as research areas. For once the solutions were not "obvious" and a mechanical approach, however complex, was not enough. I started with game theory, and am now trying to get into machine learning and overall I'm finding this experience a very pleasant. (4) Tools wise, discovering the free software "ecosystem", especially GNU/Linux, vim, tmux, tiling wms, learning to use the shell and utilities productively...etc I still have a long way to go but these tools are already paying off.
- meimnot 14y agoLife: Meditation. Zazen practice specifically. Redefined my values and "self" through introspection. Programming: Realizing I'm not so great at it, moving towards programming as a hobby.
- graeme 14y agoNot a programmer, but may be of use: Life: continuous learning, whether it be a new language, a new skill, travel. Whatever I learn usually produces benefits in unexpected ways, years down the road. Runner-up: barbell weight-lifting, three times per week. If you've never been strong, you owe it to yourself to try. You get a physical sense of capacity to match whatever mental sense of capacity you've achieved. Work: Trying my own thing. I had no clear plan, but I had criteria to evaluate whether what I worked on was paying off. Two years out, I've got steady monthly passive income, and am working for a startup doing work I'm passionate about (selling an online LSAT course) while continuing to pursue my own projects. Casting off the set path of law school/a job opened my mind to new possibilities and forced me to find my own way.
- da3da 14y agoI want to second your weight lifting suggestion. Also, when you're strong, people treat you better. It's probably related to the halo effect surrounding attractive people. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect
- ishbits 14y agoGiving up a stable job as a sr. dev at a good company with interesting projects to co-found a startup in a competitive market. All with a 1 year old at home, a second on the way and no savings other than some assurances from my previous employer that they would take me back should things fail. It was scary at the time. But worth it.
- mclemme 14y agoLife: Giving up WoW and starting to socialize instead Programming: The 2½ years I spent at a small startup as the only full time developer
- cnlwsu 14y agoGetting married to a women who drives me to be better person. Has improved every aspect of my life.
- pknerd 14y agoCongrats Bro! I did marry one 3 years back who brought nothing but good changes in me.
- dylanhassinger 14y agoLife: starting to exercise regularly, going on paleo/slow-carb diet Programming: hmm, not sure. but the worse choices are 1) not blogging more, and 2) not learning a full stack backend language.
- chipsy 14y agoLife: Losing money in a scam. Disillusionment is the greatest gift. Programming: Stopped being scared.
- franze 14y agolife: becoming a father, stick with it and try my best (i was twenty) coding / professionally: just say yes, you cant fail - and if you fail its much much better than having said no from the get go. (oh, and know your pricetag)
- nemoto 14y agoLive: being honest Programming: Learn how to program.
- Ixiaus 14y agoThis is a great comment and I can echo much of its sentiment. Another commenter wrote something very similar to mine. There are three things that I consider to have had the largest impact on my life: 1. Learning to Learn - sounds obvious and simple but it truly isn't. There's a lot of un-learning that generally happens first before you can truly become someone that loves to learn on their own or with a partenaire dans le crime. 2. Crossfit - which introduced me to powerlifting and olympic lifting - the combination of diet (keto, paleo, zone), metabolic conditioning, and strength is basically hacking your body. My quality of life in a very physical existence has improved tremendously by becoming more athletic and much stronger. 3. Co-founding a technology company. This one most people here should relate to the most. To elaborate a teensy bit on these points; none of these convictions/events/understandings happened at once, it was a gradual aggregation of different experiences and micro-choices along the way that ultimately culminated in these distinct three "pieces". I also find it mildly interesting that I've after the fact identified these "three". What happens to be the most stable configuration in our physical environment? THREE! The tripod, three perceivable dimensions, blablabla; I might write about this now.
- ethanbird 14y agoMy biggest issue powerlifting/weightlifting is the amount of time it takes. I've had to cut back for other things because it's hard to have the time to get 8+ hours of sleep. I love lifting but I'm curious how it has affected you when starting company, something (from what I've read here) is notoriously time consuming.
- stickhandle 14y agoLife: {I'll put the family stuff aside, since its my wife saying Yes and the arrival of our kids is just beyond best, but probably not the intent of the question} Working abroad with an IT consultancy. After school I intentionally sought out a consulting gig in Germany. This produced 2 great changes that profoundly affected the rest of my life. (1) Working/living in another culture changes you forever in so many ways ... politics, patience, view of humanity. Big changes. (2) I encourage young programmers to get consulting jobs early on. Exposure to problems. Exposure to mentors. Exposure to systems. Exposure to corp politics. Exposure to business. Exposure. All these will make you less dogmatic and more of a problem solver. When it's time to leave (go contract, start a business, join a company/startup full time) your abilities and, importantly, confidence will be high. Programming: Get meta. Whether it be programming languages or frameworks or methodologies, at some meta level they are all 90% the same. They desire to the same result. That 10% is for ninjas and specialists ... which is great. But the world needs more of the meta folks. Once you "get" it, all fear of taking on something new changes, and you feel totally cool with trying it out. Immerse in anything for a while and you start to get the other 10%.
- marcamillion 14y agoLife: Doing my MBA - hear me out before you guys go all nuts. I have a BA in Computer Science and I wanted to learn more about business, so I chose to do an MBA in Finance. Best. Decision. Ever. The reason being is that I now see the world through a different lens. For instance, when everybody blames bond markets for trashing the bonds of Greece or Argentina - I understand why it is the fault of the government and the markets are just speaking truth to power. I also understand why populism is so dangerous. Understanding economics & finance has liberated me. It is easy to be conspiratorial about the world and the things you see happening on the news - but once you have a solid Econ & Finance foundation it is interesting how different you look at everything. So even though I am a hacker, I am glad I now have the glasses of 'objectivity' for world affairs - that I don't think I would have had without my MBA. Programming: Deciding to learn to Ruby & Rails (it is the first time that I can say that I can 'program', despite having a BA in Comp Sci and learning C, C++, Java, etc.). I hated those languages in school and while I did good in my classes, because I was always a geek and it didn't come particularly hard for me, I hated working in them. So after I graduated I gave them up, for a few years as I worked as a project manager. The best decision I ever made was to learn it all on my own. It has been the hardest 2 years of my life, but easily some of the most rewarding. Now I can build anything I want - that is the 2nd most liberating feel ever!
- ninetax 14y agoWhere did you get your MBA? I have heard that getting an MBA is more about the connections you make than what you learn. Which school would you recommend if someone wanted to learn all of those things and didn't care about the connections? Preferably somewhere without a 200k price tag.
- marcamillion 14y agoIt is popular to 'bash' MBAs, so everybody says that - in defense of the MBA. But I am fairly certain that most MBA programs will cover this stuff. I did mine at the University of Tampa, but I don't think you need to necessarily go there to have the same experience I did. Once you go with an open-mind, I would encourage you to take Econ, Accounting & Finance courses. You don't have to go nuts with these courses either, you can take the other management courses....but the ones that provided the most value to me are those. Learning to think like someone on Wall Street - with respect to seeing the world as it is, not seeing it how I want it to be - is the most valuable thing I learned. That being said, the connections are good too - but I am yet to have to draw on them. Given that I am in the tech startup industry, I don't suppose they will help me much right now. But who knows what the future will hold. Also, for what it's worth, understanding finance and not being intimidated by legal contracts is also very useful in a startup environment. Every dime I earn, I can visualize my financial statements in my head - which I guess is a good thing. I guess the trick is to just want to learn these stuff, and in most reputable programs, you will. It's easy to get into the "I just want to get an A" mindset - don't do that.
- prezjordan 14y agoLife: Haven't really figured it out yet, I'm only 20. Programming: I remember thinking "I mean I guess it's neat I can draw snowflakes with computer code, but isn't this a waste of time?" when I was around 11 or 12. I'm glad I stuck with it. There was a simple enjoyment and feeling of achievement even though I was just drawing simple shapes with QBASIC - I didn't really know why. But it felt good, so I kept doing it. I learned a lot, and it's gotten me to some pretty interesting places.
- shad0wfax 14y agoLife: Figured out the loud "noises" in my life that were pinning me down. - Day job and unwanted social relationships. Gave up television, politics and anything that seem to bring a very high bias into thinking. The best outcome has been that it has helped me leave my comfort zone time and again. Programming: A worry of mine was how much was I thinking about things, that needed a deeper/rigorous computer science understanding. Coursera and some other courses have been a life saver here (in my case). Have been taking courses that I felt I needed to understand better conceptually. This seems like being in a maze that leads all the way to very basic fundamentals that I have forgotten; So adding math skills now (Calculus, linear algebra etc). I hope connect the dots. [Edit: Grammar]
- jjcm 14y agoTeaching myself photoshop when I was 9. A family friend gave me a copy of photoshop 4, and I kind of got addicted to it. From there I grew a love for art and design, which I did as a hobby for quite some time. After I graduated college with a CS degree, I had a ton of design experience and a solid programming background. The two together have really done well for me, for obvious reasons.
- davewasthere 14y agoLife: Taking a few months off work to do something creative, fulfilling, relaxing, exciting...etc.. I work less (but since I'm consulting my yearly take is about the same, if not more). But the biggest difference is down-shifting. I've gone from spending 90% of what I earn, to about 25%. And, if anything, I do far more travelling... Programming: Quitting my permy job, then starting my own consultancy has given me so much more autonomy. It's scary, but fun. And while I'm still selling my time for money, I am transitioning to doing my own thing. Still blown away that people pay me money to do something I love so much...
- general_failure 14y agoLife: Immigration Programming: Embracing the cloud
- egfx 14y agoProgramming: Had an idea and spent over a year learning how to code while implementing the project to completion. Gave up QA testing after working at cool game companies like Blizzard, wasn't making the salary I deserved. Now I am.
- frostmatthew 14y agoLife: switching careers from hospitality management to software development (I don't think any developer who has never been anything else can really appreciate how great we have it) Programming: learning C++, even though at work we use Java and Ruby, I feel the more I learn C++ the better I become at higher level languages
- Throw654- 14y agoLife: Trying LSD. Gave me a new perspective. Allowed me to fix relationships. Programming: Reading research papers and the academic basics, and learning functional programming. Gave me the ability to go far beyond simple apps on frameworks, and tackle problems I thought out of my league.
- ChuckMcM 14y agoLife: Deciding that my family was more important than my job title. Programming: Getting a degree in hardware even though I was pretty sure I wanted to write code.
- tomfluff 14y agoLife: finding/having exercise related & outdoor hobbies (snowboarding & rock climbing) Programming: switching to Linux at ~16 and recently making the move to a Macbook
- namank 14y agoTaking a year off school to do a startup. Didn't work out but allowed to filter life and actually figure myself out. This allowed me to restructure my degree/education/learning to support the rest of my life and not just my next startup. You'll ask this again in 5 years and hopefully my answer wouldn't have changed much. Programming: never saying no. Biting off more than I thought I could chew.
- dsirijus 14y agoLife: Saying no. Programming: Saying no.
- theslay 14y agoLife: Knowing who I really am. Like I thought I could be like every other kid on the block but I later accepted the fact that I'm just a geek with not much of a social life and I'll be acknowledged if I do what I do best Programmimg: I wasn't offered computer science in college(my country has a bad system). Rather I was offered math. I didn't see myself good enough in math so I decided to give up on programming for a while. I later read the quote "never stop doing what you love doing best". It really told me I made a fool out of my self. Now, I'm back to the keyboard.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- pknerd 14y agoLife: Very recently I learn that relatives is not all about those people who are "Imposed" by nature on you but those who remember you and take care of when you are in trouble. I had been going thru family and financial crisis when all so called blood(sucking) relatives tried to make life hell of me and my wife and some strangers came forward and tried to help us out. No wonder Humanity is not property of family relatives only.
- jasonebaugh 14y agoProbably beginning to practice Judo in 2003. I dropped 50 lbs and changed the trajectory of my life.
- japhyr 14y agoLiving on my bicycle for a year instead of going straight to graduate school. I bicycled across the US each summer for two years, and the next summer took a full year off. I rode from Seattle to Maine, down to Florida, over to California, and all the way north to Alaska. It was the classic "find yourself" adventure of a 20-something. It has grounded me in everything I have ever done since. Facing a grizzly at four feet, alone in the middle of the Yukon, really does put everything else in perspective for the rest of your life. Programming: Build something that people use, and start freelancing. I am not a full-time programmer, so I could have gone the rest of my life only programming for my own intellectual satisfaction. But I watched my dad pass away never having polished any of his projects, and that made me commit to releasing code. Programming has been much harder, but much more satisfying, since I made that decision. Freelancing has let me ease into using my technical knowledge professionally, while maintaining my day job as a high school teacher.
- eshvk 14y ago> Facing a grizzly at four feet, alone in the middle of the Yukon, really does put everything else in perspective for the rest of your life. That sounds incredible! I am going to sound incredibly stupid but that would be something to experience. Details?
- japhyr 14y agoI was heading north on the Cassiar Highway in BC, a mostly dirt road which parallels the more heavily-traveled AK highway. I had been seeing black bears every day from a fair distance. I was on a flat stretch of road with grassy banks. I saw a matted-down patch on my right and thought to myself, that looks like a bear slid down on its butt right there. Then I glanced to my left and found myself face to face with a grizzly. It's funny, I knew what I was supposed to do from reading and talking about bears. But it was my experience responding to stray dogs that had trained me in how to respond. I just stayed calm and kept pedaling, same speed. It stepped into the road and huffed in my direction, but it didn't start chasing me. I have kept that moment in mind during every "stressful" situation in my life since then.
- kaii 14y agoLife: - Reflecting myself constantly. (Looking at things from another perspective often allows you to learn not only from your own, but also from other peoples mistakes) - Completely turning off TV and other mainstream media for several years. - Starting to leave my comfort zone occasionally to extend it constantly. Programming / Profession: - Accepting the fact that, although being good as a programmer, I'm even better in managing things and mentoring/coaching. (accepting this was hard: i love doing programming) - Focussing on the big picture and final results instead of wasting time with unimportant details. - Reading/Reviewing/Discussing more code than you write actually results in writing better code and being more productive.
- puzzlesky 14y agoLife: Seeking help for depression, seeing a psychologist after years of trying to battle it alone. Programming: Building stuff and learning by doing rather than reading text books.
- barrkel 14y agoStarted riding motorbikes. I never knew such fun could be had.
- kamaal 14y agoLife: To get a early realization, that money is the most important thing in life. Work: To work towards the 'Life' goal. To work smart, and make clever savings and investment moves. I've read enough of the 'money is not everything' quotes. Its almost a given and keeps coming back to me from my own experiences and from what others tell, Money is definitely the most important thing in your life. Having lots of it means most of your needs, wants and requirements taken care of. You realize this more as you age, having lots of money to never work puts you in a far more better situation than getting up every day and running to work regardless sun, rain and cold. No matter what your work is, no matter how passionate it is. Having financial security will alone change you life so drastically, you will never worry about having to take risks, failing and putting pieces together after that. You will never have to worry about getting fired, reporting to office despite your highest dislike on a day. You will never worry about 'What if' scenarios. You will never have to worry about paying your bills, sending your kids to school etc. So the most important thing to realize in the early part of your life is to get to financial security. And yes tool religion, micro optimization craze, technical pedantry isn't much of value while the other part of the world is building stuff and making millions with duct tape. As a programmer your job is to worry about solving problems which people need solutions to, and then monetize it.
- oz 14y agoI had the same realization at about 23 (I'm 26 now). I'd like to talk. What's your email? It's not in your profile.
- kamaal 14y agoMailed you, Hope you will get it soon.
- kayoone 14y agoI think as you grow older you will realize the opposite, that in fact this is not the case. As a human being, you will never stop to worry. If you have financial security you might stop worrying about the things you mentioned, but you will also have a lot of new things you worry about, its natural. Also id argue, not having to worry about failing or taking risks will make you much less likely to succeed in such a scenario, from a statistical point of view. While i agree that money is of very high importance in todays world, it still doesnt make you happy even if that sounds banal, its true. It makes certain things in life alot easier, so everybody should strive for financial security but saying it is ultimately the most important thing in everybody's live is a very broad statement to make.
- gaza3g 14y agoLife: Giving up the entire notion of a proper job being a 9 to 5 daily grind in the office. Have not had a 'proper job' for a while and instead I have been doing freelancing/contracting which gives me more time to try out and learn new things. Also, like the OP, taking good care of my body which means quitting cigarettes, 2-mile runs every day and watching what I eat. Programming: I'm lucky enough at this point of my life to be able to choose the projects that I take on. These few years have thought me never again will I compromise on my promise to deliver quality projects to people. It really stresses me out when bosses change deadlines on a whim and expect you to meet it. Now that I'm older, I would tell them respectfully to get someone else if they really need to meet that target that bad. In my experience, 90% of the time, nothing good ever came out of imposing stupid/unrealistic deadline. All you get are burnt out programmers, code which resembles a travesty rather than a working application and a mountain of technical debt. At the end of the day, some people measure themselves from the car they drive, the houses they live in, how much money they make and to me, that's perfectly fine(whatever motivates you, man). For me, just being able to help people with projects that are meaningful to me, and not having to stay at a job because I needed the money is to me, the best thing in the world right now.
- michielb 14y agoLife: Quitting my graduate studies in astrophysics in 96 to start a company, which ended up growing to 125 people in 7 countries and being acquired. Making the decision to leave the cool yet predictable world of science in favor of a startup took some hard thinking and talking, but looking back this obviously was the biggest career choice I ever made. Second biggest choice probably was to leave said acquiring company, to venture out again. I can't say I found my next big project yet and leaving the new comfort zone definitely took away some comfort, but I felt it was the right choice. Like Steve said: Never settle ;-) Programming: Taking a week-long course by BNR to learn iOS programming. Following an intense week-long program is very different from working through a book in your own pace, learning alone. Having a neighbour asking you things, or to ask things, makes learning incredibly more effective.
- zem 14y agoHard to say what my best life choice was, I tend to live my life as a series of small choices rather than one or two overarching big ones. But programming - definitely the decision (back in college) to actively commit my hobby and professional life to the linux (and concomitant open source) ecosystem. I can still look around today and marvel at how much it has enriched not just my overall career, but the day-to-day experience of being at work.
- sfo2mnl 14y agoLife: Quitting Google in 2007 after only 7 months of employment to do my first startup. I was 24 years old, I had spent almost one full year applying to Google and while I didn't have my dream job, I was certainly at my dream company. I was approached by a previous colleague to do a startup in the Philippines and I spent a couple weeks thinking about it before deciding that I was going to leave Google and do a startup. I was 24, if I failed at the startup, I could always try to go back. 7 years later, leaving Google was the best choice I've ever made.
- syamks 14y agoProgramming : learn javascript
- notdonspaulding 14y agoI know I'm late to the party, but... Life: Believing Jesus actually said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." http://esv.to/john+14 http://esv.to/john+14 Programming: Leaving a Megacorp to work for a small development shop to do Python work.
- xcubic 14y agoLife: While I still play sometimes, I have almost left computer games behind. Programming: Learn python
- delwin 14y agoI'm only 20, not sure I have a lot to say, but here it is so far: Life: Deciding to stay with my girlfriend through a long-distance relationship. It's hard, but definitely worth it. We've not seen it all the way through yet, though, so it's hard to say yet if it really is a good decision. Programming: Getting into game programming. That's where I started six years ago, and although I've moved on, if it weren't for the joy of making my own 3D games, I would have never dug deeper.